Franklin Barely Gains Repeat Championship

AA boys

Franklin’s boys made it two championships in a row after the Quakers girls failed in their title game.

But just barely.

The third-ranked Quakers used Erin Dixon’s basket with 3 seconds left to edge No. 8 White River 70-69 Saturday night for the state high school title.

Earlier Saturday night, Franklin’s girls lost to Blanchet in their title contest.

Dixon’s putback of Francis Vela’s missed shot was just in time. It came after White River’s Jon Argo stole the ball near midcourt and drove in to put the Hornets (25-4), from Buckley, ahead 69-68 with 32 seconds on the clock.

And it came after White River overcame a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to go ahead in a game Franklin appeared to have won easily.

Franklin became only the third team in the tournament’s 27-year history to successfully defend its Class AA boys title. The others were East Bremerton in 1973 and 1974 and Mount Vernon in 1991 and 1992.

No school has won three championships in a row.

Franklin 17 15 24 14 - 70 W. River 7 20 24 18 - 69

FRANKLIN (70) - Vela 9, Dixon 7, Terry 21, Mitchell 5, Turner, Ladd 14, Lewis 6, Burks, Robbins 5, Moritz, Isadore 3.

WHITE RIVER (69) - Banks 12, Van Sickle 10, Kruse 4, J. Argo 21, Gillis 7, Beatty 6, Addink 9, Wozeniak.

O’Dea 51, Mark Morris 29 (3rd, 6th places)

Chris Johnson scored 12 points and Marlon Bailey 10 as the top-ranked Fighting Irish relied heavily on their defense to shut down the Monarchs.

Mark Morris (16-10), which scored only 29 points, set a record for futility with the lowest point total in tournament history.

M. Morris 7 5 7 10 - 29 O’Dea 13 15 8 15 - 51

MARK MORRIS (29) - Hollod, S. Herzog, Sorenson 3, J. Herzog 5, Malsed 2, Bergeson, Gabel, Haynes 2, Clary 7, Bauman, Pentland 10, Lampitt.

O’DEA (51) - Ellis 3, Victoriano, Johnson 12, Bailey 10, Perry 7, Ball 7, Bryant 3, Davis, McDonnell 4, Makanani, Greene 5, Horn.

Sehome 58, Hanford 47

(4th, 7th places)

Dubiel Simon scored 12 points and Jaren Stevenson, Ryan Kettman and reserve Jeff Chapman added 11 apiece as the sixth-ranked Mariners (26-2) overcame a 7-0 deficit to beat the Falcons (22-6).

Hanford 11 8 7 21 - 47 Sehome 7 13 20 18 - 58

HANFORD (47) - Doebler, Strankman 5, Rangel 5, Gailey 20, Tuiaea 17, Jones, Garfield, Culmer, Powers, Ciolli,Brost.

SEHOME (58) - VanKolken 7, Stevenson 11, Seilo, Dubiel 12, Kettman 11, Chapman 11, Felmley, Gustafson, Lockhart 2, Spink, Koskela 4, Dickinson.

Chehalis 69, Blanchet 55

(5th, 8th places)

Led by Kraig Perry’s 15 points, the fourth-ranked Bearcats (25-2) beat the Braves (20-11).

Blanchet 17 9 14 15 - 55 Chehalis 15 20 18 16 - 69

BLANCHET (55) - Defrancisco 9, Wood 10, Kane 8, Minter 7, Millard 14, Gove 2, Bourgett 2, Pisegna, Agnos, Mendez 3, Niemer, Wellnitz.

CHEHALIS (69) - Conner 12, B. Rinta 13, Perry 15, Wilson 6, Moog 9, J. Rinta, Schilperoort 7, Richards, Aust, Steward 7, Browning, Peterson.