Story and photos by Randall G. Hauk
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

Bronte Corbray scored 12 of his 26 points tonight in the fourth quarter, while Charlie Smith and Aaron Knox tallied 13 each, but they couldn’t keep Chief Sealth from taking a loss at home, as the Seahawks fell to Eastside Catholic 83-65 on the second day of the Metro League Playoffs.

You could forgive the Seahawks if they entered their home gym Tuesday night with great expectations. They were facing a team they had faced just 11 days prior, winning by 10 on the Crusaders’ home court, the result of which was ultimately a higher seed for Chief Sealth and the home court advantage in last night’s rematch.

You could also forgive spectators for watching Eastside Catholic’s Joey Schreiber get an uncontested alley-oop opportunity for a score on the game’s first possession and wondering whether there wasn’t a bit of foreshadowing in it, even as the Chief Sealth engines quickly got to work erasing that early lead and sprinting out to a 17-11 first quarter lead.

While Sealth led the game for much of the first half, the Crusaders hit a pair of three-pointers late in the half, the last of which gave the visitors from the Eastside a two-point edge to take into the locker room and gave the spectators every expectation of a tooth-and-nail battle to come in the second half.

But it truly was a tale of two halves.

The Crusaders got a three-point basket from each of four players on the floor in the third quarter, while the fifth player, Schreiber, was scoring in bulk, piecing together a 23-point second half, on his way to 27 on the evening.

Facing a 14-point deficit entering the final frame, Sealth deployed a press, forcing several turnovers, which helped to fuel Corbray’s late-game scoring outburst, but the Crusaders hot shooting never cooled, allowing them to keep the Seahawks at a safe distance and securing the road victory.

The loss means the Seahawks will next face Bainbridge Island Thursday night. At stake is the 7th seed in the 2012 SEA-King District Basketball Tournament; the loser will make the tournament as the Metro League’s 8th seed.

Chief Sealth and Bainbridge Island are freshly familiar with one another, having played one another twice since January 28. The Seahawks will hope the old sports axiom “It’s hard to beat a team three times” holds true, as the Spartans hold a 2-0 record in the series.

Also at last night’s game:

(From left, Ben Lee, Sreilak Mao, Xahil McDonald)
The first 250 Sealth fans in attendance last night got free T-shirts as part of a collaboration with Special Olympics of Washington, and took donations for SO as well.

Awareness-raising is also part of a larger campaign to end the use of “retard” or, as they say, “The R Word.” Their slogan is “Spread the word, to end the word.” The polar bear was there on behalf of the upcoming Special Olympics-fundraising Polar Plunge (not in West Seattle this year, though it was held the past two years at Alki, but all are welcome – info here).