And BHS forces the Irish to fold 52-42 to win the division title.

Six years ago, when Bainbridge boys basketball head coach Scott Orness came on board, he had a goal of leading the Metro League Mountain Division champs one day.

Assistant coach Stuart Mitchell remembers how the BHS gym would be packed – to see the big-name teams from Seattle dunk all over the Spartans.

Thursday, it was the hometown five who islanders came out to see, in one of the biggest games for Bainbridge athletics in years.

The top-ranked Spartans came through in a big way, defeating the number two Fighting Irish 52-42 in front of a record crowd of 2,200 to win the Metro League Mountain Division title and the number one seed out of the division heading into the Metro League tournament next week.

The win marks the first time in three years that a Metro League team has swept a season series from powerhouse O’Dea.

“It’s just one step of where we want to go,” Orness said in a happy locker room afterwards. “Our ultimate goal is to be playing in March, and we do want to take it one game at a time. But this is one day that we’ll sit back and enjoy it.

“I’m just proud of the guys and proud of the seniors and what they’ve done in four years to fill the gym and be one of the top programs in the state.”

Coby Gibler, one of seven seniors playing in their last regular season game at home, was happy with the win.

“It feels awesome,” he said. “There’s no greater feeling right now.”

The crowd was into it even before the opening tip, as fans who had arrived early cheered on the girls JV team to a close victory over Holy Names.

The student sections for O’Dea and Bainbridge kept right on making noise through warmups – several hundred more fans were turned away at the door – and went back and forth at halftime.

“It was just unreal,” Rudy Sharar said of the crowd. “It gets you even more fired up to play.”

Bainbridge got out to a 9-2 lead in the first quarter on a three-pointer from Caleb Davis and baskets from Nick Fling and Steven Gray.

But O’Dea came back to tie it at nine on a shot by Kelly Edwards. The Fighting Irish took a four-point lead in the second quarter, but Gray and Rudy Sharar worked their way inside to cut the lead down.

Gray then put the Spartans ahead when he stripped Brian Walker and raced down the court for the two-hand jam to send the crowd into hysteria.

Gibler scored inside, but Edwards hit a jumper at the buzzer to cut their deficit to one.

The third quarter was a back- and-forth affair, with both teams coming up with big buckets.

Chris Banchero converted on a three-point play to put O’Dea up by two, but Gibler came back to work inside against the 6-7 Scott and tie the game. Scott held Gibler to six points for the contest, a season low.

“He’s a solid player,” Gibler said of Scott. “Defensively he’s one of the toughest in the league for me to play against. It was fun going back and forth, but thank God we got the upper hand on that.”

Edwards scored on a jumper to tie the game, but Gray was the difference-maker once again. He hit two foul shots near the end of the quarter, then put back a miss just as the buzzer ended to give Bainbridge a four-point lead.

“Coach was telling us every possession counts,” Gray said. “We’re trying to capitalize on (every one.)”

They would do just that, as Austin Wood scored all 10 of his points in the fourth. Wood found himself open underneath time and time again as O’Dea double- and triple-teamed Gray on the dribble.

After Gibler scored a big bucket, Wood reeled off six straight as the noise got louder and louder.

“That was huge,” Gray said. “Austin kept saying they’re collapsing so watch him under the basket.”

“We have good passers on our team,” Wood said. “If you find an open gap and they’re double teaming our stars, you’ll get an open look.”

Meanwhile, O’Dea went cold as they had to work hard on offense to try and find an open look. The Irish scored just four points from the field in the final quarter.

Jamelle McMillan scored inside with 2:23 left, but Wood dropped in four more points and O’Dea couldn’t buy a bucket.

Gray scored his final two points of the game at the line with four seconds left. O’Dea’s Edwards raced down the court for a layin, but that was it as the students poured forth onto the court in excitement.

“We’ve come a long way in the years I’ve been here,” Fling said. “Every year we’ve been getting better and better. It’s been a fun ride.”

Gray finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three steals. He was 7 of 10 from the line.

Davis had seven points while Fling had six points, three blocks, one assist and one steal.

The game was filmed by West Sound TV and will also be available through Comcast Video On Demand.

The Spartans (15-1, 18-2) now move onto postseason play, as they host Chief Sealth Tuesday at 7 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for students with their ASB card, kids and seniors.

If the boys win, they play Feb. 17 against either O’Dea or Rainier Beach for the Metro League championship and the number one seed to districts at 7:45 p.m. at Seattle Pacific University.

Tournament play awaits, but Gray still looked back on two seasons of excellence for BHS.

“It’s gone by so fast,” he said. “I was just thinking about my first day of school and not really knowing what was what. It seems like yesterday, but I’m glad to be here too.”