Sports
Tides boys upset O’Dea in regionals, earn first-round state bye
The Gig Harbor boys basketball team faced a tall order playing against the state’s third-ranked O’Dea Fighting Irish in a Class 3A regional playoff game Saturday morning at Bellevue College, as in 6-foot-9, 6-foot-9 and 6-foot-6 across the front line. The Tides entered as the state’s No. 6 team at 22-2 and champions of the South Sound Conference. O’Dea came in at 20-6, fresh off a narrow loss to top-ranked Garfield in a district championship game.
Gig Harbor had to play without one of its best players, Will Landram, who sprained an ankle in the previous playoff game against Spanaway Lake. O’Dea might be called the Fighting Irish, but good Irish fighters know that if a fight is inevitable, the guy who lands the first hard punch has the best chance to win. The Tides landed the first punch. They were more aggressive, faster to the ball, rebounded harder, wanted it more and took it with a resounding 62-51 victory in front of their roaring fan base.
Ryan Pickles beats his defender to the cup for two of his 12 points. Photo courtesy of Jerry Chunn
The first quarter began with the Tides penetrating the lane. Christian Parrish made a couple tough shots and then exploded past a defender with a crossover hesitation move for a layup and foul. He scored seven early points.
“Parrish is a very tough kid,” Coach Billy Landram said of a player who doesn’t get the attention he deserves. “Who people choose to hype is out of our control. The only way to change perceptions is to compete and be successful. Christian is the epitome of that.”
Asher Raquiza was hot from the perimeter in the first quarter. He hit three deep threes, the last one snapping the net from 24 feet and letting O’Dea know that if they don’t get out on him, they’ll be taking the ball out of the net.
The second quarter opened with the speedy Parrish suffering a calf cramp, with Landram already unavailable. No panic as Gig Harbor received quality reserve minutes from Britt Born. Ryan Pickles delivered an assist to Luke Browne who hit a tough, running turn-around three and got a bucket on the next possession on a post-up back-down shot off the glass. Parrish, after being stretched by the trainer, ran back on the court like a new man with the Tides holding a 27-14 lead with three minutes to go in the quarter.
Pickles attacked full court to the basket and got a gliding layup to fall, Parker Born hit a driving layup, grabbed four rebounds and a half-court steal. Gig Harbor stayed in its swarming 2-3 matchup zone, only allowing one 3-pointer all day and keeping O’Dea off the boards despite the size disadvantage.
Third-quarter momentum swung to the Irish as they attacked the offensive glass for rebounds and drew fouls on their second shot attempts. Without a consistent lineup and fouls mounting, Coach Landram had to go to his bench and rotate reserves Britt Born, Cole Browne and Ben Stephens.
“I was confident in our kids,” Landram said of the bench. “We’ve been forced to play games all season with many of our players missing a game or two. I think the kids are used to coming in and stepping up to the moment.”
Asher Raquiza hits a mid-range jumper for two of his 15 points against third-ranked O’Dea. Photo courtesy of Jerry Chunn
The end of the quarter saw flying Raquiza bogart a rebound from two players and power up a shot while getting fouled. He sank the free throw and ended an Irish scoring run as Gig Harbor led only 39-38 at the end of the third.
“Our seniors played very tough,” Landram said. “They set the tone versus O’Dea and gave us a physicalness that was needed to win.”
The start of the fourth had a playoff atmosphere as the large Gig Harbor crowd rose to its feet and urged the Tides to finish the job. O’Dea, which only led after the first shot of the game, scored on a layup after a blocking call but missed the free throw, leaving the score at 40-40.
The Irish had defended Tides leading scorer Luke Browne well, face-guarding him at the 3-point line with the 6-foot-9 Russell McFarland. Landram called for Browne in isolation in the fourth quarter and he drove, drew a foul and cashed in two free throws to push the lead to 46-42.
“Teams are focusing on Luke, and rightfully so,” Landram said. “That said, he has done a great job of being aggressive but at the same time making other players better. He is certainly cool under pressure. We want the ball in his hands when it counts.”
With the Tides leading by just three, the Irish missed a shot and there was a mad scramble for the ball by a diving Parker Born, causing an O’Dea player, who was trying to avoid an over-and-back violation, to throw the ball backward. Pickles broke on it like Earl Thomas, flying through the air for the steal and racing to the basket while getting fouled. The Gig Harbor fans erupted as the intense Pickles slammed his fist into his chest emphatically.
The Irish answered with a bucket by leading scorer Mason Williams, and it was still a four-point game, 50-46, with a 1:50 to play. The Tides got the ball to Browne on the perimeter, he drew another foul and hit two more free throws despite the screams of O’Dea fans.
In a final turning point, Parker Born was fouled on a rebound. The senior, who played tight end on the football team and has a similar style to Kurt Rambis with the old Showtime LA Lakers, doesn’t need to score to affect the outcome. He cleans the glass, blocks out, finds the open man, plays hard defense and throws his body around. As he approached the free throw line with a little over a minute to go and the Tides clinging to a four-point lead, Landram instructed the other Tides to go back down the court, leaving Born alone with four Irish players filling the free throw lanes.
Christian Parrish, who scored 16 points, goes hard to the hoop against O’Dea. Photo courtesy of Jerry Chunn
He calmly sank the first shot and missed the second, but launched himself into four defenders going for the rebound. He knocked down two Irish players, grabbed the rebound, shot again, missed, snagged another board and finally the ball was knocked out of bounds by O’Dea. The Tides fans and bench players flexed their muscles to symbolize the physical play. If any play said, “We want it more,” that was it. The hustle soon turned into points as Browne was fouled on the inbounds and dropped two more free throws.
The Irish got a quick bucket and went to a full-court press and were about to get a turnover on the inbounds play as the Tides couldn’t find anyone open. Landram screamed for a timeout at the 4.5-second mark, saving a huge possession.
After the timeout, Pickles was fouled immediately and calmly sank two free throws to keep a six-point cushion. O’Dea scored again and pressed, but Browne hit two more free throws with 38 seconds left, going a perfect 10-for-10 in the critical final four minutes.
Browne said of the free throws,” We work really hard on them and I want to be the one taking them at the end.”
The game ended as Raquiza snagged another board, tossed to Parrish, then to Pickles, who flew over the rim for an emphatic, two-handed jam as the buzzer sounded. It put an exclamation point on a 62-51 win, causing Gig Harbor players and fans to erupt.
Parrish led the Tides with 16 points, Raquiza and Browne each had 15, Pickles 12 and Parker Born five.
Landram has a tough, physical team full of hard workers who aren’t afraid to throw that first punch, hard-nosed kids who aren’t just satisfied to get there, who have the mentality that teams need to win big games and state championships.
The Tides are one of four teams to earn an important bye in the first round of the state tournament. They will face the winner of Wednesday’s Ferris-Rainier Beach game, Thursday at 12:15 p.m. in the Tacoma Dome.