Rainier Beach still untouchable in convincing 3A Metro tournament triumph, 3 takeaways

On the girls side, sixth-seeded Eastside Catholic downs defending state champion Garfield

Jaylen Petty scored a game-high 27 points in Rainier Beach's 89-77 win over Garfield in 3A Metro tournament title game. / Photo by Todd Milles

SEATTLE - Even after digging an early hole just a few minutes into the game, it didn't take long for Rainier Beach's nuclear-powered basketball scoring to seize control of the 3A Metro League tournament championship game against its bitter rival.

New Mexico signee Jaylen Petty scored a game-high 27 points, and Rutgers signee Kaden Powers added 25 as the No. 1 Vikings won their third season meeting with No. 2 Garfield, 89-77, on Friday night at Royal Bougham Pavilion on the campus of Seattle Pacific University.

The Vikings will enter next week's Sea-King District tournament as the top seed.

Keaundre Morris had 18 points for the Vikings, who made eight 3-pointers and built as large as a 21-point lead early in the fourth quarter. It was their first league tournament triumph since 2018-19 when they defeated Ingraham for the crown.

"This was definitely a goal," Powers said. "We wanted this, but we are looking for state,"

Here are three takeaways from the Rainier Beach-Garfield boys game, and Eastside Catholic-Garfield girls game:

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BEACH HAS MADE A LIVING OFF MULTIPLE SCORERS

After the game, longtime Vikings coach Mike Bethea was asked if he's had three guards who can all score in the explosive manner in which Petty, Powers and Morris operate.

He didn't even blink.

"We’ve had that for a long time ... but it's been a while," said Bethea, pointing to 2013-14 when the team had a roster with Shaqquan Aaron, David Crisp, Naim Ladd and De'jounte Murray as one of its most prominent recent examples.

"It's almost a Beach tradition having that three-headed monster."

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PETTY, POWERS TAKE CONTROL IN THIRD QUARTER

After Garfield cut it to 46-37 early in the second half, Petty and Powers - the co-MVP's of the league - did their thing to turn this into a blowout.

Powers did what he always does - make difficult mid-range shots, from all angles, look easy, taking any Garfield defender off the dribble to get what he wanted.

And Petty sank three 3-pointers to tally 16 points in the quarter. In fact, the duo combined for 24 of the team's 27 points over that eight-minute span.

"They’ve been kind of carrying us all year," Bethea said. "Two special players.

"Kaden’s experience of being there got us to the (Class 3A) championship last year. What can you say about Jaylen? He has that Aaron Brooks, Peyton Siva (smaller-guard who plays big) effect on the team. He negates all the other teams’ height and everything. He is a nightmare matchup."

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Amy Nduka and Eastside Catholic rallied past Garfield to win 3A Metro girls tournament title. / Photo by Todd Milles

EASTSIDE CATHOLIC GIRLS MAKE RUN

Nearly two weeks ago, up-and-down Eastside Catholic girls were blown out by Lakeside of Seattle by 26 points.

Two nights later, the Crusaders were beaten by Lincoln of Seattle.

That is when the team with no seniors had a heart-to-heart chat, said coach Darnellia Russell.

"We had an emotional breakdown," Russell said. "Everyone was talking about accountability."

Russell said she also had to remind her squad of one thing: You are good.

As the No. 6 seed, Eastside Catholic roared through the league tournaments, including a win over Lakeside in the semifinals - then beating Garfield, 52-47, in the championship game Friday.

Sophie Lugolobi sank a corner 3-pointer with 1:20 remaining to give the Crusaders - who trailed by 10 points early in the third quarter - a 49-45 lead, and the team made enough free throws down the stretch to hold off the reigning Class 3A champions.

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