Defending Champion Rainier Beach Earns Top Seed in State 3A Tournament
When the ball arrived in Kam Babbs’ hands, the Rainier Beach Vikings had exactly three 3-pointers in their past four games and change. Just over six minutes remained in a drum-tight championship entanglement with arch nemesis O’Dea.
An unlikely candidate to end such a drought, Babbs, just beyond the arc, calmly – and confidently, he’d later say – took aim, and let loose.
“Just like it was drawn up,” Beach coach Mike Bethea quipped.
The unexpected boost is what has the Vikings, now the No. 1 seed in the WIAA State 3A Tournament, less vulnerable than they might appear. And so their Round 2 matchup with No. 8 Bellevue on Friday, Feb. 27, at Bellevue College, 8 p.m., is far less problematic than their shell-shocked following may have feared.
The Vikings were stretched by Eastside Catholic, then O’Dea on their way to the District 2 championship. What’s more, they missed 16 free throws against the Crusaders and fell behind 18-4 after one quarter against the Fighting Irish. Beach star Tyrone Stokes was symptomatic, uncharacteristically missing seven foul shots against Eastside and scored his first basket with just 15.6 seconds left in the first half against O’Dea.
Oh my?
Not really. It’s worth noting that an often-electrifying contributor like Babbs is just rounding into basketball shape after missing most of the month of January with a deep knee bruise and ankle sprain.
Moreover, Babbs is only the first of the cavalry to arrive for a Vikings team that has been roughed up as everybody’s biggest target this season. JJ Crawford suited up for the district title game and participated in warmups, he said, “just to troll O’Dea.” His actual return, after being injured with a right high-ankle sprain, will come when Beach meets the Wolverines from KingCo.
By virtue of being one of the top eight seeds, both Rainier Beach (25-1), and Bellevue (21-7) are guaranteed at least one state championship tournament game at the Tacoma Dome. If the Vikings beat the Wolverines, they will advance to a quarterfinal game in Tacoma on Wednesday, March 5, at 10:30 a.m.
O’Dea, which lost to Beach for the fourth time this season, was awarded the state tournament’s No. 2 seed and will start its journey against No. 7 Lincoln of Tacoma.
The one certainty is that help is on the way, just as the stakes crank up on Rainier Beach’s quest to defend its state 3A championship.
Crawford had been on a scoring rampage when he went down against Garfield on Jan. 23. Without him, teams have been able to neutralize Stokes’ outside shooting by defending him with quicker, smaller players. Teams like O’Dea and Eastside Catholic clogged up the middle with their bigs and ran double- and triple-teams at Stokes with other guards.
Bellevue will have difficulty replicating those defensive tactics against Stokes. The Wolverines do not have any ample inside presence. Their main weapon has been a 2-2-1 trap that Rainier Beach also runs, but can extend over more of the court.
And funny thing, the Vikings turned the tables on O’Dea when Bethea used a squadron of his best leapers to close out their comeback. With Stokes contributing three and Babbs two, Beach had eight blocks against the Irish, causing hesitation in the O’Dea offense. Brian Webster, their first-team, all-league guard, went wild with 15 points in the first half, but mustered only three more in the second.
O’Dea, then Eastside Catholic, intimidated Bellevue similarly during the district playoffs with their inside defensive presence. The Wolverines lost 54-47 to O’Dea and 71-46 to Eastside Catholic – two teams against which the Vikings are a combined 7-0. Bellevue’s best players are guards Jackson Skaggs, Jayten Jones, and Nicolas Norrah who like to slash off the dribble.
The Vikings can at least match their Metro rivals’ inside might, with the additional ability to extend defensive pressure, especially with the likes of Babbs on the court.
“He's a kid whose athleticism is through the roof,” said Bethea, who at the Metro League championship became the fourth boys basketball coach in state history to claim 700 career wins. “He doesn't always understand the impact he can have with his athleticism, because he gets rebounds, he can finish above the rim, he alters shots, all those things.”
Babbs says he’s understood his role. He’s simply needed to overcome his injuries and regain his timing.
It took until the Garfield game in district playoffs last week for Babbs to feel like he had his game legs back. During warmups, he noticed he could jump without experiencing any pain in his knee. Then he tested taking off his left leg – again, a painless experience.
“I feel like this game is a lot about adversity,” Babbs said. “When we were down, we needed energy, and I feel like I should be the one to step up. And that's what helped us come together more. We started talking more, and then it was more about the team. They energized me, too. It wasn’t based off what I had going on, it was the things they empowered me to do.”
Glenn Nelson covered the Sonics and the NBA at The Seattle Times for 17 years. He was a founding executive at Rivals.com, a co-founder at Scout.com, and founder of ESPN HoopGurlz, a national website about women’s and girls’ basketball. He has won regional awards for his columns about race for the South Seattle Emerald. You can follow more of his WIAA State 3A Tournament coverage at his Substack and Instagram.
