Bellevue moves on in 3A tournament, rolls Decatur 80-45

In the first leg of the 3A state basketball tournament, the Wolverines made a statement by putting the screws to Decatur High School. Before the onslaught was over, the Wolverines had outrun, out jumped, out shot, and out played the Golden Gators, as they left the Bellevue College gym with an 80-45 victory.

Bellevue used quick starts at the beginning of each quarter to pad what became a large lead, playing tight defense and taking quick, easy points. The home team kept the pressure on constantly, driving to the basket and blocking shots one after another.

“We like to run, we’re able to run because we force teams to take bad shots” said coach Chris O’Connor.

It looked like a rout from the very beginning, as the Wolverines demonstrated their physical, athletic play to the tune of a 7-0 lead in under a minute, and a 15-3 advantage not long later. Senior Will Locke made the first quarter his own, jumping, stealing, and alley-ooping Bellevue to a 23-12 lead, 14 of which were Locke’s own. Not to be outdone, teammate Evian Richard imitated a missile defense system, swatting down Decatur shots seemingly automatically. Pitted against the Gators’ s leading scorer Jerron Smith, Richard took him on one-on-one and limited Smith to 16 points.

“I was just trying to play my best” Richard said after the game. “The guy averages 28 points per game”.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Bellevue went on a 10-0 run, widening the gap to 33-12 before Decatur retaliated. And retaliate they did, bringing the score back to 35-21. That would be the last time in the game that the score would be so close. As the half came to a close, Bellevue and its up-tempo play commanded a seemingly insurmountable 44-26 lead.

Locke and his full-game 22 points finally forced the Gators to double team him consistently in the second half, freeing up the court for his teammates.

“I try to attack, if they’re not going to pick me up” said Locke. “Then when they double team me, I can get my teammates involved. “

Bellevue went out to a fast start again at the beginning of the second half, nearly doubling up the visitors in the first minute. The scoring was more spread out, with Richard and Nate Sikma contributing on the board. The team contributions brought the score to 62-38, effectively making the fourth quarter of this playoff matchup garbage time.

And indeed, the final ten minutes saw mostly depth getting some game experience, with Decatur now preparing for an elimination match with Lakes High School on Saturday. Fouls and sloppy play were abundant, though both teams played until the buzzer.

When asked what this team could improve on, coach O’Connor pointed to ball security, saying “I don’t think we took care of the ball as well as we did last week”.

Bellevue will find out Saturday whom their next opponent will be, after Chief Sealth and Lincoln play in Auburn Bellevue will play the winner of that contest at the Tacoma Dome March 3, playing for a spot in the 3A quarterfinals.