O'Dea pulls away from Bainbridge

It was Senior Night at O'Dea on Thursday, and if ever there was a time this season that they needed senior leadership, it was this game.

With the lead swinging between the Irish and Bainbridge and second place in the Metro Mountain Division on the line, senior Brian Walker stepped up and scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the second half to help O'Dea defeat the Spartans 61-56.

Walker, who averages nearly 13 points a game, connected on five consecutive shots, including three 3-pointers, in a five-minute span during the second half to lift the Irish.

"This game was important from the standpoint that we played well from the beginning of the basketball game until the end of the game," Irish coach Phil Lumpkin said. "This game was important for this group's confidence, their belief in self and one another."

It was also the final regular-season game for both teams, and the win gives O'Dea possession of second place in the Mountain Division.

The Irish advance as the Mountain Division No. 2 seed for the Metro Tournament, which begins Monday. The top two teams from each division automatically qualify for the district playoffs. Seven Metro teams will advance to the Sea-King Districts that begin Feb. 19.

O'Dea will play at Rainier Beach, the top seed in the Sound Division, on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Bainbridge, the No. 3 Mountain seed, will host the winner of Monday's Eastside Catholic-Ingraham game on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

It was a game of momentum from the opening tip, with Bainbridge bringing more energy throughout the first quarter. The Spartans led 12-8 at the end of the quarter, but O'Dea bounced back with an 8-0 run to open the second quarter and led 22-19 at the half.

The second half evolved into a seesaw affair, with eight lead changes in the third quarter. Bainbridge senior Caleb Davis paced the Spartans with a trio of 3-pointers, but Walker answered for O'Dea with 10 points in the final 3:18 of the quarter.

"Brian is a senior leader," Lumpkin said. "He's a person who's been through the wars before and he knew coming into this year what his role was going to be. He knows he has to step up at times."

The lead changed hands four more times until O'Dea took a 49-48 lead with 4:20 to play, and the Irish held their advantage the rest of the game. A layup and 3-pointer from Walker put O'Dea up 54-50, and sophomore Dominic Ballard connected on 6 of 8 free throws in the final 90 seconds as the Irish pulled away.

"O'Dea knows how to finish ball games, and they did that tonight," Bainbridge coach Scott Orness said. "We have to learn to be that competitive warrior at the end of a game. We can't count on calls or chance, we have to learn how to finish games."

Junior Ben Eisenhardt led Bainbridge with 18 points.