Olympia tops Rainier Beach in game celebrating anniversary of 1998 state title matchup

More than two decades ago, the Olympia and Rainier Beach boys basketball teams met in the Class 3A state championship game in Seattle.

Playing in front of thousands of fans in the Kingdome, the two storied programs — led by two head coaches who had guided their teams to a title game appearance for the first time in their careers, and Division I-bound stars — traded the lead late in an intense final quarter, providing a thrilling ending to what was considered by many then as the most talent-stacked state tournament in history.

“It was just a loaded field,” Rainier Beach coach Mike Bethea said Saturday, remembering that 1998 tournament.

Rainier Beach had posted a one-point win over top-ranked Mount Vernon a night earlier in the semifinals that season, and Olympia a victory over Mercer Island on a last-second basket from forward Mark Bigelow.

The championship game was decided in the final moments, too. Olympia trailed by 17 late in the third quarter, but rallied all the way back, and took a one-point lead on a bucket from Bigelow with 2:19 to play.

“We were together, we were confident and we made a good run,” Bigelow said Saturday, remembering that Bears team.

But, Rainier Beach answered with key baskets and free throws to keep Olympia just out of reach. Vikings forward David King made both ends of a one-and-one with 4.8 seconds left to close out a 44-40 victory and championship.

“It was the start of something,” Bethea said, recalling the first of eight state title wins with the Vikings. “Didn’t know where it was going, but I’ll never forget David King’s prophetic statement at the end of it. He said, ‘Hey, look out for Rainier Beach for years and years to come.’ ”

Jamal Crawford, who went on to play at Michigan and then 21 seasons in the NBA, led Rainier Beach with 16 points in that 1998 championship win, and scored the final go-ahead basket seconds after Bigelow’s momentum-shifting shot. King had 14 points and pulled down 17 boards in a dominant rebounding performance for the Vikings.

Bigelow, who went on to play four seasons at BYU, scored a team-high 16 points for Olympia, and was later named the tournament MVP.

“We went toe-to-toe with them,” Bigelow recalled. “Missed opportunities, but at the same time, you look back at fond, fond memories.”

Saturday night at Olympia High School, the two storied programs met again — for the first time since — in a competitive nonleague matchup celebrating the 25th anniversary of that title game in 1998.

Olympia coach John Kiley approached Bethea with the idea last March inside the Tacoma Dome, where both programs took home state trophies. Olympia earned a third-place finish in 4A — the program’s best since that 1998 championship game appearance — and Rainier Beach a runner-up finish in 3A.

“Right then, I said, ‘What do you think about a nonleague (game) 25 years later?’ ” Kiley said.

“When he said that, I said, ‘Yeah, let’s do this.’ This is where it all started for he and I,” Bethea said.

Both coaches — again looking to lead their teams to the state playoffs this winter — and several players from that second-place Bears team were recognized on the court pregame.

“It was fun,” Kiley said. “You could see our community was coming home for the ‘98 team and the ‘23 team, which was really cool.”

This time, it was Olympia that ended the evening with a victory. Following a back-and-forth first half, the Bears eventually built a double-digit lead and closed out a 65-49 win over perennial 3A state power Rainier Beach.

“It was fun to get the opportunity to compete against them,” Olympia guard Parker Gerrits said.

The lead changed seven times in the first two quarters, but a pair of free throws from Gerrits, a Washington State signee, with 8.3 seconds remaining in the first half put Olympia in front for good.

After carrying a 26-24 lead into the break, the Bears went on an 11-0 run midway through the third to push the lead to double digits, and kept it there the rest of the way. They led by as many as 18 on a 3-pointer from Gerrits early in the fourth.

Gerrits scored a game-high 28 points in the win, and added nine rebounds and three assists. Olympia forward Andreas Engholm added 15 points and seven boards, and guard Mason Juergens had 10 points and five assists. Rainier Beach guard Miles Gurske paced the Vikings with a team-high 17 points and added three steals.

“It was pretty fun,” Gerrits said of playing in this game 25 years after the two programs competed for a state championship. “Today before the game, we went in and watched the (1998) game on YouTube. It was pretty cool to see how big the crowd was, and how many people went to watch that.

“And now to see everyone come out and support this one, it’s pretty special.”