Class 3A tournament: Beach in a state of shock

TACOMA — Rainier Beach comes to the Class 3A state tournament each year expecting to win.

Three state titles and eight trophies in eight years will do that for a team.

Expecting to win, however, isn't enough. The Vikings found that out the hard way Thursday night with 64-60 loss to Lynden in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state boys basketball tournament.

"For some reason my guys seemed to think that they'd just be able to show up and beat this team," said Rainier Beach coach Mike Bethea. "Like I told them, 'We're down here at state now, everybody is capable of beating everybody.'

"You've got to play hard for 32 minutes, and they didn't buy into that. Rainier Beach played hard for about five or six minutes, and Lynden played hard the rest of that time. They wanted it more."

Just like that, Rainier Beach's title hopes fell short for the third year in a row after winning back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003.

Lynden's win prevented an all-Metro League semifinal between Rainier Beach and O'Dea. The Irish (22-6), winners of the past two 3A titles, knocked off top-ranked Renton 63-40 in the day's first quarterfinal.

Lynden (25-1) plays O'Dea at 7 p.m. tonight.

On Wednesday night, Rainier Beach rolled past Chehalis 63-34. That didn't help the Vikings on Thursday.

"Yesterday is yesterday, and today's another day," Bethea said. "It takes four days to win it down here, and unfortunately we didn't get it done."

Lynden never again trailed, and the Whatcom County team led by as many as many as 11 in the third and fourth quarters.

The Vikings came back late, eventually cutting the lead to two on a Ryan Anderson three-pointer with 33 seconds left.

Beach's Shawn West player was called for a foul on Lynden's next possession and was whistled for a technical after untucking his shirt in frustration. Dallas and Bradey Bomber made four free throws, putting the game away.

Dallas led the Lions with 19, and Bomber added 15, hitting 13 of 17 foul shots. Anderson led all scorers with 28, but struggled from three-point range, hitting 4 of 17 shots.