By Kyle Howard

A boys basketball matchup between the O’Dea Fighting Irish and the Chief Sealth Seahawks took place Tuesday night Jan. 24th at Chief Sealth high school. O’Dea’s ability to get to the free throw line proved to be the big difference in this game.

O’Dea’s aggressive offense seemed to be too much for the Seahawk defense to handle; unable to cover their men Chief Sealth was in foul trouble most of the game. The Fighting Irish shot 24-35 from the line, proving to be a huge advantage for them. The Seahawks foul trouble would lead to two players fouling out in the fourth quarter, including Chief Sealth star Pepe Hernandez who finished with 14.

O’Dea led the entire game but when it looked like they were about to run away with it Chief Sealth was at their heels and wouldn’t go away. Down by 13 points halfway through the fourth quarter the Seahawks three point shooting would bring them back. Seahawk senior guard Scott Johnson knocked down two crucial three pointers late in the fourth quarter to bring their deficit down to four points but wouldn’t prove to be enough as O’Dea beat Chief Sealth 63-59. Following the final buzzer a minor fight broke out between the two teams; both benches cleared but no punches were thrown as the coaches did a good job breaking things up before it got too out of hand.

O’Dea’s Dana Abe was the game high scorer with 23, followed by Sekeo Wiggs with 13, including two clutch free throws in the final 20 seconds of the game to help seal the win. On Chief Sealth’s side Charlie Smith ended with 16, Pepe Hernandez with 14 and Aaron Knox with 11.

Chief Sealth now stands at 5-5 in the Metro sound division and remains in second place behind the 10-0 Rainier Beach Vikings. O’Dea also remains in second place in the Metro Mountain division at 8-4 behind Seattle Prep. Chief Sealth’s next game is at Eastside Catholic on Friday Jan. 27th and O’Dea will be at Lakeside on Saturday Jan. 28th.