Mercer Island Select Boys Basketball’s seventh-grade squad won the state gold division championship on March 14-16 in Spokane.

This group has won two gold division state titles in a row and three state crowns over the last four years.

The locals beat Curtis in the championship game, 41-34; triumphed over Bothell, 52-34, in the semifinals; and downed Edmonds-Woodway, Kamiakin and Lake City (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho) to go 5-0 on the weekend. Their average margin of victory was 17.4 points.

“It was a pleasure to coach this group. Their leadership, togetherness and consistency sets them apart year after year,” said coaches Yan Fatien and Joe Gormley.

All of MI’s fifth- through eighth-grade boys teams competed at the tourney and the sixth-graders finished third.