Todd Beamer basketball loses out on state tournament bid

Published 2:40 pm Friday, February 20, 2026

The Todd Beamer Titans basketball team (14-9) was not one that lacked for question marks when the first day of tryouts were held some three months ago. But on Thursday evening, the ragtag group of Titans were one game away from the state tournament with just the Lakes Lancers standing in their way.

Todd Beamer’s state hopes were dashed at the hands of Lakes High School (15-8) in a 69-51 loss at Foss High School on Feb. 19.

“They have a lot of fight. We competed tonight, but we didn’t play smart. We were playing hard, but we weren’t playing smart. It was a big moment. They are high school kids that are going to forget some things. Mentally we just didn’t compete. Physically we did,” head coach Brent Brilhante said.

After beating Timberline in game one of the West Central District tournament, the Titans fell to Lincoln in the quarterfinals and were placed in a winner-to-state, loser-out game against the Lancers.

But an already undermanned team had another challenge on their hands: NPSL Player of the Year Doni Burkett was sidelined with a boot and crutches following an injury in the second half of the Lincoln game.

Burkett’s 28 points a game is hard to replace. The burden of that scoring went to the other seniors in De Tre Walker and Oscar Garcia. The trio of seniors have their own connections to each other that extend outside basketball. Walker, Garcia and Burkett all began their basketball careers at Federal Way before Burkett left to the Metro league, Walker to Todd Beamer for his junior season and eventually Garcia for his senior season.

“I’m going to miss them a lot, I was really close to both of them,” Walker said post-game.

Garcia has known Burkett since they were in elementary school and played AAU together.

“Federal Way was where it all started. I’m going to miss playing with them,” Garcia said.

Early on against Lakes, there was a glaring hole on the floor. The energy from the Todd Beamer side was lacking, and after leading 7-5, Lakes sent an all-out rush to take the lead. Lakes led 14-7 and it seemed like the game was going to get out of hand, so enter James Bea.

“I am definitely proud of him, I can’t wait to see him grow up,” Garcia said about his freshman teammate.

Due to Burkett’s absence, Bea the freshman started his first playoff game of his high school career. Bea hit a corner and recorded two steals in the span of just over a minute to help fuel a 9-0 run, and for Beamer to take a 21-20 lead in the second quarter.

“He looked like he belonged out there. He’s still got a lot to grow. He’s going to be a damn good player,” Brilhante said.

The two sides went back and forth for the six minutes left in the first half and the Titans could not get a bead on Darius Imperial of Lakes. The senior sharp-shooter finished with a game-high of 26 points, but whenever Todd Beamer found a shrivel of momentum, Imperial would cash in a 3-pointer for the Lancers.

Todd Beamer competed and hung in against the Lancers for the entire third quarter. After an acrobatic lay-in from Garcia with 4:06 left, the Titans cut the lead to four points 38-32, the closest they would get to the Lancers in the second half. The Lancers took a 47-40 lead into the fourth quarter and from there it got ugly for Todd Beamer as the Titans just ran out of gas.

Garcia and Walker both finished with 16 points individually and were trying to push their side over the edge, but couldn’t make the final burst.

The first six minutes of the fourth quarter might have been a fever dream for Todd Beamer. Lakes went on an 18-3 run and with 2:07 left in the game, the Titans trailed by an insurmountable 22 points.

It was a sour way for a season that had seen so much growth to come to an end, dragged and beaten by Lakes inside Foss High School. But this group sticks out in the eyes of Brilhante as they found ways to win and overcome adversity all season long.

“This team has gone through some weird stuff,” Brilhante said, noting that several players got sick during the season. “For them to fight through it, they are just fantastic kids.”