Tough race for postseason is on
Published 11:08 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
BELLEVUE – The Mount Si Wildcats boys basketball team opened last week with an extremely important win over the Newport Knights. Playing without junior starting post Kevin Englund, out due to personal matters, the Wildcats rallied in the fourth quarter to preserve the ten-point victory in Bellevue last Tuesday.
Junior Kyle Clearman scored a game-high 16 points, and senior Erik Tierney scored 14, as the Wildcats used a 22-13 fourth-quarter edge, and nearly 60-percent shooting from inside three-point territory, to post the 62-52 decision that saw Mount Si finish the first half of the league schedule at 3-4 in league, 6-7 overall.
“We played a great team game with lots of players contributing to the effort,” said Mount Si coach Garrick Phillips in an e-mail.
Neil Chalmers scored 11 points and Brennon Schweikart scored 10 to pace Newport in defeat.
The Wildcats traveled to Issaquah on Friday and gave the Eagles a battle before falling 77-70 in a tight contest. Senior Garrison Carr, who scored 37 for Issaquah in their meeting with Mount Si earlier this season in Snoqualmie, finished with a game-high 22, as did his Eagles teammate Brendon Ziegler. Tierney scored 15 to lead the Wildcats in defeat, while Englund and junior Kyle Meuli added 13 each to pace the losing cause.
Fouls and free throws were key, as Issaquah attempted a total of 37 free throws versus Mount Si’s 11. Referees assessed 26 fouls on the Wildcats compared to 15 for the Eagles.
The Wildcats are 6-8, 3-5 in league. They are currently among five teams that are jockeying for four postseason berths. Only six teams get into the postseason from Kingco 3A this season, so one of these five is going to be an odd man out. Only the Eagles (8-0 in league) and Mercer Island Islanders (6-2) appear to be locks for the conference tournament, while Mount Si is battling all four Bellevue district schools – Interlake, Sammamish, Newport, and Bellevue – for those final spots. Liberty, at 0-8 in league, seems to already be out of contention, but earlier in the season gave the Wildcats a battle before falling by one point to Mount Si, so they won’t be easy to beat for anyone, either.
The Wildcats are at Sammamish Friday for a big game, then two more big road games await Mount Si next week: Tuesday at Interlake, then next Friday at Mercer Island, before finishing the regular season with two important home games. All games begin at 7:30 p.m.
