Todd Beamer Titans! Just collosal

In a game that maybe after Beamer could have called it a season, a 82-54 tiebreaker SPSL seeding loss to Puyallup three days earlier, the Titans came back to play their crossover game against the SPSL North's No. 4 seed.

And they came back from the dead in that game, against Kentlake, for a 71-63 win at Bethel High School last Friday.

After a great win over the same Puyallup team to end the season tied for third in the league, the Titans were crushed three days later by the same team.

That hurt. A lot !

"We needed to win this one. For us, we needed to win that one for coming back after the Puyallup game."

And they really came back, in more ways than one, in winning and also in how they did it-a great comeback.

The score was 21-13, Todd Beamer, after the first quarter. So it was looking good for no comeback needed, thanks to their shooter, slasher, passer -- 6-0 point guard Dakin Wanquist, notching nine points to lead the way. But, and, maybe the Titans just took the foot off the gas, as teams that get ahead by a few points in a basketball game -- any basketball game -- can humanly let another team sneakily go for the pass.

But there should have been no Titans thinking that Kentlake could not come back and was not a good team. Afterall, they just had beat SPSL North league champion Kentridge three days earlier.

That all said, the Falcons did come back on the Titans, monstrously, with a 23-6 second quarter run that made this game seem not close anymore, 36-27, and it wasn't the Titans leading.

The third quarter was huge, again, and, like the Puyallup win they got to end the season, they came back. Unlike the Puyallup win to end the season that they were down by five points only. Beamer this time was down by a few more dollars, so to speak. Nine!

But then came the third quarter and ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-ching. That sound you just heard was "money." And this case "money's" name was senior 6-4 shooting guard Andrew Winton.

Winton nailed a three-pointer after some nice passing. Looking for that extra pass was Beamer, as the Falcons' defense kept them moving the rock around the perimeter. And, after 40 seconds of that to start the eight minute third quarter, the ball got in Winton's hands and his three made it, 36-30.

The Falcons then got the ball and on their next trip downcourt, scored, on not one, not two, but only after the third rebounder got the putback. Part of Beamer's trouble, and one more reason why this comeback was all the more amazing is that senior leading rebounder 6-4, 250-pound widebody, Evan Cook, was not in there.

"He got two quick fouls in the first quarter," said Richardson. "Then he picked up another, his third foul, in the second quarter (not even halfway through) and we had to sit him."

Cook sat out for much of the second quarter and the whole third quarter yet Beamer was still making strides in the right direction. After Winton's first three and Kentlake's subsequent three-rebound tri score made it 38-30 and made it seem surely like an uphill battle akin to being on an up escalator, Kentlake scored again to make it 40-30. A 10-point lead!

But that was it, and, that was it, too, for the Titans, who were led by Winton, who missed a couple threes in the second quarter, to note, to take this game in a totally different direction.

Winton hit another three to make it 40-33. Then Wanquist drove the lane and scored to make it 40-35 5:30 left in the third quarter. Then Kentlake looked to be dousing this rally try by Beamer with a dunk on the other end off a Beamer turnover and it was 42-35 Falcons.

Then Wanquist drove the lane, scored, and was fouled, and made the bonus at the free throw line, 42-38. Kentlake scored to lead by six, 44-38.

The Titans just saw every move by Kentlake as 'check,' but not checkmate, obviously, as the comeback continued with back-to-back Winton three-pointers. Tie game, 44-44.

Winton had made a mistake in the second quarter, a travel, that hurt, because the perfect pass from Wanquist for an easy layup was negated. He was down about that.

"I wanted to give a shout out to Christian (Cooper)," said Winton. "I was traveling on that layin and he said to just play your game."

Winton did, he led all scorers with 24 points, including scoring nine of the Titans' first 14 points of the third quarter. That's quite a game, especially when a lot of his points came at clutch times.

"After the first half, we were a little down," said Napa Mefi, a freshman, who made some big plays in this one. "We said we needed Andrew to win."

And they got him. They also got good play from other players, like Mefi.

He came up big with this game see-sawing back and forth following Winton's comeback threes and Wanquist's wily moves to the basket in the third. With the score, 46-46, after a Wanquist 2-for-2 at the line play, Mefi scored on a nice pass inside from Wanquist and it was 48-46, Titans. Mefi then scored 2-of-2 from the line to make it 50-46. And then he made another shot off a missed shot and it was 52-47, Titans.

The Titans would never trail again and would build that lead to 57-47 with 6:30 left in the fourth quarter.. The closest the rest of the game the Falcons would get would be 69-63. And that would be it.

The Titans play Wednesday today against the No. 1 team from the Narrows.

"This is the farthest we have gone in school history, this is our first playoff win," said Richardson. "I am really proud of our guys for the adversity we have gone through in the last couple days. We followed up the Puyallup loss with two great practices and this is the result of what we can do. All the guys on the floor did a great job and the coaches, J.R. Faria, Brian Graham, Jordan Barnes and David McNeil. The players did a great job listening (to the coaches) and focusing."

Wanquist had 23 points for the Titans. Alex Hart and Mefi had eight each.