Garfield's frantic comeback nips O'Dea for 3A Metro boys basketball title, 2 takeaways

Jamari Harris' putback basket gives Bulldogs lead for good in final minute of 56-52 victory Friday at Seattle Pacific University

SEATTLE - Jamari Harris made the play that counted

After he and the rest of the Garfield Bulldogs had finally erased a nearly game-long deficit, and with just 42 seconds remaining at Royal Brougham Pavilion on the campus of Seattle Pacific University, Harris got into the right place at the right time.

Legend Smiley had driven into the lane and put up a shot as the shot clock was running out. Harris leapt, got a big paw on the ball and tapped it off the backboard and in. The bucket put Garfield ahead for good in its 56-52 victory over O’Dea in the 3A Metro League boys basketball championship game.

“We wanted that ball to go to Legend,” Garfield coach Brandon Roy said. “He likes his shot. But we also knew that if it didn’t go down that Jamari was going to be crashing to the rim.”

“I was just on the block trying to get the rebound,” Harris said. “And I ended up putting it back and sealing the game.”

Two free throws, one each from Harris and Smiley, actually sealed it after Garfield got two stops on O’Dea as the final seconds ticked away.

Both teams earn first-round byes to the upcoming 3A Sea-King District tournament.

Garfield will play at Bellevue at 8 p.m. against the winner of a first-round game between Nathan Hale and Lake Washington. O’Dea, the second seed from the Metro, plays the winner of Mercer Island and Rainier Beach at 5 p.m. at Sammamish.

Here are two takeaways from the Garfield-O'Dea game:

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SECOND-HALF TEAM

Roy may hope that his team doesn’t continue to wait to get back in games. Garfield led this one 19-18 with just under seven minutes left in the second quarter. The Bulldogs didn’t lead again until the Harris tap in.

“We’ve been a second half team,” Roy said. “As a coach, you don’t always like that. But we knew we had a run in us. We know we’re good enough to get stops. And it’s good to break the spell a little against those guys.”

The Irish beat Garfield both times during the regular season, including 59-58 on Garfield’s Senior Night.

“On our minds, we were just beat ‘em, beat ‘em, beat ‘em,” said Smiley, who scored a game-high 27 points. “They beat us two times. We were down until the fourth quarter and then we came back and made that run. Emotions were high. It started on the defensive end. Defense turned to offense. It took all of us together.”

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EXPLOSIVENESS CREATES EASY CHANCES

Breylon Webb stepped outside, perhaps just to show he could. Brian Webster added a 3-pointer for the Irish in the first half.

Neither really needed to shoot the ball much. Instead, the O’Dea pair made a living exploding to the basket, whether in the half-court offense or coast-to-coast off the dribble. In a low-scoring first half, Webb and Webster combined for six layups as the Metro regular-season champs built a 32-25 lead over Garfield.

Ironically, Webb got to the rim on O’Dea’s very next possession after the Harris offensive rebound and tip in. But his attempted layup rolled off the rim, was secured by Smiley with 18 seconds left, and O’Dea had to foul.

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