MILL CREEK — Jackson’s highly touted backcourt duo certainly lived up to the preseason buzz.
Guards Brett Kingma and Ryan Todd combined to score 51 points, fueling the Jackson High School boys basketball team’s 97-65 rout of the Cascade Bruins Thursday at the Jackson High gym.
Kingma, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, scored a team-high 26 points and Todd, a 6-3 junior, tallied 25 to lead the Timberwolves to an impressive non-league, season-opening triumph.
“Obviously, Kingma and Todd were all that’s advertised. And I thought some other people stepped up,” said Jackson head coach Steve Johnson, whose team shot 53 percent from the field and 81 percent (30-for-37) at the foul line.
Cascade was without two regular starters, forward Jamieson McDaniels and guard Anthony Barton. Things got worse for the short-handed Bruins when fouls piled up and three players fouled out. One of them, junior guard Chris McGrath, led all players with 29 points despite fouling out with 6 minutes, 31 seconds to go.
Jackson’s guard play and team speed impressed Cascade head coach Jamar Williams.
“That’s a good team right there,” Williams said. “All those guys are aggressive with the basketball and they play hard, so they should do pretty well in the South.”
Jackson was picked to finish second (behind Mariner) in the Western Conference South Division in The Herald’s preseason coaches’ poll.
Trevor Bray (12 points, six rebounds) had a solid outing for the T-wolves, who grabbed 18 offensive rebounds. Bryan Koch and Mike Wishko had seven boards apiece. Eleven players scored for Jackson, which knew it had a quick lineup but was surprised to score nearly 100 points in a 32-minute game.
“I can tell you we weren’t expecting to come out and put up that many points, but once we got out there we just pushed the break and we were able to get a lot of easy shots,” said Todd, who was 7-for-9 from the field and 11-for-12 on foul shots.
Jackson, which plays its division opener Tuesday at Shorewood, needs to improve on defense, Kingma said. But it will be difficult for opponents to slow down the T-wolves’ up-tempo style.
“We’re up there with some of the best fast-breaking teams in the state,” Kingma said, “and that’s pretty much our goal for our offense.”
Thanks to a speedy pace and loads of made foul shots, the teams combined to score 87 points by halftime. Fueled by its effective transition attack, Jackson led 50-37 at the break. Its top scorers were Kingma (18 points) and Todd (14 points).
Kingma tallied 12 points in the first quarter and Jackson led 22-14. Todd scored 11 in the second quarter, including 5-for-5 free-throw shooting.
Cascade’s McGrath scored 17 points in the half, but also was whistled for three fouls.
Jackson got to the basket time after time and drew fouls all night.
“Things are going well for us if we do force people to foul us,” coach Johnson said, “because if you’re running good offense people have to foul you. It’s a strong indicator that you’re playing the way you’d like to play.”
The only drama in the fourth quarter was whether Jackson would reach the 100-point barrier. Johnson took out his starters with 5 minutes to go. After falling behind 97-65, Cascade held the ball for the final minute.
Guard Corey Taylor scored 10 points and made two 3-point baskets for Cascade, which plays its first Wesco North game Tuesday at Marysville-Pilchuck.
At Jackson H.S.
Cascade1423226—65
Jackson22282918—97
Cascade — Taylor 10, McGrath 29, Hancock 6, Beaver 6, Lacey Jr. 4, Tolpingrud 6, Runkel 2, Jackson 2. Jackson — Kingma 26, Todd 25, Koch 4, Bray 12, Wishko 6, Gay 1, Cody 2, O’Keefe 7, Rucker 4, Dineen 8, Acholonu, Gilchrist 2. 3-point goals — Taylor 2, McGrath 1, Hancock 2, Kingma 1. JV score-Jackson 65, Cascade 42. Records — Cascade 0-1 overall. Jackson 1-0.
Writer Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at www.heraldnet.com/doubleteam.
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