Rainier Beach Guts One Out
Vikings overcome 16 missed free throws, 28 points from Tytan McNeal
There is a cost to having a target on your back for three months, a cost to playing at a such a frenetic pace all the time, and a cost to playing your toughest opponents in a compressed time period and growing stakes.
It’s missing 16 free throws, taking a 28-point haymaker from all-league forward Tytan McNeal, and ripping open your chest to reveal the heart of a champion down the stretch of an 80-68 Rainier Beach victory over Eastside Catholic.
“If you find ways to win ugly, you appreciate it more,” assistant coach Jamal Crawford said. “We’ll get more growth from a game like this because it reveals the little details we need to tighten up.”
Their third victory of the season over Eastside on Thursday night earned the Vikings a fourth encounter against their toughest opponent so far, O’Dea, in the District 2 championship.
To get there, the Vikings trailed 53-51 with 1:38 to play in the third quarter. They then reclaimed the lead, then made four straight hustle plays during the last 2 ½ minutes of the game to seal the win.
Tyran Stokes, who had 33 points despite missing eight foul shots himself, started the reclamation by landing a rebound after multiple point-blank misses by Rainier Beach and scoring a layup. Knowledge Wright then corralled a similar scrum for the ball and improbably flipped it in the basket. Marques Ili-Meneese had a steal lead to two made free throws, then Stokes blocked a shot, then raced downcourt for a layup.
Ili-Meneese sat out much of the first half with foul trouble, but provided a big lift inside, scoring 7 of his 11 points in the fourth quarter.
“I had that little bit of energy at the end because I sat so long in the first half,” a visibly exhausted Ili-Meneese explained.