Viks Led by a Freshman and a Sixth Man
JJ Crawford, Kam Babbs awaken Rainier Beach for fifth straight win over O'Dea
TACOMA – The Rainier Beach Vikings had an early wakeup call on Thursday, but it didn’t come on the court, as you might expect with a basketball team. It came from alarm clocks and parents all over south Seattle. They had to get up, get to school, and bus up to the Tacoma Dome for a State 3A quarterfinal game against their biggest rivals.
And, for the second time against O’Dea, the Vikings (27-1) started the game like they didn’t know how to play basketball. It’s been kind of a trend with them, not just against the Irish.
Asked after his team’s eventual 85-68 victory what it felt like in the desultory first half, Crawford said, “It felt like we were sleepy.”
He and Kam Babbs were better than any cup of coffee. With their team trailing 40-32 early in the third quarter, Babbs hit a 3-pointer, then blocked a shot that led to a Crawford run-out dunk. Crawford then closed out a 12-2 Beach run with a pair of threes, the second giving the Vikings their first lead, 44-42.
Two minutes later, Crawford was grabbed on a baseline cut by O’Dea’s Levi Orbino. Crawford shook him, buried a three, and started barking at the Irish point guard. When the Fighting Irish crowd got on him in the fourth quarter, Crawford pointed at the scoreboard. They’d seen this nightmare before.
When Rainier Beach came with its inevitable third-quarter rampage on Thursday, the Irish (19-6) looked almost accepting of their fifth straight defeat to the Vikings.
“Oh, just talking,” Crawford explained. “I was like, ‘I’m going to turn it up, just watch.’ “
True to his word, the freshman did not play like one, finishing with 18 points and three 3-pointers. That did not lead the team, as Tyran Stokes scored just six points in the first half, but finished with a super-quiet triple double – 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists – to go with a cut lip and several blows to his head and legs.
The win advances the top-seeded Vikings to the semifinals against No. 5 Bellarmine Prep at 3:45 p.m. on Friday. The Lions upset Rainier Beach last year in Round 2, forcing the Vikings to play an extra tournament game. Bellarmine Prep used its size and length, plus 18 points from guard Ronnie Wiggins, to beat No. 11 Edmonds-Woodway 60-48 in a quarterfinal game.
No. 4 Eastside Catholic, which Rainier Beach has defeated three times this season, is the highest seed left in the Vikings’ path. The Crusaders clamped down on No. 3 Mt. Spokane to produce a 53-37 victory. They complete a totally Seattle vs. Tacoma semifinals against Lincoln (Tacoma).
Defense, as usual, had a big hand in propelling the Vikings. They held O’Dea to 34.4% shooting in the second half. KJ Hightower was instrumental in squelching Irish star Brian Webster, who had just five points in the second half. O’Dea’s senior guard, who struck for 29 points against Shorewood on Wednesday, finished with 14 points against Beach on 3-of-13 shooting, plus three turnovers.
Micah Ili-Meneese had a typically metronomic 17 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.
Babbs had 13 points, a pair of 3-pointers, just one missed shot, and Rainier Beach would not have won had he not held the fort, offensively, in the first half.
“I can shoot,” Babbs said. “Honestly, I felt like I was going to make it every time I shot it, which is why I kept shooting. Those shots would help keep us in the game. I just want to win, you know?”
His coach sure does.
“He gave us energy,” coach Mike Bethea said of his junior wing. “He’s been doing that all year. I keep telling him: he’s not a sixth man for us, he’s a sixth starter.”
And an early starter, luckily for the Vikings.
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Check out Wednesday’s South Seattle Emerald for Beach’s “Family Business”