YAKIMA – The sting of a season-ending loss was still fresh. Yet Karter Graves knew it wouldn’t last.
One of 10 seniors on the King’s Way Christian boys basketball team, Graves has plenty of memories beyond Wednesday’s 53-50 loss to Warden at the Class 1A state tournament.
“Nobody expected us to get here,” he said. “It sucks to go out on a loss and not playing your best game. It hurts now, but you’ll look back on it in a week, in a month and in a year and see that we shocked everybody in the area.”
King’s Way (15-11) wasn’t favored to win the Trico League or reach the state tournament for a third consecutive year. After graduating two-time league MVP Kienan Walter and starting the season 2-7, those accomplishments seem even greater.
“It’s still satisfying making it here three years in a row,” Graves said. “We solidified King’s Way as a program. Yeah, we had a Division I player. But we lost him and still got back. That’s an example of what a real program looks like.”
For one half of Wednesday’s first-round game, King’s Way looked comfortable among the final 12 teams to reach the SunDome. The Knights led 23-13 three minutes before halftime.
But Warden, a school near Moses Lake making its first state appearance, wasn’t going away. The Cougars (18-7) took advantage of King’s Way mistakes to pull within 28-25 at halftime.
The Knights started the second half slowly and trailed 41-34 by the early fourth quarter. But Nick Pulicella and Joe Mills then hit 3-pointers give King’s Way renewed life.
The Knights had a chance to tie after Warden’s J.R. Delgado made one of two free throws with 16 seconds left. But a play designed for Mills in the right corner didn’t result in a shot.
“We had self-inflicted wounds the entire time,” King’s Way coach Daven Harmeling said. “To have 18 turnovers without being pressed is tough to swallow.”
Matt Garrison led King’s Way with 16 points. Mills added 12 and Skyler Freeman had 11.
Harmeling said Wednesday’s postgame talk was the toughest he has ever had to give. He wanted the first group of seniors he coached since they were freshmen to end their careers on a higher note.
“What the 10 seniors have done I literally can’t put into words,” Harmeling said. “Four years ago, they’d go and lose by 40 to other schools’ JV teams. Now, not saying we can beat everybody, but we can play with anybody in Vancouver. To bring legitimacy like that to a program is significant because I’m passionate about King’s Way.”
WARDEN 53, KING’S WAY CHRISTIAN 50
KING’S WAY (15-11) – Nick Pulicella 8, Jared Jarvi 0, Karter Graves 3, Joe Mills 12, Matt Bryant 0, Matt Garrison 16, Karson Jones 0, Skyler Freeman 11. Totals 20 (6) 4-7 50.
WARDEN (18-7) – Fernando Barriga 0, Zach Richins 4, Jack Hardman 0, Martin Arriaga 0, Tanner Skone 11, Adam Richins 20, J.R. Delgado 18. Totals 17 (6) 13-21 53.
King’s Way 12 16 4 18 – 50
Warden 8 17 10 18 – 53
