By Kyle Howard
The Chief Sealth boys basketball team found themselves in a do or die situation as they went up against Bainbridge Thursday night for a playoff game. The Seahawks lost by 18 against Eastside Catholic in their first playoff game earlier in the week. After losing twice to Bainbridge during the regular season they picked a good time to seek their revenge as they pull off the close win 52-44.

Chief Sealth’s defense and clutch scoring down the stretch proved to be the difference in this one. The Seahawks forced 16 Spartan turnovers, with 10 of them coming from steals. On the offensive side Seahawk guard Charlie Smith had a great game finishing with a game high 22 points and knocking down 3 three pointers. Pepe Hernandez had a quieter game than usual as he finished with 13. Bainbridge guard scored nearly half of the Spartans points and ended with 21.

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Bainbridge kept the score close throughout the game, Chief Sealth never led by more than eight points. In the final minutes of the fourth quarter the Spartans made a run, closing the scoring gap down to two. After a Chief Sealth timeout with just over a minute left, they slowed the ball down to take up some time until Charlie Smith saw an opening and drove to the basket for a layup to close the game out.

Chief Sealth head coach Colin Slingsby said after the game “I was really proud of them on the defensive end tonight, this was a team we gave up a lot of points to in the first two games, and I thought we did a good job tonight”. “We do need to refine some things before this upcoming game though”.

After the win the Seahawks placed seventh in the bracket, they will only get one day off and have to play Nathan Hale on Saturday in an elimination game. The two met at the very start of the season as Chief Sealth beat them in overtime 71-69.