How would Jackson respond?
That was the most intriguing question going into the Jackson High School boys basketball team’s loser-out game against Mountlake Terrace on Feb. 24. Coming off a devastating loss in its previous game, a winner-to-state Class 4A District 1 tournament semifinal Feb. 20, Jackson had to forget about that and move on or risk ending its season.
The Timberwolves recovered nicely.
After blowing a 22-point lead against Lake Stevens and losing on Feb. 20, Jackson beat Mountlake Terrace 66-53. As usual, guard play was crucial for Western Conference South Division champion Jackson (19-4). Backcourt standouts Brett Kingma (28 points) and Ryan Todd (19 points) scored all but 19 of Jackson’s points.
“I was proud with how we bounced back,” Jackson coach Steve Johnson said.
Against Mountlake Terrace, Kingma scored 21 points, including three 3-pointers, in the second half for Jackson, ranked No. 10 in 4A by the Tacoma News Tribune. He was 4-for-4 on free throws in the fourth quarter, when the Timberwolves outscored Mountlake Terrace 16-10.
Todd (10 rebounds, four assists) was 5-for-5 at the foul line in the fourth and had a consistent performance that thrilled coach Johnson.
The ride is over for Terrace. It was a memorable journey for coach Nalin Sood, whose team was not expected to accomplish much since it returned no starters and only one player (jacob Champoux) who had previous varsity experience.
“There’s a lot of teams still in the postseason and going to state. I’d rather coach this team,” Sood said, “because when you coach it’s all about overachieving, and no one can tell me that this basketball team didn’t overachieve.”
Mike Cane writes for The Herald.
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