The first two meetings of the year, the Kangs — in defiance of Mercer Island’s better record — pulled out a pair of thrilling victories.
But Saturday was the third time lucky for the Mercer Island High boys basketball team, which held off a four-quarter rally to beat Lake Washington, 60-58, in the Class 3A KingCo semifinals at Mercer Island High School.
Mercer Island hit critical free throws down the stretch and forced Lake Washington’s Beau Heimdahl into a desperation heave at the buzzer, which was well short.
“They came out to fight and they finished it, but I’ve got to say: we stayed with them and fought in this game,” said Heimdahl, who finished with 11 points. “Few little mistakes, a couple box-outs here and there and a couple free throws, and we can win that game.”
Mercer Island (14-7) dominated the boards and points in the paint, and scored 16 second-chance points to Lake Washington’s six. But the Kangs grew hot from long range in the second half and finished with nine made 3-pointers for the game.
It’s part of the two-pronged approach, led by sophomore post Griffin Barker, that makes Lake Washington (10-8) a difficult match up for Mercer Island.
“Barker is such a tough cover, for everybody but in particular our team, and they have shooters,” Mercer Island coach Gavin Cree said. “When you have a big guy and shooters, I mean, what do you do? You have to pick your poison. They got a little bit of both on us, but I guess we made enough plays to get it done.”
Mercer Island started off the second half with momentum and took a six point lead midway through the third quarter. Lake Washington responded to tie the game at 38 late in the period and trailed by one after three quarters.
Lake Washington led 56-55 with less than two minutes to play, but Mercer Island hit four of its final five attempts from the free-throw line to ice the game and earn a trip to the conference tournament championship.
“I thought we brought our level of intensity up [from Tuesday’s loss to Lake Washington,]” Cree said. “The first part of the third quarter, when we got a little bit of separation, that was important. They came right back, but we made just enough plays.”
Mercer Island is scheduled to face Bellevue, which beat Redmond on Saturday, in the 3A KingCo tournament championship game on Feb. 8 at Newport High School. Bellevue and Mercer Island split two regular-season games and tied for the regular-season title. Both teams will make the Sea-King District championships, which begin on Feb. 11.
Lake Washington still has a chance to qualify for the district tournament in a loser-out game against Redmond on Feb. 8 at Newport High School in Bellevue. Redmond swept Lake Washington in the regular season but if there’s a reason to believe, the Kangs have it.
“I told the guys I’m so proud of the way they battled and competed,” Lake Washington coach Ryan Staudacher said. “These guys wouldn’t quit. They answered every run that Mercer Island went on. That second half, they went on three or four runs where it might have broken a lot of teams and might have broken us two or three months ago, but they kept battling and fighting. We answered with big shots of our own, and they just kept competing.”
Mercer Island senior Jack Delay and sophomore Rainier McDonald both finished with 13 points. Griffin Emanuels had 11 points and five rebounds and Ethan Eason had 10 points.
Lake Washington’s Dalton Liesse led all scorers with 14 points, including four 3-pointers. Barker finished with 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Sam Linsky had 10 points and Jordan Richter had seven.
