O'Dea topples Garfield in rematch of Class 3A boys basketball championship
SEATTLE — The O'Dea boys basketball team didn't need any extra motivation heading into its home matchup with Garfield on Saturday afternoon.
The last time the two teams met was in the 2023 WIAA Class 3A championship, a 69-50 win for the Bulldogs.
Even with that in mind, the simplicity of a league rivalry was enough to get the Fighting Irish going and walk away with a 60-52 victory over the Bulldogs.
Senior wing Malcolm Clark scored a game-high 21 points to pace O'Dea's offense while junior wing Breylon Webb added 15.
Garfield senior guard/forward Jamari Harris led the Bulldogs with 19 points. Junior Legend Smiley contributed 16 as Garfield was held to a season-low 52 points.
Here are three takeaways from the O'Dea-Garfield game:
---
NO NOEL DAVIS? NO PROBLEM FOR O'DEA
Playing without starting point guard Noel Davis, the Fighting Irish offense didn't miss a beat Saturday evening.
In addition to Clark and Webb, sophomore guard Brian Webster scored in double figures with 10.
"(We knew if) we executed on offense we'd have a great chance to win this game," Webb said.
---
SPEAKING OF EXECUTION...
O'Dea's offense firing on all cylinders was most evident in the second quarter.
After playing to a 14-14 tie after the first quarter, the Fighting Irish outscored the Bulldogs, 23-9, in the second quarter to take a 37-23 lead into the break.
"We really came together as a team and got some good steals, good rebounds and we put a good run together," Webb said.
---
TAKING AWAY GOOD SHOTS
It's a simple point of emphasis to put on paper, but O'Dea made it look easy at times forcing the Bulldogs into low-percentage shots.
Webb said as team they also wanted to limit the number of open looks from deep Garfield got.
The Bulldogs sunk eight 3-pointers, but those shots were sandwiched between plenty of empty possessions.
"We wanted to limit the (3-pointers) because we know they're a big '3' team and we wanted to make them take tough shots," Webb said.
---
