Legend Smiley did his thing for the Garfield Bulldogs on Friday night. The junior, who was offensive player of the year in the Metro League, twisted, turned and spun his way in and around the lane.
But for three quarters it seemed as if Smiley would be only a supporting act in O’Dea’s Metro League boys basketball championship show at Seattle Pacific University’s Royal Brougham Pavilion.
Turns out, the Bulldogs had a comeback in them.
While Smiley did lead the way, Jamari Harris made maybe the biggest play of the game with 42 seconds left in Garfield’s 56-52 victory.
“We wanted that ball to go to Legend,” Garfield coach Brandon Roy said. “He likes his shot. But we also knew that if it didn’t go down that Jamari was going to be crashing to the rim.”
There were just six seconds left on the shot clock when the Bulldogs inbounded the ball on the side, getting it to Smiley. Garfield had completely erased an eight-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter and the game was tied at 52-52.
Smiley drove to the middle, stopped and lofted a 10-footer under pressure that hit the rim and bounced to the left. That’s where Harris was streaking in along the baseline.
Harris leapt and tapped the ball off the backboard and in to give the Bulldogs (13-4) their first lead since it was 19-18 with 6 minutes, 54 seconds left in the second quarter.
“I was just on the block trying to get the rebound,” Harris said. “And I ended up putting it back and sealing the game.”
Well, it didn’t quite seal the game. But close. Harris and Smiley each made 1 of 2 free throws after O’Dea failed to score on its final two possessions to actually seal the Bulldogs’ first win over the Irish this season.
O’Dea (16-7) won both regular-season contests, including at Garfield 59-58 on its senior night.
“In our minds, we were just beat ‘em, beat ‘em, beat ‘em,” Smiley said. “They beat us two times. We were down until the fourth quarter and then we came back and made that run. Emotions were high. It started on the defensive end. Defense turned to offense. It took all of us together.”
The win earned Garfield the Metro title and the league’s top seed to the SeaKing District tournament which begins Saturday at Bellevue College and Sammamish High. The Irish and Garfield earned first-round byes and will play their first district contests on Tuesday.
Garfield will play at Bellevue at 8 p.m. against the winner of a first-round game between Nathan Hale and Lake Washington. O’Dea, the second seed from the Metro, plays the winner of Mercer Island and Rainier Beach at 5 p.m. at Sammamish.
Smiley led all scorers with 27 points. He and Harris combined to score 13 of Garfield’s 16 total points in the fourth quarter, while the Bulldogs at the same time held the Irish to just six points defensively.
“We’ve been a second-half team,” Roy said. “As a coach, you don’t always like that. But we knew we had a run in us. We know we’re good enough to get stops. And it’s good to break the spell a little against those guys.”
BJ Shannon and the guard contingent for O’Dea made seven three-pointers in the game. Shannon finished with 18 for the Irish.
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