SHORELINE — Calvin Fujii couldn’t have timed his breakout performance any better.

With his King’s boys basketball teammates engaged in a heated consolation contest with Freeman at last year’s Class 1A state tournament, Fujii single-handedly squashed the Scotties.

When the teams headed to overtime in the third/sixth place matchup, the rugged post provided the first five points of an 8-0 King’s run that clinched a 60-50 victory.

Fujii collected 15 points, six rebounds and three steals in what Knights coach Marv Morris at the time called the “best game of his career” and “a great way for him to finish up his junior year and look ahead to next season.”

One year later, Fujii is the focal point of the retooled King’s lineup.

The Knights lost Chinook League most valuable player Chris Faidley and five other seniors to graduation. Of the three returning starters, Fujii possesses the most experience and court savvy.

“More than anything our team depends on how Fujii does. If Fujii’s healthy and has a good year, we’ll do well,” Morris said. “Other than him we don’t really have a strong inside presence yet. Some other guys have the potential to grow into it, but at the present they’re not there.”

At 6-foot-1, Fujii doesn’t have the wingspan of the centers and power forwards he’s usually paired against in the paint. It’s his rare combination of power and agility that frazzles opponents.

“He’s strong physically and he has about the best footwork of any high school kid you’re going to see,” Morris said. “He’s so far ahead of the average high school kid. His footwork is unbelievably good.”

Fujii ranked third on the team at seven points per game as a junior and was an all-league honorable mention pick. Morris envisions a concerted effort to feed Fujii, who is assuming a more active role on offense as opposed to scoring mostly on second-chance baskets like past seasons.

“We’ve got to be a little deliberate,” Morris said. “We’ve got to make sure we get the ball inside and let Fujii touch it.”

Even if more of the offense flows his way, Fujii expects a balanced effort by the Knights, who finished fourth or higher at the past six 1A state tournaments.

“There’s no individuals,” said Fujii, who missed eight weeks of the football season due to a bulging disc and pinched nerve in his back.

“Everyone wants to do well so the team does well. We don’t have a star player who’s going to score 20 points. This year it will be pretty even overall.”

Carson Bowlin returns alongside Fujii in the post, but the rest of the frontcourt is unsettled.

“We’ve got several guys battling for time and I really don’t know at this point who that’s going to be,” Morris said.

Bowlin and Jared Madrazo were brought up from the junior varsity level midway through last season. By the playoffs the juniors had worked their way into the starting five.

Madrazo is splitting time with seniors Joey Kennard and Clayton Holman at the two guard positions.

“All three of our guards can run the one or two,” Morris said. “They’re really battling. They’re all going to play a lot.”

The speed and depth of the backcourt caters to the trademark trapping defenses the Knights employ.

“We have a lot of quick guards who can pressure the ball,” Fujii said. “They can fullcourt press the whole game. They’ve got good endurance.”

The dissolution of the Chinook League at the end of the 2003-04 school year prompted King’s to opt up in classification for the next two-year scheduling cycle.

Joining the seven-team Cascade Conference was an intimidating move for some King’s coaches. But not Morris, who considered the Chinook League one of the state’s elite small-school boys basketball conferences.

“The league we were in had as good of competition as you can get. This is not going to be a big step up,” Morris said.

“I’m excited about being in a new league and playing new people. I think it’s going to be fun to play some people that haven’t seen you and you haven’t seen them.”

The veteran coach is hoping the Knights can use the element of surprise to their advantage during their debut season at the 2A level.

“It will be a real plus for our defense because teams haven’t seen what we can do defensively,” Morris said. “Of course we haven’t seen what they do either. But all in all I think that’s going to be in our favor.”