And Beamer makes three.
The Todd Beamer High School boys basketball team will join Federal Way and Decatur at next week’s Class 4A State Tournament inside the Tacoma Dome after an impressive 78-68 win over the Bellarmine Prep Lions Friday night at Auburn High School in a loser-out West Central District game. The Titans will play the Walla Walla Blue Devils at 2 p.m. Wednesday in their state opener.
Beamer (14-11) got 22 second-half points from sophomore guard Napa Mefi and 25 points from senior wing Kevin Davis to overcome a four-point Bellarmine lead entering the third quarter.
“I told my team at halftime to give me the ball and we will win this game,” Mefi said. “I’m just speechless right now. To be honest, I really didn’t expect this. We have overcome a lot of things this season.”
Mefi went head to head all night with Bellarmine senior point guard Abdul Gaddy — a University of Washington-signee and recently-named McDonald’s All-American. Gaddy finished with 24 points, but was never able to take over the game.
“Napa was just unbelievable,” said first-year Beamer head coach Brent Brilhante. “He was phenomonal during the second half and proved he belonged on the same court as Abdul.”
“The first half I was kind of nervous going up against him,” Mefi said. “But then I started thinking to myself that he is only human.”
The Titans finished up in fifth place in the nine-team South Puget Sound League South Division with a league record of 9-7, but have really started to gel in the postseason. Beamer has beaten Auburn Riverside, Auburn, Mount Tahoma and Bellarmine during their run.
“We just wanted to prove everybody wrong,” Davis said. “We were kind of down in the first half because we were nervous. But we came out and played like we had nothing to lose.”
The Titans took control of Friday night’s game during the start of the third quarter. Trailing 37-33 at half, Mefi started the third quarter by scoring 13 of Beamer’s first 15 points of the second half to give the Titans a commanding 48-45 lead. Bellarmine, who finshed third at last year’s state championshps, never got closer. Beamer led by as many as 15 during the fourth quarter.
Federal Way 65, Foss 52 (West Central District championship)
The No. 1-ranked Eagles got to cut down the nets at Puyallup High School after winning their first West Central District championship since 1994 Saturday over the Narrows League-champion Falcons.
Now, Federal Way turns its attention toward winning the program’s first Class 4A state championship. The Eagles will kick off the four-day tournament at the Tacoma Dome Wednesday against the Redmond Mustangs at noon. Federal Way goes in as the slight favorite into the very deep tournament.
The Eagles were never really in any trouble Saturday night against sixth-ranked Foss (20-5) until the Falcons went on a 20-6 run during the third quarter.
The burst gave Foss a 45-43 lead and erased a 12-point Federal Way advantage, 37-25. But the top-ranked Eagles didn’t flinch and senior point guard Michael Hale tallied five straight points to end the third quarter and give Federal Way a 48-45 lead entering the final eight minutes.
Federal Way outscored Foss 17-7 in the fourth quarter, thanks to going 11-for-14 from the free-throw line.
Eagle guard Isiah Umipig scored a game-high 20 points, forward Cole Dickerson talled 14 and Hale had 13 for Federal Way. The win was Federal Way’s 13th in a row after losing to Kentwood in January.
Decatur 68, Curtis 58 (third-sixth)
The Gators (21-4) got back on track Saturday with an impressive 10-point win over Curtis at Puyallup High School. The victory gave Decatur the West Central District’s third seed into the state tournament.
The fourth-ranked Gators will take on sixth-ranked Gonzaga Prep at 7 p.m. tonight in their state tournament opener inside the Tacoma Dome.
Decatur got big games from their two senior starters Saturday to beat Curtis for the third time this season. Forward Cam Schilling continued his strong postseason with a game-high 20 points on 6 of 9 shooting from the field. Schilling, who scored in double digits four times during the Gators’ first 21 games, has scored 10 or more points in each of Decatur’s last four games.
The Gators’ other senior, Marcus Tibbs, contributed 17 points and six assists. Tibbs struggled with the flu during Wednesday’s loss to Foss in the district semifinals.
“It was nice to have Tibbs back to close to 100 percent,” said head coach Kevin Olson. “But Foss is a good team and they deserve the credit for that win. The win Saturday just allows us to head into Wednesday with confidence.”
Decatur led just 46-44 heading into the fourth quarter, but Tibbs keyed a 13-5 Gator run to put the game away. Curtis (19-6) will be the district’s sixth seed into state and will play No. 2-ranked Eisenhower at 3:30 p.m. today.
