By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Down one point late, the outcome rested on Shorewood Christian sophomore guard Jovi Fevaleaki's shooting touch and his drive from the corner baseline looked manageable as he rose up and let the ball fly from 10 feet away. But the ball went amiss and the Three Rivers Christian Eagles held on, 46-45, to beat the Lions at Chinook Middle School in SeaTac on Friday.

"I was waiting for it to go in there and it just hit the side of the backboard," said the 6-foot, 4-inch Fevaleaki, who led all scorers with 18 points.

All that game-winning-shot glory looked good going toward the hoop, like a perfect ending, for Fevaleaki, and his team, coaches and fans for this White Center location school to erupt into frenzy against a Kelso area team that's kind of a rival. The Lions and Eagles met at the 2B state tournament, too, last season.
But, no, it wasn't to be for the Lions, the game, the win, the glory.

It was an interesting ending before that last-second Fevealaki miss, too, as with 16 seconds left the Lions called time with the ball in possession. And, coming out of the break, they passed the ball around, and nearly lost it on an errant throw. But the Lions' 6-0 point guard, Stan Domingo, went diving for the loose ball and came up with it and got a timeout called as he was sprawled on the floor. That little episode changed the clock from 16 seconds down to five seconds, and in that literal handful of time after another timeout by Lions' coach Alfonso Gonzales he was expecting the ball to be taken out near his bench on the sideline because that's where the referee pointed prior to the Lions using their timeout.

"We weren't quite ready to take the ball out underneath the basket, we thought we were going to get it on the sideline," said Gonzalez, whose team took fifth in the state in 2B last season, even though, so far, in all non-league games, they are 0-6 to start. "The referee pointed to the sideline before the timeout."

So that put Gonzales' team in a chaotic mindset, as the play Gonzales drew up was for having the ball be taken out of bounds on the right sideline and swinging it over to the left side into the corner for Fevealeaki to take a game-winning shot from the corner.

"With five seconds left, there wasn't enough time to change anything, do anything different," said Gonzales.

Cramped quarters?

"Yeah," said Gonzales, who said all that but also said, too, that the blame for the play not going as he planned was on him. "My bad coaching, drew up play on the sideline, had a go-to in-bounds play and I drew up the wrong play for the situation."

So, Fevaleaki didn't have his best way to play for that play.

"The play was supposed to go to the corner, but their guy came out there," said Fevaleaki.

Took the space away?

"Yeah," said Fevaleaki. "I had to drive. I lost track of where I was on the court. I rushed my shot. I thought I had more time than I did."

Just one of those games that the ball didn't bounce the Lions' way. And, though, the Lions are winless so far this season. That's OK, said Gonzales. The team's played tough teams, including a 3A and 4A team and a 1A team, and, being a 1B team, the lowest classification in high school sports, that explains that record pretty well for this high-placing Lions state team last season.

But, in this game, the Lions really looked like they were just about to run away with the game late in the second quarter. So, starting out 7-2 ahead after the first quarter, the Lions extended that lead to 20-15 with two minutes left in the second quarter. But, then, a Three Rivers player, Eric Powell, who hit no shots to that point in the game, swished a three-point shot that cut the lead to 20-18 Lions with 1:30 in the second. And, then, two more buckets by the foe in the final minute of the second quarter, and, the smoke cleared, showing the wrong team roaring into halftime, with momentum. The Eagles led the Lions, 22-20.
So close to putting the foe away there, the Lions were, maybe, one or two baskets away from making it around a double digit lead after the second quarter, breaking the Eagles' will, quite possibly.
"One stop away, yeah," said Gonzales. "But, that kid hit the three, totally unexpected. He doesn't hit that three and, I think, it's a totally different ballgame. Motivating swing-point for them."

In the third quarter, the Eagles extended their lead to 28-22 before Domingo crashed through the lane for a layup, making it 28-24 with 5:30 left in the third. Then, the Eagles' Seth Carns, who led their team with 14 points, hit a 3-pointer, upping its lead to 31-24, but Fevaleaki knocked down a long range three, cutting the Eagles' lead to 31-27 with 4:30 left in the third. And, not done yet, Fevaleaki hit another long-rang shot, making it a 34-33 game. And, exchanging baskets, and a couple shots at the free throw line, the score was 36-34 at the end of the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, more back-and-forth action and lead changes as the Lions took the lead, 38-36, when Domingo missed a runner and 6-4 sophomore guard, JJ Young, followed the ball in, rebounding the miss back up and off the glass. Then, off an Eagles turnover, sophomore Lucas Sollesvik made a layup off a nice feed inside, from way up top, by Young, so it was 40-36 Lions.

Things were looking good for the Roxbury area school, kids coming from all over the SeaTac, Burien, White Center, West Seattle areas to be a Lion.

But, the Eagles' Carns, again, kept it close, draining a three ball, 40-39, with 4:45 to go in the fourth quarter. Then, a Lions turnover, and an Eagles turnover back-to-back, gave the host team the ball. Munson hit a short jumper, so it was 42-39 Lions, trying to extend their lead and break the fighting spirit of the Eagles. Then, Domingo, off an Eagles miss and Young board, drove the lane, was fouled, and made the bonus shot at the line, making it a comfortable 45-39 Lions lead with now only 3:00 to go in the game. But the Eagles were game, and soared right back into contention with a Carns 3-point shot, knocking the score to 45-42. Then another of their scorers, Caleb Moore, did damage on the Lions, making a short jumper off the Lions' 21st turnover of the game. That made it a one-point game, 45-44, Lions and the tension could be cut with a knife, as both sides' fans were really loud now.

Then, off a missed Lions' shot inside, the Eagles got the ball and Moore scored it inside to make it 46-45.
Then, Fevaleaki, on the Lions' end of the court, got inside and floated, nimbly, with his body from outside the paint, hopping inside, with the ball raised high. But, the shot he let go hit the rim and circled on the lip for 180 degrees before rolling off.

That, brought an ooh from the crowd, both sides, on that close-close make, and what it really did was bring the Lions' fans to complete life, sensing desperation kick in with 2:00 to go on the score clock and their team down one.

"Defense, defense," they started chanting en force, in concert, both sides of the court filled with fans, plus a small section, pretty full, of Eagles' fans. But as soon as the Lions fans started shouting "defense," what did the Eagles fans do?

"Offense, offense, offense," the Eagles fans shouted, trying to, pretty successfully at that, drown out the Lions' fans cheers.

And, so, the Eagles did play good defense, getting the ball back on a Fevaleaki rebound. That set up the final two timeouts for the Lions that just weren't meant to lead to a great, dramatic win for the Lions.
"I got a young team, a bunch of character and heart," said Gonzales. "I can't ask for anything more as a coach."

Besides, Feveleaki's 18 points, Domingo chipped in 11 points and Sollesvik seven, Young five and Munson two. The Eagles got the 14 from Carns, along with nine from Powell and eight from Moore.