The Road to State: 3A Metro League & KingCo

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With the state tournaments looming and teams securing their spots for a chance to win a state title, I took a look into each district within each class to see who's headed to the state tournaments. Here is District 2's 3A tournaments within the Metro League and KingCo for spots in the District 2 3A tournament.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the Metro league, the top 6 teams automatically qualify for districts and will play each other for seeding. To sum it up quickly since no teams were eliminated, here's how the Metro Championship finished:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>First: Rainier Beach</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Second: Garfield</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Third: O'Dea</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fourth: Seattle Prep</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Fifth: Roosevelt</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sixth: Eastside Catholic</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Now here's how the Metro League Qualifiers went as the other 6 teams battled for 2 spots. These first 3 games were all loser-out games. Seattle Academy beat Franklin, 66-52 to advance on and Franklin being eliminated. Bishop Blanchet beat Ingraham, 72-60 to advance to play Seattle Academy in the next round. Lakeside (Seattle) beat Ballard, 56-44 to advance and play West Seattle, who had a bye.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With 4 teams left, the winner of these games will advance to the 3A District 2 tournament for a chance to get to the state tournament. Bishop Blanchet beat Seattle Acadmey, 72-60 to advance on and earn a spot in the 3A District 2 tournament. In the other loser-out game, West Seattle beat Lakeside (Seattle), 67-42 to advance on and get a spot in the 3A District 2 tournament. [player_tooltip player_id='2205065' first='Peyton' last='Duong'] has had a stellar senior season and deserves more looks from college coaches. [player_tooltip player_id='2140866' first='Zion' last='Stone'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2140817' first='Gabe' last='Kearney'] are some 2027 graduates to keep an eye on. West Seattle would beat Bishop Blanchet, 64-51 to win the Metro League Qualifiers, with both advancing on.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em><strong>Teams to District 2 3A tournament</strong></em>: West Seattle &amp; Bishop Blanchet</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Now onto the 3A KingCo tournament.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the play-in game between the 6th seed Inglemoor and 7th seed Highline, Inglemoor defeated Highline 75-65 to advance. In a loser out game the next round, 6th seed Inglemoor defeated 3rd seed Sammamish, 85-65 to advance. [player_tooltip player_id='1984492' first='Aman' last='Sterling'] stepped up for Inglemoor, dominating on all 3 levels on the offensive side of the ball. In the other loser-out game, 4th seed Mercer Island beat 5th seed Interlake, 54-44 to advance on.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the semi-final round, all teams would advance to the 3A District 2 tournament. Top seed Bellevue beat Mercer Island, 65-47. [player_tooltip player_id='1863256' first='Nick' last='Norrah'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1485587' first='Bryce' last='Smith'] have been a guard duo that is on fire, dominating for Bellevue. Mercer Island would get another chance in the loser-out section. In the other semi-final game, Liberty (Renton) defeated Inglemoor, 58-54 behind Jackson Whittaker's big game. He is a 3 level scorer who is able to drop 20+ any night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the KingCo Championship game, 1 seed Bellevue would beat Liberty (Renton), 64-49 to take home the league championship and be crowned KingCo champs. [player_tooltip player_id='1863256' first='Nick' last='Norrah'] continued his tear on the court to secure the win. 6 seed Inglemoor upset 4 seed Mercer Island, 58-44 in the third place game. [player_tooltip player_id='1984492' first='Aman' last='Sterling'] stepped up again, having a big last few weeks of the season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Teams advancing to District 2 3A tournament:</strong> Bellevue, Liberty (Renton), Inglemoor, Mercer Island</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->