Timberwolves take down T-birds

Jackson may not have played its best game of the season, but the Timberwolves did what they needed to do against Shorewood.

Junior guard Brett Kingma scored a season-high 35 points, including six 3-pointers, as the Wolfpack defeated the Thunderbirds 74-72 in a Western Conference South Division boys basketball game Jan. 22 at Shorewood High School.

“We didn’t play as good as we thought we should, but any win is a good win,” Kingma said. “We’re glad to get out of there with a win.”

Jackson (11-1 in the league, 13-1 overall) lost senior guard Ryan Todd in the fourth quarter due to a concussion and also was playing without senior forward Andy Gay, who was on a college visit to Dartmouth. Jackson coach Steve Johnson said Todd is out this week and is hoping the Jackson standout will be back sometime the following week.

“Other guys are going to have step up,” Johnson said.

Earlier in the week Jackson beat Glacier Peak 69-57 and Edmonds-Woodway 90-59 with contributions from several players. Four Timberwolves scored in double figures in both games against the Grizzlies and the Warriors.

“We played really good team basketball,” Kingma said. “I felt like none of us had a great game in the week. We all just played pretty solid.”

The Thunderbirds went to a zone defense in the second half and that enabled Kingma the opportunity to get the hot hand.

“I was able to get more open looks that way,” Kingma said. “I thought, especially with Ryan going down, we were kind of struggling to score against Shorewood. I thought I should take a little bit more on my shoulders.”

Jackson led by 10 points at halftime and extended the lead to 13 in the third quarter.

“We had a chance to grab control of it,” Johnson said. “We didn’t.”

The lead dwindled to three points at the end of the third quarter.

“It was pretty nip and tuck,” Johnson added. “They’re solid. They’ve beaten some good teams, particularly on their home floor. They shot a really high percentage in the second half. We could have played better defensively, but some of that is their making some tough shots. … We found a way to get the job done.”

Jackson hosts a tough Shorecrest squad at 7:30 p.m, Friday, Jan. 29. The Scots ended the week tied for second place in the league with Meadowdale.

“Shorecrest would be a big win,” Kingma said. “It pretty much would give us a big cushion (in the league) going into next week. We want to keep a two-game lead.”

Jackson beats Glacier Peak

Jackson head coach Steve Johnson says his boys basketball team is at its best when it has balanced scoring. If the Jan. 19 contest against Glacier Peak was any indication, he is correct.

Jackson had four players score in double figures as the first-place Timberwolves defeated the Grizzlies 69-57 in a Wesco South game.

Jackson star Brett Kingma was held to just three points in the first half, but Ryan Todd picked up the slack. Todd had 19 points, four rebounds and four assists on the night.

“Ryan really stepped up and played well,” Johnson said.

After Kingma’s 34-point performance last week against Kamiak, Johnson said the Grizzlies tightened up defense on the junior standout.

“They really paid him a lot of attention and made it difficult on him,” Johnson said.

But Kingma rebounded in the second half, scoring 11 of his 14 points and helping Jackson build the lead after trailing 32-31 at halftime.

“Obviously I’m really happy that we worked through some frustration in the first half,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he felt his team could improve on its 35 percent shooting in the first half and told his team that at halftime.

“Only being down one-point, shooting 35 percent, I felt pretty good,” Johnson said.

Marshall Massengale added 14 points and Mike Wishko had 13 points and 11 rebounds to round out the Timberwolves’ double figure scorers.

Jack Bonner led the Grizzlies with 15 points.

Herald staff contributed to this story.