Lakes Advances to State Title Game With Overtime Victory

The Lakes High School basketball team lives by the mantra of "family over everything."

On Friday night, the Lancers parlayed that family-like closeness into a spot in the Class 3A state title game.

Three Lancers combined for 40 points as Lakes used a strong defensive effort to advance to the championship game, outlasting Kamiakin 54-48 in overtime of a semifinal matchup at the Tacoma Dome on Friday night.

Lakes outscored Kamiakin 11-5 in the extra period after Braves' Case Rada tied the game with less than 10 seconds left in regulation. The Lancers closed the game on a 7-0 run, highlighted by a three-point play by Taylor McAllister with 1:06 remaining that ended up being the game-winning points.

"People don't believe the stat, but usually the first team that scores in overtime usually wins," Lakes head coach JoJo Rodriguez said. "I told them 'let's get the tip, let's get the first basket and let's put it on defense.'"

Lakes had trouble finding an offensive rhythm all night, shooting just 38 percent from the floor, but was bailed out by its defensive ability. Outside of Kamiakin's Justin Pedley, who scored a game-high 26 points on 9-for-15 shooting, the Lancers held the rest of the Braves team to just seven made field goals on 27 attempts.

"I've always been a defensive coach," Rodriguez said. "That's what you see out there. These guys play good defense."

Lakes looked to be pull away after a 13-4 third-quarter run, giving a 37-31 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Lancers junior post Zach Banner gave his team a 43-41 lead with less than 45 seconds left by hitting two free throws — his first two points of the game — but Kamiakin finished regulation on a 12-6 run, capped off by Rada's game-tying jumper that sent the game into overtime.

Lakes junior Nate Guy scored a team-high 15 points but received plenty of help from his teammates. Isaac Winston scored 13 while Taylor McAllister tossed in 12 to go along with six assists. Banner scored just five points, but all came after the final 45 seconds of regulation and his pass to McAllister in overtime set up what turned out to be the winning basket.

Kamiakin started hot, hitting three 3s in the first 2:23 of the game to take a 9-4 lead. But Lakes battled back behind the shooting of McCallister and Guy to tie the game at 15 after one quarter. The Braves pushed the lead to 27-24 at halftime behind the shooting of Pedley, who scored 16 in the first half.

For Lakes, the win acts as retribution after falling short in this past year's semifinal round and losing in the state championship game to Rainier Beach in 2008,  something that Banner said has brought this group closer together.

"I felt like the crowd was inside me," Banner said of the close environment of the game. "My school was inside of me. The city of Lakewood 253 was inside of me. We’re not done yet. We’ve been here before. It’s for the school. We don’t have one guy. F.O.E baby."

Lakes will be play Bellevue, which beat Glacier Peak in the late game, on Saturday at 7 pm at the Tacoma Dome for the 3A State Championship.

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