Marquis Davis could not miss. He started the game off with three straight three-pointers and he finished the game with 30 points and a state championship trophy.
"We just took it one game at a time and came out ready to go," said the junior guard. "We came together the most in the fourth quarter and stuck together."
The Rainier Beach Vikings 61-58 victory over Seattle Prep was their sixth state championship title and their first since 2008.
Rainier Beach jumped out to a 38-27 lead on the Seattle Prep Panthers in the first half and carried a 12 point lead into the fourth quarter. However, Seattle Prep rallied to cut the lead down to four points with 58.1 seconds left on the clock after senior Jackson Clough hit a fall-away jumper in the paint. Rainier Beach was able to hold onto their slim lead to come away with the victory.
Battling foul trouble throughout the game, Beach's leading scorer Anrio Adams fouled out of the game with under a minute left. Adams was in foul trouble most of the game and only finished with seven points.
Davis shot 11-for-22 and five-for-nine from the field in Adams' absence. Davis garnered tournament MVP honors as a result.
"The key was to keep fighting," said Adams. "[Davis] is a blessing in disguise, everyone was focused on taking me out and I'm not even the reason we got here, we are the reason we got here."
Seattle Prep, down by 14 points at one point in the third quarter was almost able to pull off another exciting comeback. The Panthers escaped an earlier loser-out district game to Sammamish and came back in the game's final 20 seconds to win. In their state quarterfinal game against the Kamiakan Braves they had to engineer another comeback in the fourth quarter to advance to the state finals.
"I think they persevered and overcame adversity — this team has transformed," said Seattle Prep head coach Michael Kelly. "Every single kid on this team sacrificed a little bit of their wants for the betterment of the team."
The Panthers were led by junior DJ Fenner who finished with 26 points and five rebounds, while senior Mitch Brewe collected 19 points and 14 rebounds in his final high school game. Both Brewe and Fenner were named to the 3A boys all-tournament team.
Rainier Beach beat Mountlake Terrace in the quarterfinal round and then beat University in the semifinal round to reach the state championship game.
"This is a special group. It's a special feeling," said Rainier Beach head coach Mike Bethea. "I'm at a loss for words right now."
