TACOMA — Jack Bonner wanted to forget about the taste of defeat.
A day after playing in a quarterfinal round loss to Lakes, Glacier Peak’s 6-foot-3 junior forward attacked the basket on his way to a game-high 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies in their 52-45 victory over perennial boys basketball power Rainier Beach at the Tacoma Dome.
Not only did the win help erase the distaste from the day before, it means the Grizzlies (21-6) clinched the first state basketball trophy in school history. Glacier Peak plays Bellevue (24-4) at 3:30 p.m. today with the winner getting fourth place in the 3A state tournament and the loser taking seventh.
“We knew we laid an egg yesterday (in a 13-point loss to Lakes),” Bonner said. “So we just wanted to come out hard and we didn’t want to go home yet.”
Bonner helped jump-start Glacier Peak with a near double-double (nine points, six rebounds) in the first half.
“We wanted to focus on the first quarter and just getting out and ready to roll,” Glacier Peak head coach Brian Hunter said. “We wanted to make sure that Rainier Beach knew we were ready to play, that we were going to be able to play with them physically and athletically and that’s what our No. 1 goal was.”
Guard Nick Persha added eight points, Tanner Southard had seven points and nine rebounds (eight offensive) and 6-11 junior center Payton Pervier had 10 points, seven rebounds and six blocks as the Grizzlies out-rebounded the five-time 3A champion Vikings 43-26 (20-12 on the offensive boards).
“I think we were a lot more prepared,” Bonner said. “Yesterday (against Lakes), we came out and didn’t really know what we were up against, but today I think that none of us wanted this to be our last game so we all came out and played our hearts out.”
Pervier, Glacier Peak’s lanky post, has earned a tournament-high 20 blocked shots through three games. The junior is well within striking distance of the 11-year-old tournament record of 22 blocked shots set by Bremerton’s 6-5 forward Marshaun Thompson in 1999. Thompson had 10 blocks in one game; Pervier is averaging 6.7 blocks per game in the tournament.
“He’s taken a tremendous amount of strides from last year to this year,” Hunter said of Pervier, a first-year varsity player who also is averaging six points and 6.3 rebounds in the tournament. “… I think he’s a little bit of an unknown. I think how he’s done this week has maybe brought a little bit more attention to him.”
Pervier, who missed an early part of this season with a broken left wrist, came up key for Glacier Peak against the Vikings (23-5) with several put-backs, including one with 32.5 seconds remaining in the third quarter that put Glacier Peak ahead 41-37.
Joseph Stroud scored 12 points to lead Rainier Beach and Lonnie Pearson added 10 for the 2008 3A champions.
“The harder we play, the better we play,” Bonner said. “… It’s pretty cool, we’re gonna go for fourth place, it’s awesome.”
At the Tacoma Dome
Glacier Peak2091211—52
Rainier Beach1114128—45
Glacier Peak—Persha 8, Hill 5, Southard 7, Cummins 6, Manning 0, Kiser 2, Bonner 14, Pervier 10. Rainier Beach—Fuller 0, Kadeem Stewart 8, Echols 4, Pearson 10, Harris 0, Davis 5, Perkins 0, Hakeem Stewart 0, Stroud 12, Wheeler 6. 3-pointers—Hill 1, Davis 1, Stroud 3. Records—Glacier Peak 21-6 overall. Rainier Beach 23-5.
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