The Mercer Island High School boys basketball team finished up 2009 and the first part of their season at the Desert Heat Classic tournament in Palm Spring, Calif., where they won their final game, after losing three in a row.
Due to the holidays, the Islanders had not played a competitive game since beating Interlake on Dec. 18, and headed south with a 3-2 record on the season.
Up first, the team took on Havard-Westlake, which beat the Islanders 54-42 during the first night of games. Mercer Island held steady against its opponent, down by less than 10 points going into the halftime break at 26-19. The Islanders defense held Havard-Westlake to seven points in the third quarter, but broke down in the last eight minutes, allowing 21 points.
Quinn Sterling had 11 points during the game, while both Kaj Sherman and Brian Miller put up eight points. Gabe Fruchter and Eric Stefanchik had four points, Jeremy Hagen earned three and both Sean Hughes and Jeff Lindquist had two points.
The next night, Mercer Island faced Rancho Cucamonga, which snuck past the Islanders with a 66-64 final score. The Islanders stayed close to the Cougars of Rancho Cucamonga through the first quarter, but slipped in the second to finish the half down 36-22. Unlike the night before, the team gained ground in the third and really picked up steam in the last quarter, scoring 23 points to the Cougars’ 14 in the final eight minutes of the game.
Sterling once again sat on top for Mercer Island with 26 points, the most that one Islander scored in a game throughout the tournament. Sherman was close behind him with 21 points during the loss, while Miller posted five, and Ben Emanuels, Fruchter and Lindquist each had four points.
The next afternoon, the Islanders closed its loss gap from two points to just one when the team lost 52-51 to Bishop Manogue Catholic High School, from Reno.
In their closest game of the tournament, the Islanders found themselves in the lead for the first time in two games, up 28-23 at the half, after holding Bishop Manogue to seven points in the second quarter. The Islanders picked up another 11 points in the third quarter, but the Reno team evened things out to tie the score at 39 apiece, heading into the final minutes. The Nevada team gained a one-point lead in the last moments to take the game.
Sherman had the team’s high with 13 points during the game, while Lindquist posted 11 for Mercer Island. Sterling had nine, Miller earned eight and Emanuels and Hagen each had three. Fruchter and Hughes put two points on the boards for the Islanders.
In their final game of the trip, against El Camino from California, the Islanders posted a big victory of 60-49.
After a slow start on the morning of Dec. 30, in which El Camino came out with a 13-11 lead, the Islanders never looked back, taking the lead in the second quarter. El Camino made a late attempt to even things out, but could not catch the Islanders.
Lindquist had 18 points during the game, followed by Sherman’s 14 and Miller’s nine in the win. Fruchter stepped things up, adding five points; Sloan Aikens had four, Hughes and Stefanchik earned three apiece, and Hagen and Parker Scott each posted two points.
Mercer Island will return to conference play this week, hosting Bellevue on Friday, Jan. 8, with an 8:15 p.m. tip-off. The girls team will also play Bellevue at home with a 6:30 p.m. start time.
