Mount Si captures 1 of 3 in Phoenix

Published 9:15 pm Thursday, October 2, 2008

The Mount Si Wildcats boys’ basketball team over the holiday break, like many teams from Washington, went on vacation to a sunny destination. No, the ‘Cats weren’t there to have fun; they were there to play. And play they did, in a tournament in Phoenix.

The Wildcats won one of their three games in this tournament, which brought together teams from several states to play one another. The win came against Kings. In this game, played the morning of Dec. 30, Bryan Gabriel and Chris Lyle led the Wildcats’ attack, scoring 17 and 11 points, respectively, as Mount Si outlasted Kings 56-55.

Gabriel and Lyle hit several three-pointers, and that helped Mount Si’s cause greatly despite only being able to rebound the ball 22 times as a team.

The Wildcats were glad to have picked up that win since the previous day they lost 74-67 to Bethel Park. In that game, Jeremy Johnston and Logan Ratcliffe led offensively for Mount Si, scoring 17 and 15 points, respectively. Bryan Gabriel chipped in 10 points for Mount Si.

Bethel Park’s offensive rebounding advantage – they outrebounded Mount Si 16-9 on the offensive boards- contributed to their victory. Joel Hendricks had 13 rebounds to give Mount Si a chance, but it wasn’t enough.

Details for the third game, another loss, were not available.

Mount Si returned home after the tournament and played one last nonleague game against Tyee, then were scheduled to play Bellevue to open the stretch run in the KingCo Conference.