Originally published January 7, 2009 at 12:00 AM | Page modified January 7, 2009 at 4:40 PM
Comments
E-mail article
Print view
Prep Basketball | KingCo 4A: Tony Wroten has finishing touch in 59-54 Garfield win
Garfield sophomore Tony Wroten dominated the final five minutes as the top-ranked Bulldogs pulled away from stubborn Inglemoor for a KingCo 4A victory.
Seattle Times staff reporter
Scores & stats
Schedule/results
Standings
Leaders
Teams
Rankings
More sports: Golf | Tennis | Swimming | Cross-country
KENMORE — He had one hand on the door to the visitors locker room when Garfield sophomore Tony Wroten felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and found a young Inglemoor fan with a pen in his hand.
"Can I have your autograph?"
After the enrollment saga that postponed the start of his sophomore season, Wroten — just 15 — had become one of the most recognizable faces in Seattle basketball this fall even before he played a game in Washington. In a 59-54 Garfield victory at Inglemoor Tuesday night, one of the state's top players had his first chance.
"I've been waiting a long time for this," Wroten said.
After Inglemoor took a 45-44 fourth-quarter lead, Wroten owned the final five minutes.
"I'm not going to allow us to lose this game — I told my teammates that," Wroten said.
During a 10-point Garfield run, Wroten either scored or assisted on every basket. On two fast breaks, he fed teammate and cousin DeAndre Taylor with no-look passes for easy layups. And to finish the run, he found Taylor with a behind-the-back pass across the lane.
"That's just chemistry," Taylor said. "That's just us playing together so long. I know I have to keep my eyes on him because the ball will come at you any time."
Wroten finished with 20 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and four steals. Taylor had 13 points, all in the second half.
But until the final run, Garfield (4-1 overall, 3-0 KingCo 4A) struggled to pull away from the Vikings (5-3, 2-2). Inglemoor opened the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run to take the lead from the top-ranked Bulldogs with 5:13 to play. With the outside shooting of Benji Bryant and Adam McElwee and Todd Campbell's inside play, Inglemoor tested Garfield's defense.
But when the Bulldogs went to a full-court press, Inglemoor went flat for about 3 ½ minutes, when Wroten and Garfield pulled away.
"Our commitment to defense is going to get us to where we want to be," Garfield coach Ed Haskins said. "Which is playing in the [Tacoma] Dome, on March 7, at about 7 o'clock."
That would be just about tipoff time of the Class 4A state championship game.
Tom Wyrwich: 206-515-5653 or twyrwich@seattletimes.com
Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company
Prep Basketball | Kentwood's Joshua Smith says he'll go to UCLA
Prep Volleyball | Issaquah setter still goes all-out despite back brace
Prep Swimming | Jackson swimmer Alana Pazevic not yet finished
Seattle Times high school football rankings

Ken Auletta talks about "Googled"
Ken Auletta talks about Google with Brier Dudley at the Seattle Central Library.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- 'Missing' SeaTac man found with new name, in new state
- Police: DNA from officer's slaying matches suspect
- Prosecutors consider charges against suspect in police shooting
- Three more fires ignite in Greenwood
- Steve Kelley | Hasselbeck gives Seahawks' sagging season a stay of execution
- Plans call for Triangle to become West Seattle gateway
- McGinn next Seattle mayor; Mallahan concedes as vote gap widens
- Bill Clinton meets with Senate Dems on health care
- Trucker dies as big-rig plummets off SF bridge
- Lt. governor's son shot by co-worker in Kent; gunman then shot self
- House health bill unacceptable to many in Senate
257 - Prosecutors prepare charges against suspect in police shooting
255 - Pelosi tours Seattle's Swedish after health-care vote
180 - Prosecutors prepare charges against suspect in police shooting
144 - Alleged shooter tied to mosque of 9/11 hijackers
136 - Obama puts heat on Senate to speed health bill
125 - Resolute Fort Hood soldiers ready for return
121 - McGinn more than doubles his lead over Mallahan
109 - Josh Smith picks UCLA
74 - Cutaia says replay handled properly on Austin TD
69
- For 80-year-old Maple Valley man, hoops aren't just a dream
- Plans call for Triangle to become West Seattle gateway
- Three more fires ignite in Greenwood
- 'Missing' SeaTac man found with new name, in new state
- Silver Lake restaurant destroyed by fire
- Pakistani-American cafe, bar owner on verge of being Granite Falls mayor
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tours Seattle's Swedish after health-care vote
- Taste | Ruth Reichl still reigns as queen of America's culinary scene
- All You Can Eat | Fruit flies: thrill to the kill
- Police: DNA from officer's slaying matches suspect









