‘Cats’ Kennedy puts on a show

Published 8:59 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

It was quite a night for Hank Kennedy. The Wildcats’ star junior guard scored 22 points, including five dunks – one of which was called back – as Mount Si picked up a 63-50 win over the Bellevue Wolverines in Kingco 3A conference boys’ basketball action last Friday in front of a packed home gym.

Senior guard/forward Chris Lyle added 15 points, and senior guard Logan Ratcliffe pitched in 12 points to pace the Wildcats. For Bellevue, senior guard Eliot Green came off the bench and scored 15 to lead the Wolverines.

“They just played hard as always. Some ups and downs as always. Our downs were a little bit longer than I’d like them to be, but we really responded well in the second half,” said a pleased Mount Si coach Garrick Phillips. “We made some adjustments and then everything that we talked about that we wanted to do differently in the second half the kids did . . . exactly what I asked. I was very, very happy with that execution.”

With the win the Wildcats firmed up their grip on second place in the Kingco Conference’s Valley Division.

The game opened with the Wildcats and Wolverines trading baskets, but with the score 4-2 Bellevue, the Wildcats went on a 10-0 run to take command midway through the quarter. With 54 seconds left, Kennedy sent down his first dunk – a fast break that came off a steal – to give Mount Si an 18-6 lead. The Wildcats ended the first quarter leading 18-7 after Bellevue sophomore Kevin Stangvik hit a free throw following Kennedy’s dunk.

Kennedy was far from done.

He opened the second quarter with another fast-break dunk, a reverse two-hander that gave Mount Si a 20-7 lead and the feeling that this was the Wildcats’ night.

For the complete story, pick up a copy of this week’s Valley Record