Second Half comback brings

first victory of the season for Knights

George Edgar

(Sports Writer)

Last season, Dyon Sellers wore the crimson and gold of South Kitsap. This season, he’s now in the blue and gold of Bremerton High.

Sellers got his first win in his new colors on Thursday night, as the Knights came from ten points down at halftime and defeated the Sequim Wolves 67-60 for their first victory of the season.

Sellers scored 11 of his 17 points in the third quarter, as the Knights outscored the Wolves 22-4 in the quarter.

“He came out tentative,” Bremerton coach Miah Davis said of Sellers. “He’s got some new colors, blue and gold now. Once he made that adjustment, I said, go ahead and go. He’s capable of doing anything to help the team.”

In the locker room at halftime, Davis told Sellers and the rest of the Knights to be more aggressive against the Wolves.

“In a nutshell, they were playing more aggressive than us,” he said.” There’s a technique of playing aggressive and playing the game the right way, aggressive, and that’s what helped us propel us in the third quarter.”

The Knights (1-1 Olympic League and overall) jumped on the Wolves (0-2 league, 1-2), scoring three straight baskets to open the third quarter, and took the lead for good on a Sellers free throw at 36-35 with just over five minutes to go in the period.

“In the second half, coach said to push our tempo,” said Sellers, “and look for our open shots, and slow down the offense. We set a lot of screens and pick and rolls. We decided to go ball pressure, and knew their guys couldn’t dribble as much.”

“Tweaks in the offense allowed us to get some easier shots,” Davis said, “and let them calm down. Some of them, it was their first varsity game, at home with the crowd, lots of nerves, family is in the crowd. It was our job as coaches to put them in better situations.”

Samuel Tucker led the Knights with 22 points, 20 coming in the second half. Trevon Pietz added eight points and five assists.

It was a complete turnaround from their first game of the season, an 86-46 loss to Port Angeles on December 6. They had a non-league game against Black Hills of Tumwater cancelled due to snow the week before.

“We were looking for guys who were available,” said Sellers. “We were looking for our own shots in Port Angeles, now we’re working as a team. It doesn’t matter how many points you score, as long as we work as a team.”

In the fourth, Sequim mounted a comeback, but could not get closer than six points. Bremerton pulled away with Tucker hitting three of four free throws in the final minute.

“Off the court, on the court, we’re still a team,” Davis said, “so we got to learn from our first game that we lost.”

George Edgar

(Sports Writer)

edgar7892@yahoo.com