The 4A men’s regional basketball games at Rogers High School in Puyallup Friday night featured very distinct styles of play.
In the first matchup Central Valley of Spokane had to make the furthest journey
out of all regional qualifiers in the state, traveling 307 miles to match up with Todd
Beamer.
Even though CV had to travel across the entire state, they were still the heavy
favorite; and it was very apparent early on in the matchup.
Central Valley jumped out to an early sixteen point lead until their big man Beau
Byus got into foul trouble in the second quarter.
Beamer managed to put together a little run and squander the lead to a manageable
seven-point deficit at half.
The third quarter was fast paced, each team put up 15 in the quarter and Beamer
was unable to cut the deficit before the start of the fourth.
The fourth quarter was full of fireworks, ignited by Trey Burch-Manning for Beamer.
Burch-Manning was able to cause two turnovers, and initiate an early run for the
Titans.
A steal in the backcourt led to a fancy pass under the basket for a quick score. The
following play for the Bears was short lived as they were called for an over and back
violation and had to return the rock to the Titans. Beamer was able to score another
bucket and cut Central Valleys lead to three, 46-49.
Right as CV stopped the bleeding with a bucket from Austin Rehkow, Beamer
answered with two threes of their own.
A corner three from Bogdon Bliznyuk put the Titans in the lead for the first time in
the entire game, with 1:35 remaining in the fourth quarter.
A pair of free throws notched the game up at 53-53 with 24 seconds left, giving
Beamer a chance to win the game.
The Titans put the ball in the hands of Burch-Manning and had him dribble around
a little before attacking the dish. The drive collapsed the defense and left Bliznyuk
standing alone in the corner for a wide-open three. Burch-Manning found Bliznyuk
and dished him the ball, unfortunately Bliznyuk’s fate has turned and as the buzzer
sounded the ball bounced of the back rim, sending the game into overtime.
The Bears dominated the overtime period, outscoring the Titans eight to two, and
ending their trek across the state with a 61-55 victory.
Austin Rehkow led all players with 19 points and13 rebounds. The Bears will face
undefeated Jackson in the first round of the state playoffs at the Tacoma Dome at
7:30 on Thursday.
The second game of regionals at Rogers high school matched up title contender
Bothell verses the surprise Bethel.
Bothell led by their big three, came into the game as heavy favorites and led the
entire contest.
Bethel seemed to be star struck the whole game, not showing much emotion and
just going through the motions.
Bothell was playing as if it were a showcase game for their three division one
recruits.
Zach LaVine (UCLA), Perrion Callandret (Idaho), and Josh Martin (Undecided),
started the game with a slam, literally.
Martin tipped the jump ball to Callendret who threw a lob pass to LaVine who
slammed it home with emphasis to open up the contest.
The three Bothell studs continued to show off their talent throughout the game with
a number of highflying dunks and dazzling moves.
Although Martin and Callandret missed badly on a few dunks, Bothell never gave
Bethel any hope throughout the game.
Bothell moves on to the Dome to face the number one ranked Garfield in a star filled
opening round match-up at 10:30 on Thursday morning.
