Knights in Seattle this Weekend

By MARK BUTCHER

Sports Writer

Confident in their third-place regular season and post-season tournament finish the Bremerton High Boys Varsity team is stepping out this weekend to play in the Cleveland High Summer Basketball Tournament.

The twelve-team tournament features the 2018 Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) 3A State Champion Garfield Bulldogs and runner-up Rainier Beach Vikings. Also participating are the Cleveland Eagles, Franklin Quakers, Eastside Catholic Crusaders and Ingraham Rams out of the 3A Metro League; Foster Bulldogs and Renton Indians from the 2A South Puget Sound League; Sammamish Totems hailing from the KingCo. 2A/3A league; Jefferson Democrats traveling up from Portland, Oregon; and Team Swish, a Puget Sound Select basketball team.

Pool play - four groups of three teams each - begins Friday (6/29) night and carries through to Saturday (6/30). The top eight teams will advance to a single-elimination tournament that ends Sunday (7/1).

It is not hard to say that the Knights have their hands full this weekend. Friday, they open against Cleveland, who finished the 2017-18 prep season with a 10-5 (.666) record, second place in the 3A Metro League behind Garfield. Saturday, Bremerton tips-off at 11 a.m. against the Jefferson Democrats. Jefferson finished as the #1 seed out of the 6A Portland Interscholastic League, with a 15-1 (.937) record, and ended their season in the semi-finals of 6A Oregon Boys Basketball State Tournament.

Which Bremerton players will make the trip to the Seattle tournament is hard to predict. Head Coach Miah Davis and Assistant Joe Wilson, who took turns coaching the BHS Varsity Boys in the local Sports Beyond Summer League, did not have a consistent line-up to work with during the eight games.

Sophomore point guard Caleb Washington, juniors Keith Jackmon and Gavin King, and incoming freshman Ruppe Wilson were the only four players to step on the court for all eight games. Senior forward Andy McMartin made it to five contest, missing the first and last two. Sophomore shooting guard Xavier Tolosa played in the first four games, as did Alex Mendez, then Tolosa was sidelined with a concussion he suffered in practice. Senior forward Kaleb Peterson returned to the team for the final four outings, while classmates McCoy Retome and Keoni Laguana, as well as incoming freshman guard D’Angelo Moore, made two game guest appearances mid-way through the league. And not to be forgotten, juniors Cedric Curtis and Dwayne Clark, incoming freshmen Kanye Taylor, as well as eighth-grader Miles Gurske saw playing time in the final contest.

Offensively the team will rely on returning starting varsity guards Jackmon and Washington for the bulk of their scoring. In the Sports Beyond Summer League, Jackmon average 9.0 points per game (ppg) while Washington twined 7.6 ppg.

Anticipate Washington and Wilson to share point guard duties, then rotating to the wing as a shooter when they are not calling the plays. Washington, the quicker of the two guards, average 2.1 assists per game (apg), and Wilson, naturally more patience with better court vision, tallied 1.1 apg in the just complete summer league.

Not a great rebounding team, the coaches will look to Peterson – 6.0 rebounds per game (rpg) – Jackmon (5.4 rpg), Retome (4.5 rpg), and King (4.0 rpg) to retrieve the bulk of the missed shots. Although slight of build, junior Curtis is quick off the floor and will make his mark somewhere in that group of forwards.

No matter what the outcome this weekend, it will be valuable experience for the young BHS Boys Basketball players. They will get to see in action and play against some of the top Pacific Northwest prep basketball players and gage what they need to do to take their game to the next level.