Knights closeout January with

a repeat win over Olympic

George Edgar

(Sports Writer)

You know you have it good when you don’t play your best, you don’t play your best player, and you still win in a blowout.

The Bremerton Knights had some lapses on both sides of the ball, yet routed the visiting Olympic Trojans 77-32 at Eathorne Gym in the second Battle Of The Bridge of the season.

The Knights, 12-0 in the Olympic League and 17-2 overall, won even though Jalen Davis was sitting on the bench.

The junior guard played his first action on Tuesday since he injured his knee on January 3 against Eastside Catholic. Against Olympic, coach Miah Davis kept him on the bench as a precaution.

“Why put wear and tear on the tires when you don’t need to,” said coach Miah Davis. “Just keep it in the garage. Come Tuesday, it’s going to be a statement game, and Senior Night on Thursday. We’re trying to facilitate, looking at the post season, but take care of those two games, and make sure we’re healthy.”

Though the score said blowout – the mercy clock started running early in the fourth quarter – there were times that Bremerton had lapses on both sides of the ball. Olympic sank a trio of three-pointers in the second quarter against their defense, and the Knights shot just six of 16 field goals in the third quarter.

“Second quarter wasn’t to my liking, third quarter was more like offensive woes, but the defense was still there, we held them to eight points. As a coach you always seek perfection. For them to understand, when you seek perfection, you’re going to fail, and it’s how you get up and supercede in those moments.”

The Knights wreaked havoc on the perimeter as usual but when Olympic did get into the front court, they found the Knights’ height standing tall in the middle.

With 6-10 sophomore Jay Beahan and 6-8 senior Mark Lomuda in the paint, Olympic, as well as other teams this season, thought twice about going inside.

Beahan blocked 10 shots in game against Oakland, California, earlier this season, and Lomuda had a season high 12 points on Tuesday against Bainbridge.

“We got to understand, we got to take advantage of the height. I think were probably the biggest front court in the state, doesn’t matter what class. We should be able to play them both together, but we’re trying to figure it out. We might need it down the road, we might not. But as long as we have it in our pocket…”

Lomuda had six points and pulled down 10 rebounds, and Beahan grabbed seven rebounds and blocked three shots.

Aaron Matthews led the Knights with 21 points, Enoch Taylor had 19 points. Junior Davis-McWhorter had 15 points, and Kaliam Hunter had 10 points coming off the bench.

Bremerton will finish up the regular season with a road game at Port Angeles on Tuesday, and Senior Night on Thursday against Sequim.

Olympic - 2 16 8 6 - 32

Bremerton - 20 25 14 18 - 77

A. Matthews - 21 pts 7 reb 5 ast 4 stl 3 to

E. Taylor - 19 pts 5 reb 2 ast 5 stl

J. McWhorter - 15 pts 3 reb 2 ast 1 to

K. Hunter - 10 pts 2 reb 4 ast 1 stl 1 to

M. Lomuda - 6 pts 10 reb 2 stl 2 blk 1 to

T. Medina - 4 pts 3 reb 1 ast 1 stl

D. McKay - 3 pts 2 reb 2 ast 1 blk

J. Beahan - 2 pts 9 reb 3 stl 3 blk 1 to

George Edgar

(Sports Writer)

edgar7892@yahoo.com