By Gerardo Bolong 

CONTRIBUTING WRITER 

Evenly matched teams battled back and forth for nearly the full 32 minutes in Tukwila in a first round West Central District III 2A boys basketball tournament game before the final determination was clear on Coach Parker Court on Thurs., Feb. 13.

Trailing 69-67 with just more than three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, host team Foster worked its way into position for victory.

Jamari Severson swished home a 10-foot shot for the Bulldogs for a tie score.

Following a Foster defensive stop, Severson swatted a rebound of a missed FHS shot out to Isaiah Ford who nailed down a basket for a 71-69 Bulldog lead with 1:46 on the scoreboard clock.

The Sentinels called time out before missing a shot ahead of a Steilacoom offensive rebound.

Fouled during the rebound scramble, Isaiah Devane drained two free throws to tie the game at 1:23.

With just less than 45 seconds showing, Foster had possession and attempted to run the clock down for a possible last shot, but threw the ball away with 18 seconds left.

The Sentinels cleared half court before calling time out with 10.7 seconds remaining.

SHS worked the ball inside. Several offensive put backs were unsuccessful, but Isaiah Devane attracted a foul with 2.6 seconds on the clock before securing two free throws for Steilacoom.

Calling time out, Foster in bounded to get the ball near mid court for a heave that bounded off the front rim, securing the Sentinel 73-71 victory.

As a result, Steilacoom (12-10) remained in the double elimination bracket to travel to North Kitsap on Feb 15.

Foster (13-8) was relegated to a loser-out encounter against the Bremerton-Renton loser on Feb. 19. The game is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. at Curtis High School.

“The teams were even,” said Foster head coach Robert Graham Sr. “They may have wanted it more. That turnover at the end hurt. We wanted to have the last shot. They out rebounded us by 10. Markell carried us. Everybody has to be part of it.”

Throughout the battle, the teams were mirror images of each other in strategy and style.

Matching steals, breakaways and three-balls against each other’s zone defenses, point differential was continuously low.

The biggest lead for Foster was five points at 53-48 while Steilacoom earned its biggest lead at 61-58 before the final five minutes featured a pair of ties until Markell Jackson cleared away for an unchallenged lay up as Foster led 65-63 with just less than five minutes to go.

Ford eventually sank a lay up to send Foster back into the lead at 67-66 only to watch as the Sentinels grabbed the lead back at 69-67 on a Gordon three-point play in advance of the waning minutes.

”We shot the ball well, but I could have gotten my teammates more involved,” said Jackson, who was a tower of strength with seven three-balls as part of his 27 points.

Severson followed at 13 points as Ford put up 11. Anwar Kamal was powerful off the bench for nine points on a trio of threes.

Devane posted 15 points for Steilacoom with Cordon at 13 and Devin Asaeli at 12.