TACOMA — Garfield star Jaylin Stewart’s promise was kept.
A day after Garfield lost a heartbreaker in overtime in last year’s Class 3A boys state quarterfinals, Stewart said this:
“Us juniors are going to come back next year and win it all because I don’t want to ever have that feeling again,” said Stewart, a power forward who has signed with Connecticut.
Indeed, the No. 2 seed Bulldogs did come back and win it all — even with Stewart hampered by foul trouble — defeating Metro League rival O’Dea 69-50 on Saturday night at the Tacoma Dome.
Garfield has 11 seniors on its roster, but it was a sophomore, guard Legend Smiley, who had the biggest impact. Smiley scored a game-high 30 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter when Garfield pulled away after leading by two points through three periods.
Garfield defeated O’Dea for the fourth time this season and it gave the Bulldogs their sixth state title in the past 10 years.
Brandon Roy remained perfect as a coach in the state tournament, winning his fourth title in four opportunities. Roy coached Nathan Hale to the title in 2017, and has coached Garfield, his alma mater, to titles in 2018, 2020 and now 2023.
The first half was entertaining and tight throughout.
O’Dea took a 17-16 lead after one quarter, getting a basket right before the buzzer after the Irish stole an inbounds pass.
Garfield led 30-28 at halftime, with O’Dea scoring the final four points of the half after the Bulldogs had built a six-point lead, the largest by either team in the first half.
The Bulldogs got 12 first-half point from Legend Smiley and nine from Myles Damon. Garfield needed those big performances with Stewart playing just four first-half minutes after getting two fouls and not scoring.
Seven O’Dea players scored in the first half, led by the six points from Miles Clark.
Each team scored 14 points in the third quarter, setting up a final eight minutes that Garfield dominated, thanks in large part to the 6-foot-4 Smiley.