For the second time this season, Mercer Island appeared to have a league opponent on the ropes at home, taking a double-digit advantage into the second half of Friday’s 2A/3A KingCo contest against Lake Washington.
But a large third-quarter deficit didn’t deter the Kangs, and the Islanders saw another league contest slip away.
Behind two late free throws from Sam Linsky, Lake Washington rallied back from 15 points down to beat Mercer Island 64-63 Friday night at MIHS. It was the second league game the Islanders surrendered in the closing seconds, suffering a similar fate to Liberty in their KingCo opener last month.
Prior to Linsky stepping to the line with 3.5 seconds to go, the Kangs never led, whittling the double-digit deficit to one. Linsky scored six of Lake Washington’s final eight points of the game, though none bigger than the final two.
“I was just trying to drown out the noise in the crowd, not let it get into my head,” said Linsky, who finished with nine points. “Our student section was doing a good job of being quiet, so I just needed to focus up. I worked all offseason on hitting those free throws, I just had to go two-for-two and they fell through.”
Linsky’s free throws capped an 8-1 Lake Washington run down the final stretch, in a second half that featured a few crucial surges from the Kangs.
“I love this group,” Lake Washington coach Ryan Staudacher said. “We’ve found ourselves in a hole early a couple times this year and they’ve always battled back; there’s no quit in this group. I’m really proud of the way they battled.”
Mercer Island (9-3, 3-2) led 38-28 at the half and was ahead 51-37 with three minutes to go in the third quarter when the Kangs (9-2, 4-1) reeled off a 12-2 run to close the period and cut the gap to four.
In the fourth, the Kangs’ Kyle DePartee and the Islanders’ Josh Stenberg took turns hitting big shots for their respective teams, with DePartee tying the game twice from beyond the arc and Stenberg taking back the lead each time with a 3-pointer and then a layup. A basket from Sam Nordale gave the Islanders a 62-56 lead with 3:33 left.
But Mercer Island wouldn’t hit again from the field, as the Islanders’ offensive execution staggered. After a layup from Linsky made it a 63-62 game with 42 seconds to go, the Islanders ran down the clock but couldn’t get a shot off, turning the ball over on a shot-clock violation with nine seconds left.
Linsky drew a foul driving down the court on the next possession, calmly sinking both free throws. Mercer Island had one final look, but to no avail. DePartee led all scorers with 18 points. Sam Nordale led Mercer Island in scoring with 17.
The Mercer Island bench took issue with the critical foul call, though Mercer Island coach Gavin Cree acknowledged his squad had put themselves in a precarious position.
“We just didn’t take care of the ball down the stretch,” Cree said. “We gave them opportunities, had empty possessions with turnovers and they converted. We allowed the game to come down to a tough call. Maybe it’s a foul, it was a tough call for the official, but we let them be in that position to have the ball down one.
“Our kids played really hard and I just told them it’s a long season. Just like the Liberty game, how do we use this one to make us better? We have a lot of big games ahead of us.”
Mercer Island travels to Bellevue (10-1, 5-0) to take on the first-place Wolverines at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12. Lake Washington will take on Juanita (6-7, 3-2) at 7:15 p.m. next Tuesday at JHS.
