MARYSVILLE — Once again, Arlington basketball has shown the strength of its young talent.

At the Tulalip 3-on-3 basketball tournament Aug. 8-9, teams composed of local ninth-grade boys and girls won the championship in their respective brackets.

The boys’ Team Arlington, composed of Terry Dawn, Skylor Elgarico, A.J. Passalacqua and Xavier Piper went undefeated through the tournament, taking the championship game by a 10-point margin, 16-6. Arlington punished their championship rivals defensively and Dawn sank three consecutive free throws to end the game on points.

Their female counterparts in Team Fource were also champions, winning in the ninth-grade girls division, and their bracket already complete as the girls watched to cheer on the boys.

Meanwhile as the ninth-grade boys played for their title, several upperclassmen, including veterans of the Arlington varsity squad Zach Cooper and Eric Carlson, bounced back from an earlier loss to some Mountlake Terrace boys to force a second championship game in the High School Gold division. Trailing several times by as many as four points, the Arlington boys tied it up at 13-13 and stayed within a point of their rivals to force sudden-death overtime with a 16-16 game after 25 minutes of regulation.

It was there Kyle Impero sunk back-to-back shots, bringing a quick 18-16 win.

“We beat them in the championship game, but we had to beat them again,” said Cooper.

The boys were defeated in the rematch but awarded runner-up shirts and medals.

“This tournament is really fun, really competitive,” Cooper added, figuring he has played in the tournament each of the last four years.

The Tulalip 3-on-3 Extravaganza is western Washington’s largest such basketball tournament and second only in the state to Spokane’s behemoth Hoopfest, which took place earlier this summer. Sponsored by the Tulalip Resort Casino, all money raised by the tournament benefits the Boys and Girls Club, said organizer Charlie Cobb.

‘They’re growing to Vegas-size and they still sponsor us,” Cobb said gratefully as the tournament came to a close.

In the tournament’s sixth year, turnout continued to slip a little from previous years, likely due to economic reasons, but still mustered about 150 teams, including one as far away as Lapwai, Idaho.

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