MUKILTEO — On a night Kamiak High School honored the five seniors on the boys basketball team, the Knights themselves came up with the best possible go-away gift.
Playing with great energy and confidence right from the start, Kamiak jumped out to a big lead and then withstood a late Cascade rally for a 65-59 victory on Tuesday night, handing the Bruins their first defeat of the season in the regular-season finale for both teams.
The game was played in a packed Kamiak gymnasium with noisy supporters for both teams.
“Regardless of what happens from here on out, they’re going to remember this,” said Knights coach Cory West of his players, and particularly seniors Jase Wiley, Trevor Gray, Coleman Grayson, Gavin Patrick and Nate Shubert. “They beat an undefeated team on our home court, so it’s big for them and I’m excited for them.
“Our seniors have put in so much time and so much work for our program over the last four years,” he added. “So it means a lot and tonight they made a memory.”
The Knights trailed just once in the game and that was 1-0 in the game’s early moments. The lead was 8-5 minutes later and from there Kamiak closed the quarter with a 12-2 scoring burst. Oddly enough, the Knights finished the second quarter with another 12-2 spree, this time to take a 36-21 lead at halftime.
Midway through the third period the margin reached a high of 19 points, 42-23, as Cascade continued to misfire on offense, repeatedly missing layins and committing turnovers. But despite being down by 17 points to start the fourth quarter, the Bruins refused to buckle.
Led by guard Drew Magaoay, who scored 17 of his game-high 27 points in the final eight minutes, Cascade slowly crept closer. They drew within five, 61-56, on a three-point play by Magaoay with 1:12 remaining, and again within five at 64-59 on a Magaoay 3-pointer with 47 seconds on the clock.
But the Bruins missed their last four chances from the field and Kamiak added a free throw in the late moments for the final six-point margin.
With both teams heading to the district tournament, “it’s the postseason now, so everybody’s 0-0,” West pointed out. “But this was good for confidence, good for momentum.”
Post Coleman Grayson led Kamiak’s balanced scoring attack with 15 points, with guard Carson Tuttle chipping in 11.
As for the Bruins, they tasted defeat for the first time in 20 games this season, though they also needed some late comebacks to win some of their earlier games.
“We’ve been in this position way too many times this season,” said Cascade coach Darrell McNeal. “It’s time to play. It’s playoff basketball.”
McNeal said he was “a little disappointed with the way we played in the first three quarters.” Even though “in the last quarter we picked it up … in the first three quarters I don’t think we played very well,” he said.
Might this be a wakeup call for the Bruins?
“I don’t know if it’s a wakeup call,” McNeal said, “but it’s definitely going to refocus us. I think every good team needs to suffer a loss and refocus at any given time, and especially at the time we’re at right now, with the district playoffs (coming up) as well as trying to make that state (tournament) run. But it is what it is and we just learn from it and move on.”
The Lynnwood girls (20-0) and Arlington girls (20-0) both completed undefeated regular seasons on Tuesday night. Arlington defeated Marysville Getchell 78-36 for coach Joe Marsh’s 100th victory. Lynnwood defeated Shorecrest 60-30.
At Kamiak H.S.
Cascade 7 14 13 25 —59
Kamiak 20 16 15 14 —65
Cascade_Trevon Blackmon 6, Santana Saiz 0, Drew Magaoay 27, D’Andre Bryant 2, Cameron McGrath 4, Alex Stewart 0, Muhammed Kolly 3, Kevin Burns 0, Brennen Hancock 6, Isaiah Gotell 11.
Kamiak_Carson Tuttle 11, Christian Clausen 8, Jase Wiley 2, Trevor Gray 1, Hunter Watkins 0, Coleman Grayson 15, Gavin Patrick 9, Keller Whitney 0, Daniel Sharpe 8, Nathan Shubert 8, Isaiah Jeannot 3.
Records_Cascade 13-1 league, 19-1 overall. Kamiak 12-2, 15-5.
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