King's Corey Kispert, left, and King's Way Christian's Kienan Walter dive for a loose ball in the second quarter of their game in the state boys class 1A basketball tournament March 4, 2016 in the Yakima SunDome in Yakima, Wash. (GORDON KING/Gordon King Photography)
YAKIMA – Skyler Freeman couldn’t hide the battle scars. And that was just fine with him.
A purple-tinged welt stretched across the bridge of the King’s Way Christian junior’s nose.
After Friday’s 59-31 loss to King’s in the semifinals of Class 1A boys basketball state tournament, Freeman’s body was wounded.
But his spirit was not.
“I’ll remember the bruises I got inside trying to play against guys that were a lot bigger than me,” the 6-foot-3 forward said. “I’ll remember the battle and how we fought throughout.”
For one half, King’s Way traded punches with a heavyweight of small-school basketball. At halftime, the Knights trailed 23-20 against the defending champs who will play in their fourth consecutive title game on Saturday.
The second half was a different story. King’s Way shot 4 for 30 after the break, including 0 for 23 from 3-point range.
“The truth is they’re just better than us,” King’s Way coach Daven Harmeling said. “They big-boyed us.”
In name, little separates King’s and King’s Way. Knights is the mascot at both schools.
But on the court, King’s is in a different class. The Seattle school has one of the Northwest’s top players in 6-foot-6 junior Corey Kispert, who being recruited by Gonzaga, Notre Dame and several Pac-12 schools.
Friday, Kispert had 28 points, seven rebounds and five steals. Much of that came after he shot just 3-for-14 in the first half.
Kispert was one of three King’s starters who are 6-foot-5 or taller. That gave them the answer to 6-foot-8 King’s Way star Kienan Walter, who was held to five points Friday after averaging 22 this season.
“They kept throwing body after body at him,” Harmeling said. “They have a lot of big, long, strong athletic kids. He didn’t have his best game, but that doesn’t go on him. That’s on me. I got outcoached.”
Unable to create many chances near the hoop, King’s Way relied on its outside shooting. That worked in the first half, when King’s Way made five 3-pointers and King’s shot under 28 percent from the field.
But the strategy left little room for error. Once King’s Way went cold from outside, King’s transformed those long rebounds into fast-break scoring chances.
“The reality is that we had to knock down a lot of threes to beat them,” Harmeling said. “I was OK with that as a gameplan because we knew we weren’t really going to be able to get the ball inside.”
King’s Way didn’t score for the first 4:50 of the third quarter. By the end of the period, King’s had stretched the lead to 39-24.
King’s then put the game away with a 16-1 run over the first three minutes of the fourth quarter.
Up next for King’s Way is a game to decide third and fifth places at 11:15 a.m. Saturday. The Knights will face Trico League rival Kalama, which they have beaten three times this season.
Regardless of which trophy King’s Way (21-5) leaves the SunDome with, its players will always remember rumbling with the champ, and holding their own for a while.
“We were trying to do something nobody thought we could do, and we were doing it for the first half,” Freeman said. “It was a great feeling at halftime and it’s something I’ll always remember.”
KING’S 59, KING’S WAY CHRISTIAN 31
KING’S (23-3) – Cole Mitchell 5, Koa Wilkins 12, Corey Kispert 28, Sam Echelbarger 8, Chewy Zevenbergen 6, Dawson Porcello 0, Christian Lopez 0, Josh Frohardt 0, Johnny Foley 0, Carson Dreher 0, Luke Wicks 0, Taylor Schoenfeld 0. Totals 22 (2) 13-21 59.
KING’S WAY CHRISTIAN (21-5) – Skyler Freeman 12, Karter Graves 6, Joe Mills 0, Kienan Walter 5, Preston Danberg 5, Nick Puicella 0, Kafentse Cason 2, Judah Smith 4, Darion Lycksell 0, Kyle Gonzales 1, Kahlfani Cason 0, Tony Huser 0. Totals 11 (5) 4-8.
King’s 15 8 16 20 — 59
King’s Way 10 10 4 7 – 31
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