Bremerton wins basketball regional, headed to the state 2A tournament in Yakima
TACOMA -- A full section of Bremerton fans stood in unison with 16 seconds on the clock, savoring a dead-ball stoppage as the Knights walked to line up for foul shots that would ice a win and secure a trip to the state basketball tournament for the school's first time since 2010, and only the third in the past 25 years.
Junior forward Dallin Anderson sunk both free throws, and the cheers spilled out as the clock wound down and led to a team embrace seconds later, as Bremerton beat R.A. Long of Longview, 51-43, in the regional round of the 2A state basketball tournament Saturday morning at Tacoma Community College. The Knights are going to Yakima and will meet Mark Morris, who lost to North Kitsap Friday night, 58-48, at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday in a state tournament opener in the Sun Dome.
Though led by freshman sensation's Jalen Davis scoring through the season, Bremerton (18-6) got contributions across the roster in Saturday's win, primarily with a swarming team effort on the defensive end. After watching a 10-point lead evaporate during a 10-2 run by the Lumberjacks to end the third quarter, Bremerton turned up the intensity of its trapping zone defense in the fourth, limiting R.A. Long to just five points, none over the last three minutes, and forcing several long, contested three-pointers late in the shot clock over the final few possessions.
Coach Miah Davis, who led the 1999 Bremerton team to a fifth-place finish at the 3A state tournament, said the team's defense, selfless play and preparation were key Saturday.
"We believed," Davis said. "No one thought when the season started that we could be at this place."
He credited his team with an intense week in practice, focus on scouting reports and using a visualization tactic that wouldn't have existed when Davis was a Knights player -- their phone screens. Davis said in a team meeting late in the week he asked each player to use a photo of the Yakima Sun Dome as his phone's background wallpaper, a constant cue of the team's goal headed into Saturday's game.
"Every time somebody had their number called, they stepped up," Davis said, crediting Anderson (7 points) for his leadership and energy in practice through the week. Freshman guard Jacquan Davis-McWhorter came off the bench in the second quarter and hit three three-point shots, including one that beat the halftime buzzer and offered the Knights a momentum boost and a 27-23 lead. Junior center Frank Allen chipped in 9 points and Jalen Davis finished with 10.
Even the key plays of the final sequence came from an unheralded Knight. With 2:20 left in the fourth quarter and the score tied 43-43, senior guard Trenton Bulmer hit senior forward Oliver Christian rolling toward the basket for a lay-in that gave the Knights a 45-43 lead, Christian's first bucket of the game. After a stop Christian scored again, and then on the defensive end scrambled to secure a loose ball as the clocked ticked under a minute. Bremerton converted a third time in a row and held R.A. Long scoreless through the final buzzer, clinching the trip to Yakima.
Bremerton's last trip to the regional round was in 2014, and the school's last trip to the state tournament was in 2010. Now Miah Davis, part of the team marking the 25th anniversary of the Knights' last state basketball trophy, has Bremerton a few wins away from another.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Bremerton basketball tops R.A. Long in regionals, headed to state
