King’s refuses to get boxed in, gets win over Meridian

  • Tony Dondero<br>Enterprise writer
  • Monday, March 3, 2008 11:27am

SHORELINE — Meridian came out with a defensive twist that the King’s boys basketball team had yet to see this season. But the Knights adjusted just fine thank you.

King’s beat back the box-and-one employed to stop its mighty-mite, 5-foot, 7-inch point guard Jared Madrazo and beat the Trojans, 60-43, in a first-round Class 2A District 1 playoff game at Mike Martin Gym.

With the win, the fifth-ranked Knights (20-2) advanced to play a winner-to-state game against Nooksack Valley at 6:30 p.m. tonight (Friday, Feb. 24) at Mount Vernon High School.

The Trojans (7-14), the No. 4 seed from the always-tough Whatcom County League, had a defender play man-to-man on Madrazo while the rest of the team dropped into zone. It worked early on as the Knights led only 13-12 after the first quarter and Madrazo was held to two points.

But in the second quarter, Madrazo was able to get open. He scored on a breakaway layup off a steal and also nailed a pair of 3-pointers including one at the halftime buzzer that gave the Knights a 29-20 lead.

“We worked on it a little bit but not much,” said Madrazo of preparing for the box-and-one. “We did pretty well for the first time I think.”

Madrazo finished with 20 points, but he wasn’t the only Knight to shine.

The 6-foot, 9-inch post Charlie Enquist, who scored 17 points, played above the rim for much of the night. He followed missed shots, both his own and those of teammates, with timely putbacks.

Meridian made only one run in the second half, an 8-0 run fueled by Bryan Black, who finished with a game-high 21 points. Madrazo responded with a bucket and Enquist converted a 3-point play to put the Knights up 40-30. Reserve forward Matt McKay buried a 3-pointer and the Trojans never cut the lead to single digits again.

“I tell you what tonight, they came ready to play with their offense and you came ready to stop them,” Knights’ head coach Marv Morris told his team. The Trojans were limited to outside shots for the most part, he said.

The Knights also took three charges, two by Carson Bowlin and a key charge on Black in the third quarter by Spencer Clark.

King’s forced 15 turnovers, led by Madrazo’s three steals, while only turning it over four times themselves. The Knights held a slight edge, 21-20, in rebounds, led by Enquist, who had nine and Bowlin, who had five.

The one area where King’s struggled was at the foul line. The Knights shot a dismal 9-for-20, its worst effort of the season.

King’s shot nearly 50 percent on the night, making 23-of-47 field goal attempts. Madrazo was 7-of-12 and Enquist was 7-of-16 from the field. The streaky Trojans made 17-of-35 shots.

The Knights expect a different type of game from Nooksack Valley, a team that usually likes to slow the game down and pound the ball inside, Morris said. The Pioneers opened district play with a 70-22 romp over Granite Falls.

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