SPSL basketball tiebreakers set for Tuesday, including three-way playoff between Beamer, Decatur and Puyallup

By Casey Olson • February 8, 2010 3:15 pm

The 16-game regular season just wasn’t enough for several South Puget Sound League boys and girls basketball teams, including the Beamer and Decatur boys and Federal Way girls.

In total, the SPSL will conduct five tiebreaking games Tuesday and a three-team mini-playoff at various locations. The games are required to sort out seeding into the SPSL Tournament, which runs Thursday through Saturday.

The biggest of the tiebreakers will take place at Auburn High School and will determine the second, third and fourth seeds from the SPSL South Division. The Beamer, Decatur and Puyallup boys all tied for second in the South with identical 12-4 records in league play.

Beamer will take on Decatur in a mini-game at 7 p.m. with the loser of getting the division’s fourth seed. The winner of the 16-minute game will then battle Puyallup in another mini-game, with the winner snaring the second seed and the loser getting the third seed into Thursday’s SPSL Tournament.

Puyallup got the first-round bye because they were the only one of the three teams to beat SPSL South champion Curtis.

Graham-Kapowsin made the Beamer boys sweat a little bit Friday night. A loss would have made the Titans the South’s fourth seed. The Eagles outscored Beamer 21-8 during the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough. The Titans tied for second in the South with a 64-61 win.

Beamer was led by 30 points from Kevin Davis and 16 from Terrelle Loggins. The Titans led only 30-29 at halftime, but outscored Graham-Kapowsin 26-11 during the third quarter to take a commanding lead into the fourth quarter.

The second-ranked Federal Way girls (17-3, 13-3) will also be involved in a tiebreaker Tuesday night. The Eagles will take on sixth-ranked Kentwood (16-4, 13-3) at 8 p.m. at Tahoma High School with the SPSL North’s second and third seeds on the line. The two teams split their two regular-season meetings. Unbeaten Auburn Riverside won the SPSL North title with a perfect 16-0 record.

Federal Way earned the tie after demolishing Tahoma Friday, 63-39, in their regular-season finale. The Eagles were led by 12 points from Darah Huertas-Vining and 11 from Brittany Barrington.

SPSL Tiebreaking Games (all games Tuesday)

Auburn High School

7 p.m. SPSL South Boys 2nd place three-way tiebreaker

Mini Game 1: Beamer vs. Decatur

(winner plays Puyallup, loser is SPSL South #4)

Mini Game 2: Game 1 winner vs. Puyallup (winner is SPSL South #2, loser is SPSL South #3)

Tahoma High School

6 p.m. SPSL North Girls fourth-place tiebreaker

Auburn vs. Kentlake (winner is SPSL North #4, loser is SPSL North #5)

8 p.m. SPSL North Girls second-place tiebreaker

Kentwood vs. Federal Way (winner is SPSL North #2, loser is SPSL North #3)

Emerald Ridge High School

6 p.m. SPSL South Boys fifth-place tiebreaker

Rogers vs. Bethel (winner is SPSL South #5, loser is out)

8 p.m. SPSL South Girls second-place tiebreaker

Rogers vs. Puyallup (winner is SPSL South #2, loser is SPSL South #3)

Bethel High School

7 p.m. SPSL South Girls fourth-place tiebreaker

Graham-Kapowsin vs. Emerald Ridge (winner is SPSL South #4, loser is SPSL South #5)