By John Saunders
The Seattle Medium
The O’Dea Fighting Irish Basketball team began the new decade with a strong home court defense of their 3A state title against the Rainier Beach Vikings. Led by the 24 points from their all-state forward Paolo Banchero, the Irish cruised past the Vikings 88-60 on Phil Lumpkin Court in Seattle’s First Hill.
Rainier Beach started the game strong, grabbing the opening tip and surging to an early 6-0 lead behind three-pointers from LJ Armstrong and Hamza Mohaba. However, the lead would be short lived as O’Dea head basketball coach Jason Kerr lit a fire under the Irish to turn up their defensive pressure. Back to back fouls by the Vikings on the defensive side sent the Irish to the line to make a series of free throws and Jaylon Ellis would complete the first two of his 13 points on the night to tie the game at 6-6. Rainier Beach’s Kejohn Atkins would do his best to try and keep the Vikings in the game by scoring the next 9 points for Rainier Beach. However, the Fighting Irish would use great ball movement and defense to end the first quarter with a 24-15 lead and never look back.
The second quarter is when Banchero began to force his will down low and dominate the paint which led to not only a few trips to the free throw line, but also a couple open three-pointers at critical moments by O’Dea guards John Christofilis and Dezjay Perkins. Banchero and his fellow wingmate Jermaine Davis would lead the Irish to a 43-32 lead at halftime with the Vikings far from out of the game.
The defensive intensity was palpable in the second half with the Fighting Irish holding the Vikings to only 28 points in the third and fourth quarters combined. Despite the efforts of Atkins and LJ Armstrong for the Vikings, Dezjay Perkins was able to control the flow of the game and several Vikings began to get commit fouls trying to keep Banchero out of the paint. After a rousing dunk by Banchero in the fourth quarter it was clear the Irish (5-0, 7-2) were well on their way to their Metro League leading fifth win.
Kejohn Atkins would lead the Vikings (1-2, 2-3) with 14 points followed by John Hart with 11 as they fell to 1-2 in Metro League play. While the Irish were led by Banchero with 24, he was well assisted by Jaylon Ellis with 13 and four other players in double digits. John Christofilis, Dezjay Perkins, Takeo Staten-Slyvester would all end the night with 11 points each and Jermaine Davis had an additional 10 points for the Irish.
Next up for the Fighting Irish are the Garfield Bulldogs on Tues., Jan. 7 and the Vikings will travel to Bainbridge Island on the 10thto face the Spartans.
Pictorial Highlights Of O’Dea vs Rainier Beach
Photos by John Saunders.
