Glen Jackson hit the biggest shot of his Decatur High School basketball career Tuesday night.
Trailing 71-70 inside the Gator Dome to the always-tough Enumclaw Hornets, Jackson caught an inbounds pass from the baseline and connected on a layup on the left side of the hoop. The basket gave Decatur a stunning 72-71 win over the Hornets at the buzzer and set off a celebration by the Gator student section, which rushed onto the court, mobbing Jackson.
The final layup gave Jackson 17 points on the night and improved Decatur to 10-9 overall and 5-4 in the South Puget Sound League 3A Division. The Gators close their regular season Thursday night on the road against first-place Auburn Mountainview.
Jason Young finished with a game-high 27 points for the Gators and Kevin Locascio ended up with 24. The trio of Young, Locascio and Jackson tallied 68 of Decatur’s 72 points Tuesday.
Jefferson — The Raiders clinched a berth into the postseason Tuesday with a hard-fought, 52-38, victory over winless Kentlake.
Jefferson (10-9 overall, 9-6 SPSL North) jumped out to a 29-19 lead in the first half and cruised in the third and fourth quarters on the road. Deonte Anderson led the way with 11 points and Daniel Park and Pekedey Ren both finished with 10 points each.
The Raiders currently sit in a tie for fourth place in the North with Mount Rainier with one game remaining. Jefferson will host first place Tahoma Friday night. The top-five teams from the North advance into the postseason and the top-four are guaranteed berths into the West Central District Tournament, where TJ hasn’t played since 1985. The fifth-place team from the North Division plays the fifth-place team from the South in a loser-out, winner-to-district game.
Beamer — The Titans picked up a solid come-from-behind home victory Tuesday over the Puyallup Vikings, 55-41. Beamer (15-4 overall, 11-4 SPSL South) currently sits in third place in the SPSL South behind league-champion Curtis (18-2 overall, 14-2 SPSL South) and Federal Way with one game remaining in the regular season.
Against Puyallup, the Titans had nine players score at least two points. Charles Frazier led the way with 16 points and Juwan Flowers finished with 10.
Beamer jumped out to a 14-7 lead after the first quarter, but the Vikings outscored the Titans 30-18 in the second and third quarters to take a 37-32 lead entering the final eight minutes.
But the Titans dominated Puyallup in the fourth quarter, outscoring them 23-4 to pick up the win.
Beamer travels to Federal Way (16-3 overall, 12-3 SPSL South) Friday night to take on the Eagles in a huge SPSL South battle. The winner of the game will be the South’s second seed into the SPSL Tournament.
The Titans beat Federal Way earlier in the season on their home court.
