Panthers place fifth with victory

TACOMA – Second-best team in school history.

That’s how the Mead boys basketball team will remember the 2009-10 season.

The Panthers watched a 15-point lead dissolve to four before finishing off the Skyline Spartans 49-39 to capture fifth Saturday at the State 4A tournament in the Tacoma Dome.

Junior forward Garrett Swanson hustled after a loose ball and scored a layup to give Mead (22-7) a 35-20 lead 30 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Mead committed three straight turnovers and the Spartans sensed there was hope.

“I thought we had it in the bag and then they picked up the intensity,” Mead senior point guard Brendon Myers said. “That’s when I knew we had to start picking up ours and not relax. The 15-point lead made us a little flat. We kind of looked at each other and said we can’t lose this, not our last game. We started talking to each other.”

Still, there were some tense moments until the end. Skyline (22-5) cut the lead to 43-39 with 52 seconds remaining. But Myers, who scored a game-high 15 points, made 5 of 6 free throws and senior wing Bo Tully knocked down the final two foul shots with 18 seconds to go, and the Panthers withstood Skyline’s frantic rally.

“We call that getting a little greasy there at the end,” Mead coach Glenn Williams said. “It got it a little slippery. As always this year, the kids came through.”

Mead struggled at the free-throw line. Usual leading scorer, senior post Aaron Dunn, made just 3 of 11 and the Panthers were 15 of 28 overall.

The missed foul shots won’t be a lasting memory. What will be remembered most is the fact Mead won its final game and captured the second-highest trophy in school history.

Mead received significant contributions from a handful of players. Swanson came off the bench to score 14 points and get four steals, Dunn had a team-high six rebounds and Tully had five rebounds and two steals.

“(The season) had a lot of ups and downs,” Dunn said. “Early we went to the Wenatchee (tournament) and lost two games and we were real down at that point. Then we rattled off about eight straight. It’s just been a really, really fun year – especially with these guys. Us seniors were all close.”

Defense was Mead’s key at state, particularly against Skyline.

“We played real good defense,” Dunn said. “We slowed them down in our (2-3) zone. They didn’t get inside touches, they were shooting a lot of 3s. To their credit they shot well at the end of the game.”

This season for Mead is surpassed in accomplishment only by a state runner-up finish in 2003.

“I’ve coached some pretty good players, but this is one special group of kids,” Williams said. “There was never a day that I didn’t look forward to going to practice.”

•Josh Smith of Kentwood was named MVP.

Other players named to the team were Ryan Nicholas (Gonzaga Prep), Aaron Dunn (Mead) Brett Kingma (Jackson), Isiah Umipig (Federal Way), Gary Winston (Walla Walla), Kale Schmidt (Stanwood), Cole Dickerson (Federal Way), Mikey Hope (Wilson) and Michael Russo (Eastlake).