YAKIMA, Wash. – Mark Morris boys basketball coach Bill Bakamus’ Hall of Fame career came to an end early Wednesday evening, while a promising high school enjoyed a big moment on the state stage.
Bremerton freshman Jalen Davis poured in 28 points on 9-for-19 shooting and knocked down the go-ahead 3-pointer late in the final moments to lift the 11th-seeded Knights to a 51-47 victory against No. 6 Mark Morris in a Class 2A loser-out contest at the Yakima Valley SunDome.
The loss lowers the curtain on a 41-year coaching career for Bakamus, which included stops at Toledo and Coulee-Hartline. He finished with 693 wins, good for fourth in Washington state history.
“You always kind of live in the moment and the moment right now is sad,” Bakamus said. “The reality is, it wasn’t one of our better performances. I give lots of credit to Bremerton, they played well.
“We just had a few miscues where we really stubbed out toe hard.”
Mark Morris led the entire game before Davis’ heroics, and held a 10-point advantage in the second quarter.
The Monarchs, though, could not shake the Knights, despite the 26-point and 8-rebound performance by record-setting guard Braydon Olson, and owned a 47-41 lead in the final few minutes.
Bremerton trimmed the deficit to two, gaining their first lead on the final Davis’ four treys. They would ice the game at the free throw line while Mark Morris failed to execute in the final moments.
“You look at our team, it’s a little bit unorthodox, we got a lot of freshmen and some upperclassmen,” said Bremerton coach Miah Davis, the father of Wednesday’s hero. “And from Day 1 we just came together with how much are we going to believe, how much we are going to trust each other, how much are we going to sacrifice.”
The Knights meet No. 4 Renton at 3:45 p.m. Thursday.
The SunDome public address announcer acknowledged Bakamus’ accomplishments following the game, and the coach waved to the Mark Morris faithful in attendance as he left the court.
“If I was to be nostalgic about a career, I wouldn’t even know where to start other than I am just grateful to anybody and everybody who has been involved in our program,” Bakamus said.
King’s battles, continues to hold court
Fitting after a year of change for the ninth-seeded King’s boys basketball team, that its opener against No. 8 Tenino would go a little sideways.
The Knights, runners-up in the last two state tournaments, opened up a 13-point halftime lead – 29-16 — and looked destined to roll into the quarterfinals for the 11 straight time.
But the Beavers clawed their way back to eventually take a late lead only to see King’s score a 45-43 victory on senior Nick Linhardt’s steal and layup in the final seconds.
“We have a lot of young guys who haven’t stepped across the lines here at the SunDome,” second-year King’s coach Joe Stack said. “Not only to be in that kind of game and have the kind of outcome we had is special, but also just to be here.”
King’s lost all-state guard Cam Hiatt to transfer before the season, and an injury on the football field for a would-be contributor thinned the ranks even further.
Yet, here the Knights are making noise again in the SunDome with Lynden Christian awaiting in a Thursday quarterfinal that is a rematch of the past two 1A championship games.
