Knights outlast Freeman for third place at Class 1A boys tournament

As far as sendoffs go, this was one for the ages.

Chris Faidley and the King’s boys basketball team bid a fond farewell to the Class 1A ranks at last week’s state championships at the Yakima SunDome.

The senior guard set an all-time state tournament scoring record and propelled the Knights to their sixth top-four showing in a row.

After suffering through a horrid shooting performance in a 44-35 semifinal loss to Northwest Christian, King’s outlasted Freeman 60-50 in overtime March 6 for third place.

“It was a great end to an awesome year,” said Faidley, who averaged 20.8 points and 6.8 rebounds over four games and was named to the all-tournament first team for the third straight year.

The Knights finished the season 18-10 overall and ran their record to 20-4 at the past six 1A tournaments. During that stretch, King’s claimed two state titles (2001 and 2002), placed third twice (2000 and 2004) and took fourth twice (1999 and 2003).

“The big key for us is that at the end of the year we really start to become a team,” King’s coach Marv Morris said. “The guys lose themselves for the team. They start to understand how all the pieces we’ve been working on fit together.”

The Knights wiped out a nine-point halftime deficit against Freeman by connecting on 68 percent (15-for-22) of their field goals in the second half, up from 19 percent in a dreary first half.

Joey Kennard’s 3-pointer at the 2:32 mark of the third quarter capped a 16-5 King’s run that tied the score at 31-all. The Knights led by three on four occasions in the fourth quarter, but Freeman’s Malcolm Soelberg forced overtime by hitting a pair of free throws with 48 seconds to go.

Junior forward Calvin Fujii scored the first five points in the extra period as part of an 8-0 King’s spurt that sank the Scotties. Fujii finished with 15 points, six rebounds and three steals.

“That was the best game of his career,” Morris said. “It was a great way for him to finish up his junior year and look ahead to next season.”

Faidley contributed game-highs of 23 points and nine rebounds, Josh Drenth added 12 points, eight boards and four blocks and Kennard dished out five assists off the bench for King’s.

“We’ve had three or four overtime games this season, so we were ready,” Faidley said. “Coach Morris told us, ‘This is your last four minutes.’ It kind of hit all of us. We played as hard as we could.”

Up until their ice cold perimeter shooting in the semifinals, the Knights appeared poised to advance to the title game for the third time in four years.

But King’s shot just 20 percent (10-for-50) from the floor, including a dreadful 0-for-11 start that allowed Northwest Christian to seize an 11-0 advantage seven minutes in.

“If we would have shot 24, 25 percent, we would have won that game,” Faidley said. “We just had one off night. Our defense is what kept us in it.”

Faidley kept firing from different spots, but never found a rhythm. He was 2-for-17 from the field and missed all 12 of his tries from 3-point range.

“Usually if his shot is off, he’s able to get his points by going inside,” Morris said. “But he couldn’t seem to get anything going.”

Drenth provided all 10 of King’s points in the first half and Faidley was held scoreless until the 6:21 mark of the third quarter.

Down 34-16, the Knights scored nine unanswered points to pull within nine with 4:32 to play. King’s yielded 10 points off nine Northwest Christian turnovers in the fourth quarter and got as close as seven twice in the final two minutes.

“We weren’t aggressive and we didn’t go inside like we needed to,” Morris said. “In the fourth quarter our press created a lot of turnovers, but it was too late. It took too much energy to come back.”

Drenth paced the Knights with 14 points and 12 boards (seven offensive) and Taylor Clark snared four steals to go with five points. Despite his shooting struggles, Faidley eclipsed the tournament scoring record in the loss with 10 points.

King’s posted convincing victories over Granger and Toledo the first two days of the tournament to reach the semifinals.

A second-quarter surge allowed the Knights to erase an early five-point deficit and dismiss Granger 56-40 in a March 3 opening-round contest.

Drenth scored eight straight points to spur the turnaround and Fujii chipped in five points during a 12-2 King’s run that put the Knights in front 26-18 at halftime.

King’s padded its lead in the third quarter, when Faidley poured in 12 of his game-high 21 points. His putback made it 42-23 with 2:03 left in the period.

Drenth finished with 14 points and six rebounds and Fujii collected seven points and six boards for the Knights, who outrebounded Granger 34-19.

Faidley sparked the Knights to an early lead in their 57-42 thumping of Toledo in the quarterfinals by waxing three unanswered 3-pointers in the first 1:10.

Before picking up his second foul, Faidley scored King’s first 13 points, powering the Knights to a 17-4 edge. He finished with a tournament-high 29 points in just over 20 minutes of action.

After Toledo pulled within four, the Knights closed out the first half with a 12-3 run to extend their lead to 29-16 at halftime. King’s scored 25 points off turnovers and held potent 6-foot-8 post Artem Wallace to 14 points.

“People were surprised we handled him as well as we did,” Morris said. “We put a guy in front of him and behind him. He had to work for the (baskets) he got.”

The state playoffs marked Drenth’s first action since the Chinook League title game. The 6-foot-5 senior center missed the entire Tri-district tournament due to grades, but regained his eligibility in time for state.

Drenth came off the bench to score in double figures in three of King’s four games and averaged 11.3 points and seven rebounds.

“Josh played his best basketball of the year,” Morris said. “He was focused and he was committed. Having him back for the final stretch helped us.”

Morris suggested that playing without Drenth for a short time was beneficial in the long run because it forced the Knights to compensate for their lack of size with intangibles like hustle and heart.

“When we lost Josh, we had a new attitude and we really raised our level of play. We won districts and we were the smallest team there,” Morris said.

“The guys truly started playing together. Our defense got better, we executed better. We were on the same page.”

By winning nine of their final 11 games, the Knights vanquished the memory of a 5-6 start to the season that had opponents questioning the team’s chances at one last playoff run at the Class 1A level.

“After our first league loss to Bellevue Christian, no one expected us to go anywhere,” Fujii said. “Losing Josh for awhile, there were no expectations of us. So getting third (at state) was a great accomplishment.”