Bainbridge takes down O’Dea 42-38 to claim the district title and a rare ‘three-peat’ of wins.

BELLEVUE – When O’Dea and Bainbridge get together for a game of hoops, it’s guaranteed to be a low-scoring, defensive and intense contest where one or two plays can make the difference.

That storyline played out to the last second on Saturday at Bellevue Community College, where the Spartans defeated the Fighting Irish 42-38 in front of a packed gym to win their first 3A Sea-King District 2 title in school history.

It’s also the first time Bainbridge has won three in a row over O’Dea.

“It’s a real good feeling,” Coby Gibler said of their big win, “the best one we’ve had so far.”

Just like the past two games, Bainbridge got off to a fast start, opening the first quarter with a 13-5 score.

Steven Gray had seven points while Gibler threw down a two-hand jam on an alley-oop pass from Caleb Davis and Austin Wood scored inside off an assist from Gray.

But just like the earlier contests, O’Dea made a run of their own to take the momentum.

It got started when Gibler accidentally tipped the ball into the O’Dea basket as he went for the rebound. The Irish capitalized, finishing it with a Brian Walker jumper at the buzzer to take a one point lead.

Josh Scott split a pair of foul shots to open the second quarter, but it was several minutes before Gray sank a pair of foul shots at 4:36 to tie the game.

Ellis Pressley-Whitman and Gibler traded baskets, then Gray converted a three-point play to put Bainbridge up by three.

That started a 7-2 run that sent the Spartans into the locker room with a five-point halftime lead.

But in the third quarter, the Spartans scored just one field goal and four points overall.

The Irish got five points from Walker and took a three-point lead into the final period.

“There were a couple moments in the third quarter where it seemed like we were stuck,” head coach Scott Orness said. “We were in desperate need of getting a bucket.”

With the team needing a score, they appeared to get it when Gray hit a three from the corner, but a foul was called on Chris Banchero before the shot.

Davis then missed from the arc, but the Spartans grabbed the offensive rebound and passed it back to the junior guard, who made the most of his second chance.

Bainbridge then made what might have been a critical error when Davis couldn’t finish the layup on a fast break with Rudy Sharar.

Gray scored a few moments later, but Kelly Edwards and Walker both hit jumpers to put O’Dea up by two.

Gibler countered with a score inside, then as he was falling to the ground, tossed up a shot that not only went in but earned a foul call on O’Dea’s Colton Christian.

The senior post completed the three point play with 3:34 left.

“I was starting to slip and I didn’t want to get called for traveling, so I put it up and they called a foul,” he said. “I was like, ‘OK. That works.’”

Orness felt the score took away all of O’Dea’s energy.

“You could see the air go out of their tires,” he said. “There’s no doubt. Our guys have done a good job reading that when it happens and really being able to capitalize on it.”

The Irish controlled the ball for about 2:30, but despite gathering two offensive rebounds, they couldn’t come up with a bucket as they turned the ball over on a traveling call.

Gray and Davis did the rest by hitting their free throws, and Bainbridge was 14 of 14 from the line for the game.

“It’s a nice surprise,” Gray said. “It’s not something you’re going to expect from us, especially with the way we’ve shot the ball (at the line) this year.”

The win not only gives Bainbridge the number one seed out of District 2 for the state tournament that begins today, it gives the team confidence as well – but not too much.

“It’s good to be on a winning streak going into state but we still have to keep the momentum going,” Wood said. “We don’t want to get overconfident.”