Best finish ever for Mavs

  • By David Pan Enterprise sports editor
  • Tuesday, March 16, 2010 8:29pm

Meadowdale senior Connor Hamlett and his teammates made history at the Class 3A state boys basketball tournament.

The Mavericks secured their highest finish ever – fifth place – with a 66-55 victory over defending state champion Franklin March 13 at the Tacoma Dome.

Hamlett scored a game-high 33 points to lead Meadowdale, which finished 22-7 overall. The Mavericks dropped their opening game to state runner-up Enumclaw 49-43 but then strung together victories over Foster (55-43) and Renton (44-36) to advance to the fourth and final day of the tournament.

“With our group, I wish I had another week of games,” said Meadowdale coach Chad McGuire. “We had a great group of seniors. We’ll miss them. I wish I could coach them another week.”

Hamlett, who will play football at Oregon State, averaged 24 points and 12 rebounds during the tournament. He was Meadowdale’s leading scorer in all four games.

“He had a dominating year,” McGuire said. “He showed it to everybody in state in Tacoma. If he wanted to, he could play basketball in college.”

Though he already had committed to play football last spring, Hamlett continued to work on his basketball game, playing on a select team during the summer.

“He started lifting a lot,” McGuire said. “His strength helped him in basketball. He was quicker. He jumped higher. He was strong on the boards.”

Hamlett wasn’t alone in improving his game. Also wrapping up their high school careers were Sam Werner, Riley Neff-Warner, Matt Beaucherie and Dillon Sand.

“They played really well together as a team,” McGuire said. “As a group they got better as the year went on. … It was their last year. The seniors wanted to prove they could get to state. They are good basketball players. They are even better people.”

Meadowdale had the misfortune of opening against tournament favorite Enumclaw. The Mavericks fell behind by 19 points in the second quarter but kept playing hard and cut the lead to three points.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well,” McGuire said. “Our kids wanted to prove how good a team we were. They used that as motivation.”

Though the second game of the tournament is always the hardest, Meadowdale responded with a solid win.

“Once they beat Foster, they were motivated to get that fifth place,” McGuire said. “They knew it would be the highest finish in school history.”

McGuire knew early on the Mavericks had the makings of a talented team. Meadowdale beat Stanwood, a strong 4A team, in the season opener without Hamlett or Sand.

“Right them you could tell we had a chance to be a special team,” McGuire said.

Meadowdale started five seniors this year but the Mavericks still return plenty of talent, including junior Tyce Tallman, a key reserve, along with junior Dylan Buck, sophomore Spencer Linton and sophomore Torin Dooley.

“Our younger guys got to experience competition at the varsity level,” McGuire said. “They’re motivated to get better.”

The seniors helped to make this year’s team one of the most competitive of McGuire’s tenure. The Mavericks handed Jackson, the 4A state-runner-up, two out of its three losses this year.

“They worked extremely hard,” he said. “They really wanted to win.”

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