North Kitsap boys basketball sweeps Bremerton for third-place state trophy
YAKIMA -- One team won, one team lost, but both boys basketball squads from North Kitsap and Bremerton left the Yakima Valley SunDome on Saturday savoring the taste of success after standout performances at the Class 2A state championships.
Denied title-game bids during Friday's heartbreaking semifinal round, North Kitsap and Bremerton settled for an all-Olympic League affair to determine third and fifth place. North Kitsap handled Bremerton without much late-game drama, pulling away in the second half for a 71-48 victory. The Vikings' two victories over the Knights in the regular season were by 26 and 36 points, and Saturday's contest followed a similar script.
North Kitsap (23-5) rode its senior backcourt of Harry Davies (22 points) and Cade Orness (20) and imposed its will against Bremerton (20-8), a team chock full of up-and-comers who are still maturing. The Vikings turned a 12-12 game after the first quarter into a comfortable win after opening the second quarter on a 15-2 run.
"We're real physical," said North Kitsap head coach Scott Orness, whose team lost to Grandview 71-64 on Friday. "There's a big difference between seniors and freshmen, no matter how talented they are."
Still, Orness noted how much the Knights have improved since the regular season. Bremerton entered state as the No. 11 seed, then knocked off No. 6 Mark Morris and No. 4 Renton before nearly upsetting No. 1 Lynden on Friday, falling 53-52. Lynden went on to defeat Grandview on Saturday for its third consecutive title.
"They are a very different team than the last time we played them. They've grown a ton," Orness said. "They have a lot of freshmen on there that aren't freshmen anymore."
Bremerton's Jalen Davis, son of head coach Miah Davis, hardly looked like a ninth-grader on the state's biggest stage. He scored 22 against North Kitsap and finished his four-game Yakima run with 106 points and 36 field-goals made. Those are the highest marks for a player at the 2A state tournament since 2011.
"He's such a good player overall, not just skill-set wise. He's just got this great mentality," Orness said. "You can't really rattle him. He's just steady."
Davis wasn't the only player to grab a piece of history on Saturday. North Kitsap senior Cade Orness passed North Mason's Russ Scott for third place on West Sound's all-time scoring list. His 20 points put him at 1,821 for his career, trailing only Steven Gray of Bainbridge/Chimacum (2,415) and Ryan Kaps of Sequim (1,959).
Scott Orness praised his son, Davies and fellow senior Mason Chmielewski for helping rally the Vikings, getting the team back on track after Friday's late-night letdown.
"You have to have a real short-term memory at state, especially when you lose in the semifinals. It happened to us once before," said Scott Orness, whose Vikings lost to Pullman in the state semifinals in 2022, then bounced back to place third. "They just love to play. It's another opportunity to get 32 minutes of great basketball. What kid doesn't want to do that?"
Bremerton head coach Miah Davis also had words of praise of his seniors Trenton Bulmer, Oliver Christian and Dyon Sellers. The trio helped lead the Knights' football team to the state playoffs for the first time since 2012, then aided Bremerton's pursuit of its first state trophy since the program placed fifth in 1999.
"Our senior leadership helped mold these younger players," Miah Davis said. "Without them, we don't have the season we did. They were perfect for us, on and off the floor."
Crosspoint girls settle for fifth place
Crosspoint's girls took home a fifth-place trophy from the 1B girls tournament at Spokane Arena on Saturday after falling 67-38 to Waterville-Mansfield. Sophomore Momoya Iwata scored 18 to lead the Warriors (24-5).
With her team winning just one game four seasons ago, Crosspoint head coach Jenny Kuske said the Warriors achieved a goal by securing a trophy at state.
"And we plan on continuing building until we get the big one," Kuske said.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: North Kitsap basketball sweeps Bremerton for third-place state trophy
