Garfield vs O'Dea Recap
Aaron Orbeck
On February 19th the Garfield Bulldogs won the 3A District Championship against the O’Dea Fighting Irish in dramatic fashion.
The 1st quarter started slowly in a game that would end up being a low-scoring one. It took 5 minutes for the Bulldogs to score their first points after several offensive mistakes. The teams went back and forth down the court often without success for most of the quarter which ended 9-8 with Garfield in the lead.
The following quarter of play had a slightly faster pace but in O’dea’s favor. A 6-0 drive for the Fighting Irish put them up 17-13 before it was finally broken by Koren Johnson on a contested mid-range shot. Although Garfield scored a few more baskets, O’Dea remained in the lead going into the half 25-19.
Similar to the Bulldogs’ hard-fought win against Seattle Prep for the Metro Championship, Garfield came out of the halftime break looking like a different team. Much better defense from the Bulldogs allowed them to close the gap to O’Dea and eventually overtake them after a converted and-1 by Sherrell McCullum made the score 32-30. After a steady back and forth the 3rd quarter ended with the teams still close but Garfield slightly ahead 36-35.
In the 4th quarter, the Bulldogs and Fighting Irish remained neck and neck. At one point Garfield got out to a 5-point lead but could never pull away from a persistent O'Dea offense. However, with only 18 seconds on the clock and the Bulldogs up 46-43 the game looked over. On the inbound after a made free throw by O’Dea, Sherrell McCullum passed the ball to Tremaine Guidry who threw it down the court to Raphiel Justice. Justice could have run out the clock forcing O’Dea to foul which would have given him the opportunity to make it a 2-possession game. Instead, he decided to go for a contested shot which he missed and was rebounded by O’Dea. The Fighting Irish’s point guard ran down the court with only a few seconds left before kicking it to an open man in the corner. The shooter made the 3-point buzzer-beater, sending the game to overtime, and the O’Dea side of the gym into chaos.
As the Bulldogs prepared for their first overtime of the season the atmosphere in the Bellevue College gymnasium was reaching a fever pitch. Determined to keep their undefeated streak alive the Bulldogs defended fiercely. They quickly jumped out to a 51-49 lead and after a timeout with 1:40 seconds left didn’t allow O’Dea to score another point.
The Bulldogs scored their last points in style after a pass was intercepted by Koren Johnson who then ran down the court to throw down a two-hand dunk. The Garfield crowd was ecstatic as Johnson waved goodbye to the O’Dea team capping off the Bulldogs’ most exciting game of the season. Buoyed by the win against O’Dea, Garfield will now go to the State Championship which they won most recently in the 2019-2020 season.
The 1st quarter started slowly in a game that would end up being a low-scoring one. It took 5 minutes for the Bulldogs to score their first points after several offensive mistakes. The teams went back and forth down the court often without success for most of the quarter which ended 9-8 with Garfield in the lead.
The following quarter of play had a slightly faster pace but in O’dea’s favor. A 6-0 drive for the Fighting Irish put them up 17-13 before it was finally broken by Koren Johnson on a contested mid-range shot. Although Garfield scored a few more baskets, O’Dea remained in the lead going into the half 25-19.
Similar to the Bulldogs’ hard-fought win against Seattle Prep for the Metro Championship, Garfield came out of the halftime break looking like a different team. Much better defense from the Bulldogs allowed them to close the gap to O’Dea and eventually overtake them after a converted and-1 by Sherrell McCullum made the score 32-30. After a steady back and forth the 3rd quarter ended with the teams still close but Garfield slightly ahead 36-35.
In the 4th quarter, the Bulldogs and Fighting Irish remained neck and neck. At one point Garfield got out to a 5-point lead but could never pull away from a persistent O'Dea offense. However, with only 18 seconds on the clock and the Bulldogs up 46-43 the game looked over. On the inbound after a made free throw by O’Dea, Sherrell McCullum passed the ball to Tremaine Guidry who threw it down the court to Raphiel Justice. Justice could have run out the clock forcing O’Dea to foul which would have given him the opportunity to make it a 2-possession game. Instead, he decided to go for a contested shot which he missed and was rebounded by O’Dea. The Fighting Irish’s point guard ran down the court with only a few seconds left before kicking it to an open man in the corner. The shooter made the 3-point buzzer-beater, sending the game to overtime, and the O’Dea side of the gym into chaos.
As the Bulldogs prepared for their first overtime of the season the atmosphere in the Bellevue College gymnasium was reaching a fever pitch. Determined to keep their undefeated streak alive the Bulldogs defended fiercely. They quickly jumped out to a 51-49 lead and after a timeout with 1:40 seconds left didn’t allow O’Dea to score another point.
The Bulldogs scored their last points in style after a pass was intercepted by Koren Johnson who then ran down the court to throw down a two-hand dunk. The Garfield crowd was ecstatic as Johnson waved goodbye to the O’Dea team capping off the Bulldogs’ most exciting game of the season. Buoyed by the win against O’Dea, Garfield will now go to the State Championship which they won most recently in the 2019-2020 season.