SILVERDALE, Wash. – The five starters on a basketball team are supposed get everything going in the right direction, especially on a team that is used to winning.

Well, that did happen Wednesday night (Mar. 21) in the Ridgetop Middle School for the Warren Ave (WA) Boys B Knights against Chico Boys B Black in the Kitsap Co. Pee Wee Boys B Semi-Final game. Instead, the quintet put the Knights in a hole.

Seven minutes into the contest WA coach Ryan Christian called a time-out. His team was trailing 4-to-10 and he didn’t like what he was seeing on the floor.

“I hate Wednesday game,” coach Christian stated after the game. “It is early release day at school, which gives the boys too much time to go home and goof around, especially for a 7 p.m. game, and lose their game focus.”

Anticipating this, Christian went on to say he talked about it at the team practice Tuesday night.

With a fifteen-player roster coach Christian had options. He found the spark he needed in small forward Madden Benson.

Called into action, Benson came off the bench and strung together a 5 point, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, and a blocked shot performance in less than 10 minutes of the first half. It was the spark the team needed to get moving.

Then, as a focused group, the Knights evened the score at 15 all with 4:30 left in the half and took a 21-to-16 lead into the halftime break.

Benson played equally as well in the second half. He left the gym Wednesday night with 13 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, and a block. His first double-double performance of the season.

Warren Ave’s second half success, which lead to a 41-to-21 victory and a berth in the Kitsap Co. Pee Wee Boys B championship game Saturday (Mar. 24), came on the defense end. The Knights held Chico to just five second period points, while matching their first half offensive output.

Starting guard Trenton Bulmer equaled Benson’s thirteen-point performance and also led the team with 4 steals.

Jomiah Smith tallied 7 points and 7 rebounds, followed by Dillon Lovestedt and Chance Enyeart with 6 boards each.

The final time to watch the WA Boys B team play this 2018 Pee Wee Basketball season will be Saturday afternoon (Mar.24) at North Mason High School. The Knights will take the floor at 1:30 p.m. against Chico B Red for the championship.