4 takeaways from Wilson’s wild 57-53 comeback win over West Seattle
The Wilson High School boys basketball team defeated West Seattle, 57-53, in the semifinal round of the T-Town Throwdown at Wilson High School on Friday night in a thrilling game to advance to the tournament championship game against Federal Way on Saturday night. Here are a few observations from Wilson’s big win.
What a comeback
For much of the game, it felt like it simply wasn’t going to be Wilson’s night. Especially when West Seattle opened the second half on an 11-0 run to take a 35-21 lead and led 41-30 after three quarters. But Wilson went into a full-court press in the fourth quarter, sped the game up, started forcing West Seattle into some turnovers and clawed back into the game.
The key moment came with under a minute to play with the Rams trailing by two, when Wilson’s Damani Green was fouled and a West Seattle was subsequently issued a technical foul after the conclusion of the play. That gave Wilson four free throws — of which the Rams made three — and possession of the ball after the free throws, which gave Wilson’s Emani Mitchell another trip to the free-throw line and another point for the Rams.
In total, Wilson came away with four points and took a late 54-52 lead, eventually hanging on for the 57-53 win.
“I just talked to my teammates and let them know we had to lock in and finish this game strong,” said Green. “We came too far, we had a comeback and it was too far to lose that game.”
Speeding up the game’s pace proved crucial down the stretch, allowing Wilson to get out in transition.
“We just kind of played at their pace for the first three quarters,” said Wilson coach Mike Cocke. “I thought the fourth quarter, we were able to speed them up and they weren’t very comfortable with that.”
Damani Green can take a game over for Wilson
For long stretches of the game, Green was essentially Wilson’s entire offense. He finished with a team-high 22 points for the Rams and set the tone for Wilson, even when the rest of Wilson’s roster was cold.
“Coach was telling me at halftime that he knows I can get to the basket at any time, but told me to start involving my teammates more to get off of me,” Green said. “When they start hitting shots, to get it back and facilitate how I do.”
Cocke said he’s gotten used to those types of performances from Green.
“It’s what he does,” Cocke said. “I lean on him a lot for not only leadership, but toughness, defense. He’s just always in attack mode. When he’s going downhill, he’s as tough to guard as anyone around here. He played his butt off in the second half and helped us have that grit with the other four guys. He does it every game. He doesn’t really take games off. He just keeps playing.”
Emani Mitchell scored 12 for the Rams, Jackson Dorsey scored 10 and Chakari Tindal chipped in nine.
For West Seattle, senior guard Sage Nelson scored a game-high 23 points and 6-foot-6 forward Vladimer Salaridze scored 14.
Extra free-throw practice could be in the cards
The game might not have gone down to the wire if Wilson had a better night from the charity stripe. The Rams converted a paltry 18-of-38 attempts from the free-throw line in the win.
“That’s just an off night,” Green said. “I promise that will not happen again.”
Cocke said he believes the team having a few days off due to Christmas break may have played a factor.
“We missed twenty free throws,” he said. “Those are possessions — that’s 10 possessions where we go scoreless because of free throws. … We’ll have another shootaround tomorrow where they get into the gym and make some free throws.”
Championship matchup set
It’ll be host Wilson versus Federal Way in the T-Town Throwdown Championship game in the boys bracket, set for 9 p.m. on Saturday night.
Federal Way will have a sizable height advantage, while Wilson will enjoy the home-court advantage in the matchup.
“We’re very excited,” Green said. “We’ve been working to play Fed and we just have to go out tomorrow and get after it.”
