Good news became known from at first bad news, real bad news, and, it all came to light in a 24-hour period, as the Mount Rainier Rams were catapulted from the ranks of the unbeaten in the Seamount League with an 89-49 slam-dunking by the host Renton Indians Thursday.

The Rams learned Friday that the "athletic participation agreement" violation leading to the suspension of three key players for three weeks starting Jan. 29 or thereabouts would be shortened to one week, thanks to a successful appeal to the league.

"That is good news. We are glad to have those players back," said Rams head coach Brian Johnson, whose team came into the Renton game undefeated, 10-0, in the Seamount and no longer carries that status nor likely will be ranked No. 5 in the Times 3A state poll after this Renton loss.

It was very good news for the Rams to be getting those three suspended players back sooner than expected. The Rams beat the Indians, 49-33, in the first meeting this season, with those players suspended present for that one.

And, truth be told, the Rams probably would have given more of that kind of beating to Renton Thursday if not for those threes' absence. Those three players out of this game meant unusual Rams players carrying the load, players that would not have got the job done at districts. According to Johnson, those suspended players would not have fulfilled their suspension in time to play in districts. So this news was good news indeed.

Suspended players - shooting guard Alfie Miller, (24 points per game average, 8 assists), center Jon Morine (19 ppg, 12 rebounds) and swing man Theo Bowie, the team's best defender with a 40" vertical leap -- will be back following the Kennedy game Feb. 5 however and panicked hearts. A few thousand of the Rams fans out there can rest at ease now.

Likely, the Rams will lose to Kennedy without their senior leaders, so Renton will then get first place in the Seamount and the Rams second. But the Rams in the Seamount League tournament will likely, with their stars back, get a chance to exact revenge to Renton for beating them by 40 in this last game. Both should play in the No. 1 versus No.2 seeding game for district if Kennedy does not beat one of them out.

This game for the Rams versus Renton needed a calming factor quickly as the Indians ran roughshod shooting the basketball to take a 25-13 first-quarter lead. It wasn't that the Rams shot terribly bad either in the first quarter. The Rams shot 50 percent from field goal range, shooting 3-for-6. But the Indians shot 8-for-12 from inside the three-point arc. And, both teams shot 2-for-3 for 66 percent from behind the three-point arc so that percentage didn't draw any conclusions.

But that bleeding that began for the Rams in the first quarter, an early 12-point deficit, became a lot worse thereafter as Renton outscored the Rams, 10-6, in the second quarter to lead 35-19. Being outscored 10-6 was not so bad in the second quarter unless the 12 points outscored before that is taken into perspective. In the second quarter, the Rams shot 1-for-5 for both field goals and three-point shots while the Indians shot 3-for-4 field goals and 1-for-1 threes.

The third quarter was more of the same. The Indians stretched the lead, outscoring the Rams, 25-17, for that frame. The score was 60-36 then.

"We have only four seniors in the first place and those are the guys that calm them down," said Rams head coach Brian Johnson.

Just winning the Indians game they just lost and then winning one of it's last two against Kennedy that was played Feb. 5, and, then, Hazen coming up Feb. 8, would have made Mount Rainier league champs.

Now, with this loss to Renton, the Rams need to beat Kennedy and Hazen to force a one-game playoff against Renton after the regular season concludes.

"The guys in there need to suck it up and play much better against Kennedy than they did against Renton," said Johnson.

The Rams have won the last two Seamount championships, taking the reign away from Renton, who won most of the championships the 10 years prior to 2006. So Johnson has done remarkably well in his five years, considering the Rams had a 3-17 season the year before he arrived. Johnson's not just won the league and had 20 win seasons nearly every season he's been here, he's taken the Rams to the state tournament four of five times in that time.

Johnson was not down on his players after this game at all, even if it sounds like it above. The players got "game experience" as he put it, in the Renton game that will help them do better this next time around against Kennedy and that is what he was saying. A little experience under the belt will hopefully make these younger, less experienced -- but talented -- players play much better against Kennedy than they did against Renton.

"Those are our pressure guys (out)," said Johnson. "They have played a lot of minutes in state tournaments. But we still had a lot of talent on that team out there tonight."

Johnson knew the Indians were tough and thought his players that played in the place of Miller, Bowie and Morine put a good step of experience forward.

"I am proud of the way those guys played that were in there," said Johnson. "We had to change how we run our plays. Guys who were the third or fourth option..."

Were suddenly thrust into the limelight.

"Some guys who don't get game experience got it," said Johnson.

And, boy, did they ever get it.

The panic was obvious on this Rams team, not knowing what to do against a team of the caliber of Renton from the beginning of this game. The Rams turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter and seven times in the second quarter for 14 times total. The Indians turned the ball over seven times in both those quarters combined. Rebounding was a big plus for the Indians, too. Without a big muscular player like Morine inside crashing the boards for the Rams, the Indians got way too many putback chances off missed shots that they nearly always put in.

"We all tried to step up and do the best with what we had," said the Rams' Josh Armstrong.

Armstrong made a nice block of a shot, actually two on the same play one time, and, shot 2-for-4 in the first quarter and 1-for-2 from three-point range to lead his team. Vonchae Richardson, the Rams' point guard, made three three-pointers and made several nice passes inside for points to Armstrong and Tyrell Lewis to keep this game from being a complete blowout.

The turnovers were about even the second half, two and four for the Rams and two and one for the Indians, but the damage was done.

The Rams shot 9-of-20 field goals in and 7of-17 three-pointers while the Indians put in 28-of-36 and then 6-of-9. Neither shot particularly well from the free throw line. The Rams shot 9-for-16 while the Indians were 14-for-25.

But this game is through and these players that in one word, "hard work," according to Johnson, will all be as one again right in time for the postseason.

For the Rams, Richardson scored 16, Butler 12 and Armstrong 11. Renton had five players in double figures.

"They were depleted of players," said Renton head coach Rick Comer. "They will be back strong. Those guys, (Dick)Fain, Vaughn (Johnson) and Brian (Johnson) know basketball."