King’s boys basketball coach Bill Liley got a nice snapshot of what his team might turn out to be next season these past few weeks.
King’s finished last season as the Class 1A runner up, losing to Vashon Island in the final. Three starters — point guard Alex Mar, shooting guard Nick Hardy and forward Kyle Talbot — graduated, but Liley thinks he’s got a good squad coming back.
“Our guys are playing really well, they’re playing like a group that’s been there and done that,” he said. “We feel pretty good about how we’re going to look for next year.”
Leading the returners is 6-1 senior guard and captain Ryan Hoff, who was a second-team all-tournament selection last year. Hoff, who Liley calls one of the best shooters in the state, will move over to play point guard now that the quick press-breaker Mar is gone.
“We figured out how to get him some shots running the point,” Liley said, adding that Hoff’s a better passer than people think. “He’s taken to it pretty well.”
Also back are 6-1 guard/forward Sean Brugger, a solid rebounder, and 6-4 senior forward Karl Clocksin, who has been a starter the last two years.
A new addition is 6-6 Dan Cheledinas, who averaged 1.4 points per game for Seattle Prep and didn’t see much playing time there. He also is a track and field athlete.
Moving up to varsity is 6-4 senior Daniel Berendsen.
“He does a great job rebounding the ball for us, this summer and makes us pretty tough,” Liley said.
Rounding out the top eight in the rotation are 6-1 freshman Kyle Sawtell, 6-4 Price Sawtell and 5-10 Austin Porcello.
Liley said his three returners, Hoff, Brugger and Clocksin, are setting the agenda for the team.
“Other kids have stepped up their game because the level of expectation put on them by the other three guys,” Liley said. “Their expectations are really high.”
The Knights did lose one key player, their second-leading rebounder, guard/forward Zack Berg, who is transferring to Edmonds-Woodway.
Berg, a football player whose parents and grandfather teach at King’s, will be missed, Liley said.
King’s played in the Mountlake Terrace Summer League and finished with a 6-2 record. Mountlake Terrace, a 4A school, knocked King’s out of the tournament but the Knights got wins over 4A schools Monroe, Snohomish, Ballard and Kamiak.
The Knights also played games at the University of Washington and went 6-1 beating 3A schools Meadowdale, Issaquah, Liberty and 4A Tahoma.
“We were playing pretty good basketball down there,” Liley said.
King’s spent the last week of June at Gonzaga team camp and came away with impressive wins over Central Valley, Lewis &Clark, Billings West of Montana and Southridge, a 5A school in Oregon.
The Knights lost to 4A powerhouses Ferris and Gonzaga, and 3A contender Bellevue. The only 1A school the Knights played was Cascade Christian and they beat them.
“We played some really good teams,” Liley said. “It’s been a really competitive summer.”
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