TACOMA — After Thursday night’s 42-35 loss to Eastside Catholic in the Class 3A state quarterfinals, Marysville Pilchuck boys basketball coach Bary Gould told his team its next opponent — the second-ranked Bellevue Wolverines — would be even better than the Crusaders.
The Wolverines proved Gould right Friday afternoon with an 81-45 win over the Tomahawks in a 3A state loser-out game at the Tacoma Dome.
“They’re a nice ball club,” Gould said of the Wolverines.
Just as they did the night before, the Tomahawks started strong. They went up 2-0 on two Michael Painter free throws before any time had ticked off the clock thanks to a technical foul assessed in warmups because a Bellevue player had forgotten his uniform and changed jerseys on the floor.
Painter scored eight of his team’s first 10 points to give the Tomahawks a 10-5 lead, but Bellevue didn’t let MP take control. The Wolverines went on a 21-3 run to build a 26-13 lead.
Playing the late game on Thursday night and being back on the floor 15 hours later took its toll on the Tomahawks.
“The fatigue starts to set in,” Gould said. “They’re young and they recover quickly, but back-to-back (games) is tough.”
Bellevue shot 14-for-23 (61 percent) in the first half and led 43-28 at halftime. The Tomahawks shot a respectable 52 percent (11-for-21) led by Painter, who was 5-for-8 and had 14 points at halftime.
“It’s affirming (to compete with Bellevue),” Gould said. “It’s good to be able to play at a high level, but to sustain it, that’s when you get yourself to that level instead of just being like, ‘OK, we can play with them.’ That’s really the next level that we need to get our program to.”
Bellevue used a 28-1 run that spanned most of the third quarter and the early moments of the fourth to put the game away.
Though the Tomahawks played well at times in both of their games at the Tacoma Dome, coming up short twice was hard on Painter and his teammates.
“Since I’m really competitive, looking at the scoreboard at different points in the game between Bellevue and Eastside Catholic really irked me,” Painter said. “It really got to me. But you just (have to) take a moment and look around and you just enjoy the experience.”
Painter finished with 21 points to lead the Tomahawks.
“He’s a special kid,” Gould said of the senior. “He’s a wonderful human being and a special player to boot.”
Painter was a part of Tomahawks’ team that went 1-19 just two years ago, but thanks in part to a promise by his teammates he was able to close out his high school career at the Tacoma Dome.
“Just getting Mike to state, that was the main goal,” junior point guard Bryce Juneau said. “We promised him at the beginning of the year that we were going to get him to state and that’s what we did. That’s what I’ll remember most about this season.”
For Painter, the trip was worth the wait. Even with the Tomahawks going 0-2.
“Man, it’s incredible. It really is,” Painter said. “To dream about something ever since you picked up a basketball and to finally achieve it with your teammates — it was just incredible.”
In addition to Painter, Friday’s loss to Bellevue was the final game at Marysville Pilchuck for seniors Bryce Vitcovich, Cole Grinde, Zach Verge and Aaron Herrera.
The Tomahawks have come a long way since their 1-19 season two years ago, but the experience of getting to Tacoma was made even more special by a community that has rallied around its teams since the shooting at Marysville Pilchuck on Oct. 24.
“Not just the 1-19 season, but the school shooting and one of our player’s father has stage-four cancer,” Gould said. “There’s probably stories with every team, but it’s something where our community has come together and the people are rallying around our football program — and now our basketball program.
“It’s special.”
At Tacoma Dome
Bellevue 24 19 25 13 —81
Marysville Pilchuck 13 15 3 14 —45
Bellevue—Michael Crosby 3, Sharif Khan 7, Spencer Birkeland 2, Kyle Foreman 15, Gunther Klimes 13, Mikey Henn 13, Colin Suter 0, Christian Singleton 3, Andrew Kenny 10, Cole Cirillo 5, Zack Moore 8, Javon Jefferson 2. Marysville Pilchuck—Bryce Juneau 8, Bryce Vitcovich 2, Tommy Haefele 2, Josh Bevan 2, Hunter Whitney 3, Michael Painter 19, Cole Grinde 2, Erik Lind 0, Zach Verge 2, Aaron Herrera 0, Nate Heckendorf 5. 3-point goals—Crosby 1, Khan 1, Foreman 2, Klimes 1, Singleton 1, Kenny 2, Cirillo 1, Moore 2, Juneau 1, Whitney 1, Painter 2. Records—Bellevue 24-4, Marysville Pilchuck 20-8
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