The members of the Mercer Island boys basketball team found themselves in a dogfight against 2A/3A KingCo opponents the Liberty Patriots Friday night. Dropping their previous two games and hoping not to relive a previous loss to Liberty earlier this season, the Islanders knew they needed to up their level of toughness if they were to change the outcome this time around.
Like their previous matchup, the contest went down to the wire, with the visiting team making the decisive run.
Getting 16 points from Sam Nordale and 15 points from Andrew Pickles, Mercer Island fought off the Patriots down the stretch for a 58-51 road victory at Liberty High School.
The Islanders (10-4, 4-3) closed out with an 8-0 run to end their two-game losing streak.
“Losing to them the first time [on Dec. 8] was definitely a motivator,” said Pickles, who scored four of Mercer Island’s final eight points. “It all comes down to it shouldn’t matter who we’re playing, we have to bring the heart every game.”
The game looked like it might turn into a shootout early on, with both teams trading shots and the long ball falling for the Patriots (8-6, 3-4). Liberty led 20-17 after the first and maintained that lead at halftime, ahead 35-32. The Patriots knocked down five 3-point shots in the first half. Noble Cooper led the way in the opening period with nine points, while Connor Chapman took over in the second with 13 points in the quarter, nine coming from beyond the arc.
Mercer Island coach Gavin Cree said his players were conceding too much space through the first two quarters, and the message at halftime was to fight through screens to clamp down on Liberty’s shooters.
“Those guys can shoot the ball and it’s amazing what the 3-ball can do, so we had to take it away,” Cree said.
Mercer Island held Liberty to single digits in each of the game’s final two frames, taking a 47-44 advantage into the fourth. The Patriots fought back to take a 51-50 lead off a 3-pointer from Chris Hanson with 3:33 left in the game.
That was when Mercer Island’s big man stepped up with a couple big shots for his team’s final run.
With the Patriots ahead and the shot-clock winding down, Pickles beat the buzzer with a jumper near the top of the key to give the Islanders a 52-51 lead. The next trip down the floor, a putback from Pickles off a Josh Stenberg miss extended the lead to three with 1:19 to go.
“I was just trying to be tougher than their big guys and tougher than everyone on their team,” Pickles said. “That’s kind of what I hold myself to every game. The stats don’t really matter to me, it’s just about at the end of the game, knowing I played tougher than their guys.”
Mercer Island wouldn’t allow Liberty to score the final three minutes of the contest. Cooper finished with 17 points to lead the Patriots, while Chapman remained at 13. Stenberg and Griffin Emanuels each had 10 points for Mercer Island.
Pickles called the game a confidence boost and a testament of what the Islanders are capable of when they bring the intensity. It was a sentiment shared by his coach.
“It’s time for us to show what kind of team we are, that we can be the best team in this league,” Cree said. “I believe that we are, but we haven’t shown it yet. It’s our job to go out there and put it out on the floor.”
Mercer Island will take on Thomas Jefferson (8-7, 3-2) in non-league action at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 18 at Bellevue College.
