Rainier Beach nearly erases Mount Spokane lead, but three technical fouls cost Vikings their chance at a return trip to the 3A title game

Second-seeded Mount Spokane High School’s 65-60 victory over third-seeded Rainier Beach was only the second-biggest storyline from the Class 3A state semifinals game on Friday night in the Tacoma Dome.

Calling the final one minute, 10 seconds of the game chaotic would be an understatement.

With Mount Spokane leading, 57-54, Rainier Beach senior Jamon Kemp picked up a personal foul, and junior Marjon Beauchamp was assessed a technical foul for arguing the call — his fifth personal, resulting in his disqualification.

Mount Spokane took advantage, making the two free throws from Kemp’s personal foul, and the two from Beauchamp’s technical, pushing its lead to 61-54.

Moments later, with Mount Spokane up, 61-55, the referees awarded the Wildcats a timeout on an in-bounds play where it appeared the ball had already been thrown in, which negated what would have been a Rainier Beach steal.

The questionable call led to a technical foul on the Rainier Beach bench, followed by and a second technical on Rainier Beach coach Mike Bethea.

The Wildcats made two of the four free throws awarded, which essentially ended any chance of a Rainier Beach comeback.

Mount Spokane will be well-represented at the Tacoma Dome on Saturday night.

After the Wildcats’ victory over Rainier Beach, both the boys and the girls teams from Mount Spokane will play for the state title on Saturday.

“I’m so proud of our school,” Mount Spokane coach David Wagenblast said. “We’ve had an exceptional year — our whole school. Getting here last year, we weren’t quite ready for it, but our guys really stepped up when they needed to.

“When big shots needed to be taken, we took and we made them. I’m so proud of how our kids competed.”

Mount Spokane made it to the Tacoma Dome last year, but lost on Wednesday in the first round.

The Wildcats (24-1) have shot the ball well all season from long range and Friday’s game was no exception. They shot 8 of 15 from 3-point range as a team, highlighted by the 4-of-6 performance of senior J.T. Smith and the 3-of-7 shooting of senior Jerry Twenge.

“We shoot the 3-ball obviously very well,” Smith said. “We get a lot of ball movement. Our pride is definitely our shooting, and we come in to shoot shots.”

Smith finished with a game-high 22 points. Sophomore Tyson Degenhart added 19. Beauchamp led the Wildcats with 19.

The Wildcats will play No. 11 O’Dea (19-8) at 5 p.m. on Saturday in the title game. Rainier Beach will play No. 1 Eastside Catholic in the third-fifth place game at 1 p.m.

TEAM STATISTICS

RB – Shooting: 25 of 64 (39.1 percent). Free throws: 7 of 14 (50). Turnovers: 6.

MS – Shooting: 19 of 44 (43.2 percent). Free throws: 19 of 25 (76.). Turnovers: 17.

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

RB – Kenny Curtis 8, Marjon Beauchamp 19, Stevie Smith 3, Micah Monroe 12, Jamon Kemp 14, Javion Garrett 4.

MS – Spencer Barrera 4, Jerry Twenge 17, J.T. Smith 22, Tyson Degenhart 19, Jojo Anderson 3.

This story was originally published March 2, 2019 at 12:27 AM.