by Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

T'was nice.
A crowd-rousing, fade-away, three-point shot by Chief Sealth International captain, senior, 6-0 guard, LJ Burns, merrily, tied the score, 64-64, with 2.8 seconds on the gameclock in the fourth quarter, but that nice play was made silent when the visiting Ballard Beavers went on to a 78-74, win, in overtime, Friday.
The Seahawks dropped to 0-5 in the Metro league, and, 2-5, overall, having a tough luck season thus far, having lost another OT game earlier this season, to Blanchet, and, also, close losses, to Cleveland and Blanchet, by three, and, six, points, respectively.

"I had to double clutch it, but I got a clean look at the basket, and, once it left my hands, I knew it was going in," said Burns, who scored 16 points to lead balanced scoring on his team against the Beavers.
Such a good quote! Wouldn't it be nice to dwell on that kind of coolness, those Burns' words of excitement there?

A screaming headline like, "Seahawks three-point shot flies through, sends team to OT win!
And, wouldn't it be nice to stay couched in the words of Seahawks coach, Colin Slingsby, following the game, heading into this most wonderful time of the year, Christmas, as, he praised his shooter, Burns' clutch three for latching his team to victory?

"LJ hit a nice shot," said Slingsby, after the game. "We've had different guys play well to extend games this season."

But, no. This game's end-game nicety came with so much not nice stuff that was in the game, in Slingsby's mind, as, he did not talk much about the overtime details, but, did about the bitter kind of way this overtime game ended.

"Unfortunately, in four of five games this season, we have been in a position to win," said Slingsby. "Those are tough losses."
In the five-minute, overtime session, the Beavers just, frankly, made more plays than the Seahawks in it, with their senior, 5-10 guard, Prescott Day, doing the most damage. Day, who led all scorers, with 22 points, scored seven of those in overtime.

With 3:45 in the overtime period, first, doing a blow for the Beavers, was another senior, 6-2 forward, Brian Weigand, getting a lay-up, making it 66-64. Still, the Seahawks were tough in OT, keeping things close most of the way, tying the score, 66-66, with 3:25 left on the clock in the extra period, via sophomore, 6-4 forward, Evan Moe's jumper from the top of the key.

But, Day countered, quickly, for the Beavers, getting a lay-up, off a nice pass inside, as the foe broke the Seahawks' press as they did a fairly good job of doing during the game, and, that score made it, 68-66, Beavers. The Seahawks' Alloney Burris, a 6-1 senior guard, showed toughness, dribbling, going, on a hop, into the lane, letting off a shot in the paint, missing, but, getting bumped, fouled, making one of two free throws. So, 68-67, the Beavers led.

However, Day put the Seahawks near a threshold of pain with a driving lay-up into the lane followed by a foul on the play and a 1-for-1showing at the foul line, making it a three-point play, and, a 71-67 Beavers lead with 2:30 left in OT.

The Seahawks' Burns scored inside the paint on a jump shot, with 2:10 on the clock left in OT, and, the Beavers next possession was close but no cigar for a score as the ball was put off glass, nicely, rolling to the rim, but going around the cylinder 180 degrees and rolling off.

The Seahawks then had possession, after a Burns' missed shot with a minute left in OT followed by a Ballard turnover on good pressure defense from the Seahawks. So, setting up a play, with 37 seconds, now, on the scoreboard to go in OT, the Seahawks ran an isolation play for Griffin to get the ball on the left side, outside the three point arc, to drive to the paint and get a shot off. And, the play went just as planned, almost, as, Griffin drove the lane, and, put up a shot, albeit a little off-balance on release, that, unfortunately, clanged off the rim.

"Oooh," Griffin could be heard saying after the play, slapping his hands, a look of regret on his face.
"It's OK," the Seahawks assistant coaches were saying, then. One said, too, "You'll get another chance."
But, no. That second chance for Griffin in OT never happened, as Day, scored a driving lay-up, quickly, off glass, gaping the margin to 73-69 in favor of the Beavers. And, Hafid Yassan, reached for and got a rebound and was fouled, and, made 1-for-2 from the stripe, so, 73-70. Then, Day, drove the lane, was fouled on the shot, made 2-for-2 from the line, to put the Beavers ahead, 75-70, with 20 seconds to go.

Yassan, then, made a lay-up with 14 seconds left, and, it was a 75-72 game, with only a three-point shot needed.
But, not much time was given, the Seahawks needed to foul, and, fouled Day, who made 1-for-2 from the foul line, upping the Beavers lead to 76-72. Burns then was fouled on a shot, and, went to then line, and, made 2-for-2, to make it 76-74, but, only 3.5 seconds were left on the clock. The Seahawks immediately fouled, sending Sebastian Schoenleber, a 5-10 sophomore, to the line, who made 2-for-2, increasing the lead, insurmountably, to 78-74, with two seconds left.

But, good game, overall, for the Seahawks, if they just had made those 15 foul shot misses in the game, at least, a few more, that would have complemented, nicely, it's good full-court press, deployed off and on by Slingsby, during the game.
But, missing those fouls shots was killer, as, the Seahawks shot 27-for-42 from the line, for 64 percent while the Beavers shot 18-for-22 for 82 percent. That was a big difference in the game said Slingsby, the difference between beating the foe or getting badly bitten, fang-struck, so to speak.
"We made a few too many mistakes and missed 15 foul shots," said Slingsby. "And, in a tough game, missing that many can come to snakebite you."
And, the coaches can only do so much to help players shoot better free throws, the biggest things with foul shots is shooting them, as, in going to a court and practicing them. And, best is if players do it on their time so that coaches don't have to do it on practice time when drills, sets plays are needing practiced. But, practice time is important.
But, not much coaching a coach(es) can do to help players shoot better from the stripe?
"No, that is on the players to get quality reps in practice," said Slingsby. "Our players need to buy into what we ask them to do on their shooting. And, I am confident they will be confident in what we want them to do, and, we will be better."
After a nice start to end the first quarter, an improbably three from Moe, about 40 feet from the basket, well behind the three-point line, went in, at the buzzer, close enough to not making it that that referees, then, huddled. The lead referee came out of the quick discussion with one hand doing a strike toward the floor, which means, 'count it.' So, that made it 7-5, Seahawks.
In the second quarter, Burris' layup made it 9-5, Seahawks, with a minute off the clock in that frame, and, then, following a Beavers' lay-in, by Weigand, Isiah Hart, heard Slingsby yelling, 'Attack. Attack,' perhaps, but, he drove the lane after some nice Seahawks perimeter passing, was fouled, and, made two free throws, making it a 11-7 lead with 7:00 left in the second. Moe then recorded his second block of the game, as, he did one in the first quarter, mightily, too, swatting it from a Beavers' shooter. And, things went back and forth after that the rest of the second quarter, including another block highlight for the Seahawks, by senior, 6-6 forward, Chad Wollengast with the Beavers leading, 32-30, going into halftime.
In the third quarter, the Seahawks used its full-court press a lot, but, didn't record many points from it, off Beavers turnovers, as, the foe led, 49-47, after the third was completed.

"We were successful with the press to a point, but I was pretty displeased with our half-court defense," said Slingsby.

In the fourth quarter, the press was broken mostly by the Beavers, but, the Seahawks man-to-man defense that was done all game long was successful in creating a couple disturbances for the Beavers' half-court game, and, they led 54-51, with 5:00 on the clock in the fourth, thanks to Hart's heads-up, follow of a Moe miss, and, fouled on the rebound score, Hart went to line and made the bonus shot.

The Beavers broke the Seahawks press its next trip down the court, scoring in the paint, from an interior pass down low, so, 54-53. Then, the lead changed hands four times in the next five minutes, with the last change, Day hitting a three-point shot with 12 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, making it a 64-61 Beavers lead. That's when Burns stepped up and hit the big shot, sending the game into overtime.
But, overall, Burns said his team just needs to do better.

"We missed 15 free throws, there's no answer for that," said Burns. "And, I think, we need to work on our team defense and intensity. Getting more serious about the game, playing for the full four quarters, and, in this game, overtime, that's what we are needing to do, trying to do."

And, there's a lot of the season left to try for the Seahawks, with a few games played so far, but most of the season is still come after the Christmas break time.

"Only five league games played so far, and, the biggest part of the season is in January and February," said Burns. "And, everyone in our league makes the playoffs. So, we can still make a run this season."
Coach Slingsby sees positives for the rest of the season, too, with the critical time that they need to win games still approaching, echoing Burns' words.

"We tell our kids we coach for January and February, that's what we tell our teams, that's when the bulk of our schedule is played," said Slingsby.

The Seahawks were led in scoring by Burns' 18 followed by four other players in double-digit scoring. Burris and Yassan had 13, Grifin, 11, Hart, 10, Moe, 9, Wollgast, 1.