By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

The lead was all Mount Rainier's, all four quarters, until the final nine seconds of the game Tuesday, when Tahoma's Ryan Best made one of two free throws to tie the game, 37-37.

After a long three-point shot missed off glass by the Rams, for the win, at the buzzer, it meant the game was going to overtime, and the visiting Bears won, 42-38, in it.

Should have been over long before overtime, in regulation, as the Rams' 6-foot, 4-inch forward, Malcolm Cola, finished off a nice drive to the basket while getting fouled. He made two free throws from the line and that Rams led, 37-30, with 3:00 left in the fourth quarter.

"Should have been over," said Rams' coach Ken Bush. "We're young, a team full of sophomores and juniors."

The Rams dropped to 3-11 overall and stayed 1-3 in the South Puget Sound League Northwest Division since this was not a division game.

"We just don't know how to win. That's probably the seventh game this season we've been in that same situation, leading in the game. We don't execute. We get tight. We do things that are uncharacteristic, not winning plays."
After Cola, a sophomore who tied for a game-high 13 points with a Tahoma player, had made that athletic swoop into the lane with the basketball, driving to the bucket, getting fouled and netting the bonus free throw, things looked really good for the Rams. They were up seven points after Cola's three-point play with 3:00 left in the fourth frame.

But then Tahoma scored, with 2:15 left in the fourth quarter, when it's top scorer, Kellen Sturdivan, hit a short-range shot and cut the Rams' lead to 37-32.

Then the Rams, still ahead by five points, took a shot after only five seconds elapsed off the 35-second shot clock on their next possession and they missed the shot.

And, the Bears got the rebound, drove down the court, and passed the ball around a few times before an open lane to the basket presented itself for Sturdivan. He got fouled, driving, went to the line, made 2-for-2 free throws, and, cut the Rams' lead to 37-34 with 1:41 left in the fourth quarter.

"Up five points and we go and take shots with 30 seconds on the game clock," said Bush, frustration showing in his voice, as he did maintain a resolve of a smile. "That's not how you play basketball. You play keep-away when you are up five points late in a game, and get a good shot."

Then another quick shot by a Rams player in the first few seconds off the shot clock and the Bears got the rebound. And, they turned it over and the Rams turned it over, and there was 1:00 showing on the scoreboard.

Leader quality players on the team like Cola, though a sophomore, and also the team's senior captain and point guard, running the floor, Austin Sharma, have a tough workload, trying to get players to realize the errors of their ways, taking shots so quickly.

"My job is to let people know what to do, I need to lead the team better, especially through adversity," said Sharma.

Cola, still a young underclassman, is a player Coach Bush counts on, and he wasn't making the rushed shots when the Rams were up five late in the game.

Cola said, trying to explain his role in helping teammates not do that kind of rushed shooting, "I just talk to my teammates, point to my head. I say it's all about thinking and making the right decisions."

So, with the ball, again, with 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Bears got a bucket, chopping the Rams' game-long lead to one point, 37-36.

After a Rams' time out, and Bush showing players in a huddle what to do for their next play, via a clipboard, the Rams came out of the timeout and milked the clock down to just under 10 seconds. That was perfect timing, bringing the clock to where they needed, to take a shot with the shot clock expiring.
But a player missed the jump shot from up top. Cola got his hand on the rebound, though, and he tipped it to teammate, Rashaun Ryalls, a junior. But, on the tip, a push foul was called on the Rams inside the paint. And, the Bears tied the game, 37-37, at the stripe, being in the bonus, with 9.3 seconds left. It was the first time the Bears were tied since the start of the game.

And, after a Rams full timeout, they came out with a good play. They set up a screen, it looked like, for sophomore shooting guard Barinder Sandhu, to launch a three-point shot from behind the arc. Right as the clock was ticking down to 3, 2, 1, seconds, Sandhu jumped high and let 'er fly. And the ball bounced off the backboard and missed going in.

So, overtime.

The Rams got the ball first, off the center jump ball, and the Bears got the ball and quickly scored to lead 39-37. Cola got fouled and missed a 1-and-1 at the line. Then, a miss by Cola, but Ryalls, a 6-3 center, got the rebound, so the Rams had the ball with just over three minutes to go in the overtime. But a turnover hampered things, then the Bears turned the ball over, on good defense from Sharma, Shawn Mamon, Sandhu and Cola. Sandu got the ball and drove to the bucket but missed the shot off the glass.
The Rams got whistled for a holding foul after a missed Bears shot and they made 1-for-2 at the line, making it 40-37 with 1:30 to go. Cola drove the lane and the 6-4 power forward got fouled and made 1-for-2 from the line, cutting the Bears' lead to 40-38.

The Bears, then, turned the ball over on good perimeter defense from the Rams, and the Rams turned over the ball with 1:15 to go in the overtime. The defense, once again for the Rams, held and got the ball back and Rams took a timeout with 1:02 seconds left in the overtime. And, with 46 seconds left, Sharma took a clean-look jumper and missed. But Trey Tolbert got the rebound and he quickly was stopped by coach Bush calling another timeout with 20.6 seconds to go in OT. It was a full timeout.

So, coming out of the two-minutes of clipboard tutilage by Bush, explaining the play to be run, the Rams passed the ball around well, and, then, with time running out, 6, 5, 4...they got a shot off. It was a nice driving shot from Sharma, who was about to right-hand loop the ball over a Bears' taller defender when he got bumped hard. That bump jostled the ball from Sharma's hand. A foul was called on the play, so that was good. With 3.8 seconds to go in the game, Sharma went to the line with a chance to tie the game, 40-40, but he missed both free throws.

Sharma was asked if the play of the game earlier, with players taking hurried shots when his team was up, five, seven, points, late in the fourth quarter, if that had an effect on him at the line in that clutch, free throw, shooting, situation.

He hesitated, some, but said, "Yeah."

But, he added, "I just have to keep my focus."

So, Tahoma got the ball with 3.8 seconds, off the Sharma misses at the line, and they were fouled and made two foul shots and that was the ballgame -- Bears winning by four.

Of their Rams' coach, and assistant coaches like Michael Williams and Isan Goldwire, Sharma said, "They are helping us grow as a team. They believe in us. It's our job to carry out what the coaches want us to do. The coaches trust us. We just have to to execute. We've competed with the best of teams. The only thing that brings us down is us."

Anything Cola wanted to add?

"I think, Austin said it all, they are helping everyone, individually, and as a team," said Cola.

So, the season is almost half over, and more likely than not, the Rams are out of playoff contention with only one win against three losses. But, is the season lost?

"Definitely, not," said Sharma. "It's a learning experience for the guys for next year, something to look at and grow from. Try to learn from our mistakes. We need to keep playing hard now, executing what we know we can do. Everyone needs to keep playing, learning, helping each other out."

Coach Bush said that the Bears played well against them despite trailing the Rams from 2-0 all the way to the final seconds when they tied the game up, 37-37. Never in this game did the Bears lead until scoring the first two points of overtime and never looking back.

The Rams led, 6-0, to start the game. The Bears didn't score their first two points until 5:00 left in the first quarter. The Rams led, 9-4, at the end of the first quarter, and, 22-16, after the second, going into halftime. Then, in the third quarter, the Rams led, 31-27, and pushed the score to that 37-30 advantage before losing the lead and the game after that.

"They stay after it, they play hard," said Bush of the Bears, who improved to 4-8 overall and stayed 1-3 in the SPSL 'Northeast' division. "They are a well coached ball club."

After Cola's 13 points leading the Rams, Sharma had eight and Tolbert four.