Mercer Island needed a 5-0 run to close out a back-and-forth opening quarter against the Juanita Rebels in their 2A/3A contest Friday night at Mercer Island High School.
Though maybe appearing as nothing more than a promising stretch to close the period, it turned out to be a small sample of what the Islanders had in store for their opponents the rest of the evening.
Celebrating Senior Night in dominant fashion, Mercer Island hammered Juanita 76-30 to earn the team’s fifth league win of the season. The Islanders (12-4, 5-3 in KingCo) held the Rebels (8-9, 4-4) to six combined points in the game’s second and third quarters to break the game open and pull away.
“We just did a good job of keeping the intensity level high throughout the whole game,” Mercer Island coach Gavin Cree said. “We didn’t let up, and I think that allowed them not to rebuild their confidence. I just liked the way that we brought the fire and the intensity throughout the game.”
Juanita’s AJ Peacocke scored eight points in the first quarter to give the Rebels a 12-11 lead before a 3-pointer from Josh Stenberg and a buzzer-beating putback from Griffin Emanuels put the Islanders ahead 16-12 after one. After a basket from Ravi Regan-Hughes made it an 18-16 contest early in the second quarter, the Islanders reeled off a 21-1 stretch to close the half.
Mercer Island was a point better after halftime, allowing only a free throw by Regan-Hughes in the opening minutes of the third quarter for a 22-1 period.
“We’re playing together really well right now,” said Stenberg, who led all scorers with 21 points, with 18 coming in the first half. “We’re making the extra passes, we’re playing good defense as a team and communicating well. Everything’s going well, especially tonight.”
Andrew Pickles scored 12 points for Mercer Island, while Emanuels, Emerson Schulz and Blake Swanson each scored eight. Peacocke led the Rebels with eight points, while Brighton Maughan and Mitchell Jensen each had six.
With four KingCo league games remaining and the Islanders three games out of first place behind second-place Lake Washington and the undefeated Bellevue Wolverines, a league title is almost certainly out of reach. But that won’t keep the Islanders from making one last regular season push.
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Cree said. “We’ve got four games left in league [competition], and we’re going to give it our best shot. Just take it game by game, try to win them all and see what happens.”
Mercer Island will take on the winless Interlake Saints at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26 at MIHS. Juanita will host the Saints three days later, tipping off at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29 at Juanita High School.
