Big Man Banner Leads Lakes to Victory Against O'Dea

Sitting on a cold aluminum bleacher in the Lakewood YMCA gym Tuesday night, Lakes point guard Andrew Holloway told Patch what he felt would be the difference in Thursday's Class 3A quarterfinal matchup against top-ranked O'Dea at the Tacoma Dome.

"Banner," the junior said without hesitation.

Holloway was right. Lakes junior Zach Banner, the team's 6-foot-8 big body center, had a breakout second-half performance against the No. 1 Fighting Irish. Banner's size, height and strength — after a sluggish first half when he scored just four points — proved the difference in the second half. He finished with 16 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots in the team's 60-56 victory against O'Dea.

"I just took it strong to the rim," Banner said about his refocused attitude and footwork in the second half.

Lakes, the state's fifth-ranked team, trailed 28-26 at halftime, fought back to take the lead before O'Dea went on a 10-0 run to take a 46-40 lead in the third quarter. Fighting Irish guard Dustin Watts scored a game-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting, and Sekeo Wiggs contributed 13. Both attacked the basket on fast-break opportunities, but the Lancers' defense held strong and they began to exploit their height advantage.

Holloway and Lakes forward Taylor McAllister combined for 18 points and senior guard Isaac Winston finished with a team-high 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting. The Lancers regained the lead with 50 seconds remaining and good free-throw shooting sealed the win -- McAllister, Winston and Holloway sank five out of the last six free throws.

Lakes, which has advanced to the semifinal round the past two years, will play Kamiakin tonight at 7 p.m. at the Tacoma Dome.

"I thought our strength was to go to big Zach and make them adjust and that's what we tried to do," Rodriguez said. "Sure he took some bad shots, but we stayed with him and the game plan."

Players after the game said competing in a tough non-league schedule early in the season helped prepare them for the big stage and teams like O'Dea. Winston — who has been the go-to person down the stretch — took a backseat to Holloway.

"When he brought the ball up he was going to do something with it," Winston said about his aggressiveness toward the end of the game. "I trust in him."

McAllister cleaned up missed layups including Banner's shot that gave the Lancers the lead, 55-53. He scored nine points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

"I'm just a role player," McAllister said. "I did the cleanup, but scoring came from a lot of people."

Holloway struggled to put his words together after the victory, because he was so hyped.

"You asked what our game plan was and it was Zach," Holloway said. "We fed Zach the ball the whole time, kept our offense, kept our heads and put it together and got ourselves a win."

The Lakes-Kamiakin winner will play the winner of Bellevue and Glacier Peak at 7 p.m. on Saturday for a shot at the state title. The losers play for third place.

Box Score

Lakes   13   13   12   22 — 60

O'Dea   8    20   14  14 — 56

Summary:

Lakes — Flamer 3, Olson, White 2, Holloway 9, McAllister 9, Walls, Guy 4, Dozier, Woodward, Winston 17, Wood, Banner 16.
O'Dea — Watts 21, Walker, Williams 2, Ward 7, Callandret, Sime 6, Masinelli, McKenney, Durham 2, Wiggs 13, Barr, Abe 5.

Clover Park boys advance to Class 2A semifinal round in Yakima

The Clover Park boys hoops squad is still alive with a 52-49 victory against River Ridge and will play Burlington-Edison for the right to advance to the Class 2A state championship game at the Yakima Valley SunDome at 3:45 p.m. today.