Visions of a trip to Tacoma Dome don’t spell a needed win.

On the detour through Tacoma to Bellevue and Eastside Catholic – courtesy of the three-hour ferry delay due to “suspicious activity” – the Bainbridge boys basketball team received a carrot of motivation for their Metro League bout Tuesday night.

Coach Scott Orness pointed to the Tacoma Dome: “Take a look, boys,” he said. “That’s where we want to be in a few months. Keep the vision in mind.”

The team bus was rerouted the long way around after the ferry closure. Getting off the bus just as the ferries started up again, it took two quarters for the Spartans to find themselves.

But 10 good minutes, during which they outscored Eastside Catholic 25-9 in the third quarter and fought to overtake the Crusaders, weren’t enough for Bainbridge.

Eastside got its first win, 57-54, in a game that got interesting when Bainbridge climbed back from a 35-15 halftime deficit.

“It seems a long way to come for just 10 good minutes of basketball,” Orness said.

“This is our breakthrough year,” the coach said. “We have the horses, we have the ability to be that third (Metro League playoff) team. We just have to beat the teams we should beat, and we’ll cause some surprises , like against Seattle Prep.

“We can win against those better teams, too.”

With the Prep game a memory, Bainbridge missed the important step, falling to an Eastside Catholic team they should have beaten. The Crusaders hadn’t won a Metro game going into the contest, and had been beaten in every quarter of play on the season.

Bainbridge was poised to take advantage after the third in which a fierce defense, anemic for the first two quarters, caught on fire, causing turnovers and breakaway baskets galore.

But Eastside threw itself around the home gym, and threw in key buckets to keep ahead of Bainbridge, which fell to 2-3.

John Bruns hit four straight three-point shots in the second half before missing two desperation heaves. He finished with five treys to lead all scorers with 17.

Theo Miller added 15, and Grant Leslie 11. Coby Gibler continued to develop, balancing foul-influenced minutes while registering eight points.

It was Miller and Gibler who started things in the second half, trading baskets underneath, often courtesy of Leslie’s passes. Then Bruns began an incredible run of long range shooting, book-ending a two and a trey by Leslie.

Eastside led at the end of three by only four, 44-40.

After an Eastside run, Bainbridge closed the gap to 50-49, on 10 unanswered points, capped with 3:40 to go by Miller on a feed from Leslie.

The Crusaders answered with a six-point run, but left the door open by missing three of four free throws. They made up for it by rebounding their misses down the stretch.

Leslie got the Spartans within four with a jumper in the lane. Then Miller took a feed from Cody Bludorn to make it 56-54, but the Crusaders converted one of two free throws as the seconds ticked away.

The Spartans traveled to Lakeside, now tied with Eastside Catholic at 1-4 on the season, for the late game Friday evening.

The squad then heads up the Olympic Peninsula for a tough non-conference match-up with the Sequim Wolves at 7 p.m. today.