Bremerton had no intention of

sharing Olympic Leage title

again this year

George Edgar

(Sports Writer)

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND – About ninety seconds into the Olympic League game between the Bremerton Knights and Bainbridge Spartans, a short shot from the baseline went up and into the basket.

In the grand scheme of things, there was nothing special about it. Except it was shot by Jalen Davis, the Knights’ leading scorer at 28 points per game, and he hadn’t scored a basket since he was injured January 3 in Bremerton’s loss to Eastside Catholic.

He eventually finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds, as the Knights got rolling against the Spartans and routed them 84-41 in Paski Gym.

“It felt great,” Jalen said after the game. “I just came back to the game and get in the flow.”

He didn’t need to drop in 30 or 40 points for the win, as the Knights got a balanced scoring night, with five players in double figures. They shot 53 percent (35 of 65) from the floor, including 20 of 32 in the first half.

“That last couple of practices, we’ve been doing a lot of shooting drills,” Jalen Davis pointed out, “and that could’ve helped us.”

They needed that because the Spartans opened up on fire. They were missing four players due to the flu, including two of their starters, yet Bainbridge’s Julian Zupan sank five 3-pointers in the first quarter. Bremerton was down 12-4 early in the quarter before coach Miah Davis called a time out.

“He said they’re not going to keep it up that long,” Jalen Davis said. “It’s just the momentum they got during the game.”

“I said to them, It’s just a game of runs, its basketball,” coach Davis recalled. “Right now, we’re gonna get after it; we’re gonna play Bremerton basketball. Don’t lose our identity and our identity is on defense. It’s a boxing match. The first quarter of basketball is like the first three rounds of boxing. You feel your opponent out, then after a while, you figure them out, and that’s how you wear them down. You don’t have to knock them out.”

From then on, Bremerton caught fire, going on a 20-5 run the rest of the quarter to lead 24-17 after one. Enoch Taylor scored 10 points in the quarter, with a pair of threes.

Bremerton led 48-27 at halftime, and kept up the defensive pressure the rest of the game. They limited the Spartans (8-2, 11-5) to just 31 percent shooting (14 of 44), though Zupan finished with 28 points with seven 3-pointers.

Taylor led the Knights (11-0, 16-2) with 18 points, with four 3-pointers. Aaron Matthews had 15 points and five assists, Jr. Davis McWhorter 11 points, and Mark Lomuda came off the bench for 12 points, as Jalen Davis didn’t need to pour in the points this night.

Lomuda provided the highlight in the fourth quarter, when he got loose on a breakaway and threw down a dunk, bringing the visiting Bremerton fans to their feet.

“He’s been asking me a lot of questions,” coach Davis said of Lomuda. “Small questions, like ‘How can I get better?’ That’s the sign of someone who’s learning. If someone searching, it’s my job to give him some nuggets. We know he can be, and we touched up on that before the game.”

Bremerton concludes January with the Battle Of The Bridge against Olympic on Friday night.

Bremerton - 24 24 23 12 - 84

Bainbridge - 17 10 10 4 - 41

E. Taylor - 18 pts 4 reb 2 ast 1 stl 1 to

J. Davis - 16 pts 10 reb 4 ast 6 stl 1 blk

A. Matthews - 15 pts 1 reb 5 ast 6 stl 1 to

M. Lomuda - 12 pts 7 reb 1 ast 2 stl 1 to
J. McWhorter - 11 pts 3 reb 3 ast 1 to

J. Beahan - 6 pts 6 reb 1 stl 2 blk 1 to

D. McKay - 3 pts 1 reb 1 ast 1 stl

T. Medina - 2 pts 2 reb 2 ast 1 to

K. Hunter - 1 pts 1 ast 1 to

George Edgar

(Sports Writer)

edgar7892@yahoo.com