All day O'Dea: Fighting Irish hold off Mountlake Terrace in WIAA Class 3A quarterfinals

TACOMA – There was a decision to be made.

The clock on the boys court at the Tacoma Dome still showed 4.1 seconds left. Quincy Linton’s second free throw had rolled along the back of the rim before falling through the net to put O’Dea up by three in its 3A state quarterfinal against Mountlake Terrace on Thursday afternoon.

Over the final 3 minutes, 57 seconds, the Hawks had whittled down an eight-point deficit but had never quite caught the Fighting Irish thanks to Mason Williams and Miles Clark, who’d each made a pair of free throws down the stretch of O’Dea’s 54-52 victory over the Hawks.

Now, in the moments allotted to a single timeout, Irish coach Jason Kerr and his staff had a decision. Should O’Dea play solid defense and risk a desperation 3-pointer going in for Mountlake Terrace that would send the game to overtime or should they foul before any shot and force the Hawks to navigate a two-shot scenario at the free throw line?

“I think for most people who watch the game, it’s probably one of the bigger debates,” Kerr said. “You can play it straight up 100 times. Is the guy going to hit the 3? You make the foul and one out of 100 the guy is going to hit the first, rebound and tie it. You just have to play with what you feel your team’s strengths are.”

For O’Dea, the Irish have plenty of length to clog a potential rebound. So O’Dea fouled Logan Tews just as he reached the midcourt line. Tews tried to throw the ball toward the rim from there and earn a three-shot opportunity at the line, but the officials adamantly pointed to the court indicating the foul was on the floor.

That meant the exact scenario the Irish wanted. Two shots for Tews, who needed to make the first and miss the second for the Hawks to have a chance at overtime with 0.5 left on the clock.

And on the lane to prevent any potential tip-in on a missed second shot – the 6-foot-10 frame of Miles Goodman, 6-8 Miles Clark and 6-8 Malcolm Clark.

As it turned out, the big bodies weren’t even necessary. Tews missed his first shot, then banked in the second to ensure O’Dea’s victory and a spot in the state semifinals at 7:15 p.m. Friday against either Bellevue or Mount Spokane.

“We knew they were a good team and we knew they were scrappy,” O’Dea guard Mason Williams said.

Williams had done his job earlier in the fourth quarter to get the Irish to those final seconds. His two free throws with 2:20 left pushed O’Dea’s lead back to four, 49-45.

“I know my teammates got my back and they want me to make free throws,” said Williams, who just before had missed the front end of a one-and-one. “So, it’s just stay poised.”

His short pull-up jumper in the lane with 1:47 to go made it 51-47. Those were the last two of his team-high 14 points.

Miles Clark did the same with 16 seconds left, making two from the line for a 53-49 lead. But with 4.1 left, it came down first to Linton, who delivered one of two for the three-point lead, and then to a decision that was rewarded with a state semifinal berth.