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Todd Beamer's boys basketball team turned things around just in time to save their season best for seniors night -- as the Titans treated the visiting Puyallup Vikings to a 57-50 loss in both's regular season South Puget Sound League South finale Friday.

The Connie Richardson-coached Titans did it again, going 7-7 for a second straight year and will make the SPSL District Tournament. This was a perfect kind of victory. The seniors started the game for the Titans on this special night of theirs -- their last home game that ended afterward with a party for the team, seven of the nine, seniors. But, alas, that combination of seniors starting the game got the Titans in a hole, down 7-2, after the first three minutes. Richardson tried to mix things up and put in the two younger classmen as subs. But that didn't work either early on. The Vikings led by a lot still.

But in the end...

It felt awfully good to be a Todd Beamer Titans senior.

"Oh yeah," said senior forward Evan Cook, who scored 12 points. He only had six rebounds but he cleared the way for others, like senior Alex Hart, to corral eight boards in this come-from-behind barnburner.

"Yeah," said senior point guard Dakin Wanquist, smiling, turning around at the question, Good to be a senior?

Good indeed. There was a dessert banquet after the game, too. The seniors all got their pictures taken together with their blown up photos of selves being held. They were the hit of the party. There was sparkling cider and cake and they ate that, too.

Hey, who says you can't have your cake and eat it too?

This game was for the seniors, who got flowers and hugs and kisses from parents before the game started.

It was good to be a senior for Todd Beamer, but it was sure good they had some seniors. Most teams getting down by a lot of points early would have a hard time battling that storm for a victory. But these Titans seniors' experience got them to rise from the grave despite one nail in the coffin.

"We had more talent last year but we had more team experience this year," said Andrew Winton, a senior shooter who finished with 11 points. Wanquist scored nine. Hart tied Cook for a team-high 12. Junior Bradlee Williams added two and freshman Napa Mefi 10.

The Puyallup Vikings took a 15-8 lead after the first quarter and were up 26-21 at halftime, but it easily could have been worse than that. Senior playmaker Wanquist, with two minutes left in the second quarter, threw up a shot from behind the arc in the midst of hands flying in his face from the defender coming out at him.

Suh-wishhh. The score went from, 26-16, to 26-19, and it was just a huge shot in. No other way to put it.

"I just put it up, shot it in," said Wanquist. And that shot quelled Puyallup from thinking they were going to run away with it, maybe even run away with it in the final two minutes of the first half. It kind of did look like the foe was on the verge of doing that.

Wanquist' string-music all-net shot quieted the Puyallup fans, however.

Halftime!

"We're only down five," Titans coach, Connie Richardson remembers himself saying as he was talking with assistant J.R. Farias, heading into the locker room. Sure, if Wanquist didn't make that shot, the Titans still had another half of basketball and if you ask Richardson if the nail was in the coffin with Puyallup up 10 late in the second quarter he would wholeheartedly reject that thinking.

"I knew we were going to come back," said Richardson.

Even if Dakin hadn't made that shot to cut the lead to 26-19 late in quarter two?

"Even then," said Richardson. "I knew we just had to gather ourselves and play with some effort in the second half."

So, down the Titans were, by five, going into the third quarter.

And they wouldn't be down for long as at the beginning of the third-quarter the Titans effort would start with a Hart long-range three to make this one a two-point ballgame, 26-24, Vikings. Then the Vikings scored, then Winton scored and it was 28-26, Vikings still leading. Then, with five minutes to go in the third quarter, Winton let loose a corner long three shot that really hushed the Vikings' crowd which could be heard until then supporting their team full throatedly.

The Titans had taken the lead ! And for the first time in the game.

It was big support from Winton. He was thinking his game was not good until that three. He should have thought that, too.

"We got rhythm after Dakin's three, and it gave me and my teammates confidence," said Winton. "My teammates told me to keep shooting it. I wasn't hitting it but their telling me to keep shooting gave me confidence in myself."

The Titans' student section could sense things happening confidently in their team's favor at this point, up 29-28 on the Vikings.

The Titans then stretched their one-point lead to three, on a nice Winton pass from the right baseline that found Cook's big hands inside. The senior to senior scoring play made it 31-28 Titans. Puyallup then scored and Beamer scored and Puyallup scored again, this time a player hit a three point bomb for the Vikings to give them a 36-33 lead with 1:30 left in the third quarter. Then, with the momentum seemingly swinging back to the Vikings, freshman Napa Mefi made a shot, a three-ball.

That tied things up, a huge shot of support for the Titans. After Mefi's shot came Cook with a basket for two more, at the 3:10 mark, to make it 38-36 Titans. Puyallup would not go away though, hitting another three ball to take a 39-38 lead.

The third quarter ended with Hart shooting 1-for-2 from the free-throw line to tie it at 39-39.

In the fourth quarter, Wanquist would start things off momentously for his Titans team with a fast-break basket following a Vikings miss on the other end of the floor, and it was 41-39, Titans. The score would go to 44-44 with three minutes to go. Then, Cook's nice penetration and dribble and pass to Mefi would make it 46-44, Titans. Then Cook would hit a short 10-foot jumper to make it 48-44, Titans, with 1:45 to go in the fourth quarter.

The Vikings then did a couple turnovers in a row, thanks to good Titans pressure and Beamer stretched the lead to 52-46 on a Winton jumper that put the Vikings on life support with 45 seconds left and this game was over.

Speaking of support, or, at least the most memorable game support, it was Wanquist's big three late in the second quarter.

"That was a big shot," said Winton.

"That was the turning point of the game, it helped us get back in it, we were down by a lot," said Cook, who will attend Eastern Washington University on a full football scholarship next year.

On that note, for the game, Wanquist said of Cook, "Evan's turned into a basketball player, he's not just a football player."

"Ahhh," said Evan, giving his point guard a quick hug.

Wanquist made that big shot but there were just so many bigs in this game. Winton made that three and other twos. Cook made some key shots and was a big body in the paint all game long as well as a threat to score and pass off and defend. Hart scrapped and clawed for boards. Mefi played not like a freshman. The whole team made things happen. And it needed to happen that way. The seniors led, but more was needed than just them to beat a good team like Puyallup.

"Everyone stepped up," said Wanquist. "Every single player stepped up. That's what we needed. We haven't had that much this year."

The Titans did not have much of anything going for them to begin the season. They were almost on life support.

They were 2-5 and heading into the second half of the season against Spanaway Lake.

"We absolutely needed that game," said Richardson.

They got it. The Titans also did this season a lot better than last season.

"We started off 5-2 last year and finished the second half of the season 2-5," said Richardson. "This time we started out 2-5 and finished off the season 5-2."

That's good.

"We are going in the right direction," said Richardson.

Who wants this team to go farther than last year's team that made it to districts, but then lost it's first two games.

"We went two and out at districts last year," said Richardson. "This year our goal is to go deep into the playoffs."