3A Boys Basketball | No. 1 Rainier Beach fights off Lakes to win title

Rainier Beach, the team that started the season No. 1, finished No. 1. But the final hurdle wasn't easy.

In a game packed with edge-of-your-seat drama, favored Rainier Beach took over in the final 72 seconds Saturday night and beat Lakes of Lakewood 53-45 to win the Class 3A state boys basketball championship at Edmundson Pavilion.

Leading 45-43 with just more than a minute to play, Beach launched an 8-2 run to the finish line and prevailed.

The state championship is the third of the decade for Rainier Beach, the fourth for coach Mike Bethea and the fifth in school history.

Tournament MVP Michael Ladd led the Vikings with 17 points.

"I feel like I'm still dreaming," said Ladd amidst postgame bedlam. "I feel like I'm still in bed. It's unbelievable."

Senior point guard Reggie Moore said, "This was our goal all year. We wanted it really bad."

Two future Washington football players starred for Lakes, which is in Pierce County.

Kavario Middleton, a powerful 6-foot-6, 260-pounder who is likely to play tight end for the Huskies, scored 14 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

Wide receiver recruit Jermaine Kearse scored 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting and fouled out with 1:46 left.

Bethea wasn't surprised that the final win didn't come easily against Lakes, a team that can hang with Beach athletically.

"We knew this was going to be a tough game," Bethea said.

There were 10 ties and eight lead changes, and the first field goal of the fourth quarter wasn't scored until 3:47 remained. It was a layup by Beach's Nyandigisi Moikobu off an assist by Moore to put the Vikings up 41-37.

Moikobu made another layup off an assist from Ladd with three minutes to play for a 43-37 lead, but Kearse made a layup and foul shot to cut it to 43-40 with 2:44 left.

The lead went to 45-40 on two free throws by Moikobu, but then Middleton drove the middle, made a layup and foul shot to cut matters to 45-43 with 2:17 to play.

Beach's Ababe Dimisse drove for a layup and a 47-43 lead with 1:12 to play then fouled out, but the Lakes free throw was missed by Lawrence Anthony.

Ladd hit a pair of free throws with 52 seconds left for a 49-43 lead. Then a dunk by Moore made it 51-43 with 31 seconds to play and Beach had socked away the title.

Neither team made a three-pointer in the game and both were 0 for 8.

Beach, a Seattle team, led 39-37 at the end of three quarters after trailing 35-32. At halftime, the score was tied at 26. Beach scored only eight points in the second quarter and four of those were in the final 1:25.

Middleton had nine points and nine rebounds at the break and Kearse had nine points.

Metro League champion Beach finishes the year 29-1, with the only loss an overtime defeat to 4A Franklin. Lakes, from the Western Cascade Conference, finishes 26-2, with the previous loss to 4A Kentwood.

Metro League teams have won seven consecutive state titles, eight of the past nine and 13 of 16.

Bethea's fourth championship puts him one behind all-time 3A leader Phil Lumpkin of O'Dea, whose Irish teams had won three of the four previous state titles.

This was Beach's 11th consecutive trip to state and the Vikings have placed every year. Another Beach streak is that the school has produced at least one Division I recruit every year since 1997.

Some of those alumni, such as the New York Knicks' Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson, tried to send text messages to Bethea during the game.

"I was trying to turn this thing off," he said with a big smile after the game, holding his telephone.

This was the first championship-game appearance for Lakes. The school's best previous finish in six appearances was third in the 1981 4A (then AAA) championship.

Bethea and Lakes coach JoJo Rodriguez were college roommates and basketball teammates at Yakima Valley Community College. They had been friends in high school but on rival teams. Rodriguez played at Garfield and Bethea at Franklin.

The start of the title game was delayed more than a half-hour because of a scoreboard malfunction in the girls game for third place in which Hanford beat West Valley of Yakima.

That just wound up delaying the Beach celebration.

Craig Smith: 206-464-8279 or csmith@seattletimes.com

LAKES — Anthony Enriquez 3-6 3-3 9, Andre' Winston Jr. 0-0 4-6 4, Jermaine Kearse 6-6 2-3 14, Jamaal Kearse 0-1 0-0 0, Kavario Middleton 4-13 6-7 14, Brandon Jiminez 0-2 0-0 0, Lawrence Anthony 2-6 0-1 4. Totals 15-34 15-20 45.

RAINIER BEACH — Keith Bookman 0-0 0-0 0, Jamon Echols 2-7 0-0 4, Lee Monsegur 0-0 0-0 0, D'vonne Pickett 0-1 0-0 0, Mike Ladd 7-12 3-3 17, Aaron Dotson 3-6 4-4 10, Ababe Dimisse 4-11 0-0 8, Nyandigisi Moikobu 3-4 2-2 8, Reggie Moore 3-7 0-0 6. Totals 22-48 9-9 53.

Three-point shooting — Lakes 0-8 (Enriquez 0-2, Middleton 0-3, Jiminez 0-2, Anthony 0-1) Rainier Beach 0-8 (Echols 0-2, Ladd 0-2, Dotson 0-1, Dimisse 0-1, Moikobu 0-1, Moore 0-1). Rebounds — Lakes 24 (Middleton 12), Rainier Beach 25 (Dimisse, Ladd, Dotson 7). Assists — Lakes 1 (Winston Jr.), Rainier Beach 10 (Moore 6). Blocks — Lakes 2 (Middleton 2), Rainier Beach 3 (Dimisse 2). Fouled out — Je. Kearse, Dimisse, Moikobu. Technicals — none.