‘Cats win fifth in a row
Published 9:00 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Mount Si Wildcat boys’ basketball team made it five wins in a row with a 57-51 victory over Seamount League’s Franklin Pierce last Friday in the final nonleague game of the season.
Junior guard Hank Kennedy led the Wildcats with 13 points, while junior guard/forward Luke Landdeck added 11 to pace Mount Si. For Franklin Pierce, senior guard/forward Jamar Berry scored 20, 12 of which came in the Cardinal’s fourth-quarter rally, while senior guard Quincy Jones added 11 to pace the Cardinals.
The fourth-quarter struggle for Mount Si did not concern coach Garrick Phillips.
“Our kids played really well. [It] doesn’t really matter how much you win by, but I mean everybody that was here knows that game was [a] lot more lopsided than the final [score],” said Phillips. “I wanted to get some of those other guys a little bit of playing time, a couple of JV players, and yeah, we could have won that game by 40 points if we needed to.”
Junior post Jeremy Johnston, who scored nine points, felt his team needed to make a statement.
“We just wanted to go out there and win a game. You know, coming back from Orlando we have somewhat of a reputation now as, you know, taking first … it’s a big accomplishment and we just had to come in here and show them that it wasn’t a flop,” said Johnston. “We really meant business [when we] went down there and the rest of the season should be the same way.”
Mount Si opened the game with an 8-0 run, and it took 4:15 before Franklin Pierce got on the scoreboard. The Wildcats built the lead up to 12-4 after one quarter and to 27-11 at the half, and it seemed the fans would go home having seen a very good effort from the home team. It stayed that way in the third quarter, as Mount Si built a comfortable 16-point halftime lead up as many as 24 points to end the third quarter. Then the Cardinals began the comeback.
After Wildcat senior Eric Hensley hit a basket to make it 49-23, the Cardinals went on an 11-0 run, before Mount Si junior Eric Meuli stopped the Cardinal rally cold with a bucket to make it 51-34. Franklin Pierce didn’t let that stop them. The team outscored the Wildcats 17-6 in the remainder of the quarter to shave its deficit down to six, but the buzzer sounded and the Cardinals fortunately could get no closer.
The Wildcats have hit the midway point of their season, winning six and losing four, with a 2-1 record in the Kingco conference. Phillips is looking ahead.
“We’re on a little bit of a roll right now. We’re playing pretty good basketball.” said Phillips. The Wildcats will play the Red Wolves Tuesday and then return home on Friday for a critical game against supposed Valley Division preseason favorite Issaquah.
