While one-half of the Garfield Basketball programs was a little happier than the other, there is no doubt the student body, School Administrators, and coaches were proud of the Central Areas school showing Saturday night at the WIAA Hardwood Tournament.
The Boys basketball team coached by Garfield, University of Washington Aluma former NBA All-Star, Brandon Roy won its 14th state boys basketball title. The Bulldogs beat city rival Rainier Beach 72 to 63 in overtime. It was the third time the two schools met this season with Garfield winning all three. Point guard Pierre Crockrell Jr and Eddie Turner each scored 19 points to lead the Bulldogs in scoring.
Tre Anderson led Beach with 27 points while senior Kevin Porter Jr., a USC commit, had 22 points and 12 rebounds. The Bulldogs led the majority of the way and looked like they had the game won leading 59-56 with under tens second left in the game. However a foul was called on Anderson with 6.5 seconds left and he drained all of the awarded three shots to send the game into overtime.
The Bulldogs outscored Beach 13-4 in the extra period to pull away and with a second consecutive title for Roy who won last years title as the Nathan Hale Coach.
“I thought I stole one from them last year,” said Roy, who missed three chances as a player to win a title for Garfield, “I’m happy to go in there (school) Monday and go, ‘Here is that state championship I promised you in (1999-2002).’ ”
GIRLS FALL JUST SHORT
Gig Harbor junior guard Brynna Maxwell broke the hearts of Garfield High School on her way to breaking the 3A scoring record for a single tournament as she scored 31 points to lead GH to a 51-48 win over the Garfield Bulldogs. Garfield was looking to make it a double celebration after watching the Boys hoist the trophy in the 3A Boys Title game.
While they put in a tremendous effort, the Lady Bulldogs were unable to Maxwell and her teamamates when it mattered. Garfield played stifling defense and Gig Harbor responded each time with clutch shots and clutch free throw shooting. Gig Harbour was 21-21 from the free throw line.
“If they don’t meet a certain mark in practice, they’ve got to stay after and shoot 50 free throws,” Gig Harbor head Megan Murray said when asked about her team’s incredible free throw shooting. “It’s just those extra shots and getting that mindset. … All that stuff carries over into tonight. 21 out of 21 is incredible. What a way to end.”
Sophomore Dalayah Daniels scored 20 points and pulled down 15 rebounds to lead the Lady Bulldogs. As for the loss, Garfield head coach Lee Adams preferred to look at what the team accomplished rather than what was missed.
“This is the first time all these kids have been here and to get second, the messaging out of it was, ‘Yes, it hurts, and it’s almost better to get third than second, because you go out on a win,’ ” said Adams, who led Holy Names to a Class 3A title in 2011. “But don’t let this color what your season was. You have to understand that it was a success, and this may hurt, but we fought and fought and sometimes in life, fighting isn’t enough.”
