LA CENTER — Throughout the season, Daven Harmeling makes an effort to remind Bryson Metz how important he is to the team.
To Harmeling, and his King’s Way Christian boys basketball players, they want to make sure their freshman point guard hears those words.
“All my teammates and coaches tell me, ‘you belong here,’ ” Metz said.
It’s one thing to say that, another to entrust him with the ball with the game on the line. Bryson Metz got the ball with less than 10 second left, down one, sliced through the key, and delivered the game-deciding assist.
And the Knights walked away from La Center High School winners over the Wildcats, 65-64, handing La Center its first 1A Trico League loss in almost two calendar years.
The win shows just how far the Knights have come since starting the season by losing five of its first seven games, albeit against a competitive schedule that included a mix of local and statewide teams in larger classifications.
To Harmeling, the start of the season didn’t need to be pretty. In fact, he figured the team would be better by the season’s end because of its tough non-league schedule, a philosophy he drew from playing basketball at Washington State under current Virginia coach Tony Bennett.
“Sometimes it’s really good to get your teeth kicked in because it makes you figure out what you need to improve,” Harmeling said.
Brady Metz — Bryson’s older brother — hit four 3-pointers to finish with 14 points.
Him taking a 3-pointer was the the first read on King’s Way’s final possession, but the Wildcats denied him the look.
Khalfani Cason added 14 points and Bryson Metz scored 13 for the Knights.
La Center had its lowest shooting percentage of the season from beyond the arc (2 of 23), and fell behind by as much as 10 points with four minutes left in the fourth quarter.
King’s Way started off hot on offense and built an 18-9 lead after the first quarter.
But the Wildcats opened the second on an 8-0 run and took a four point lead at halftime.
Hunter Ecklund posted a game-high 29 points and Colby Shaw and Avery Seter chipped in 10 apiece for La Center.
Hunter Ecklund and Shaw each converted three-point plays as the Wildcats chipped away at King’s Way’s lead in the final minutes and Seter sliced through the key and finished around two Knights defenders to give La Center a one-point leads with 18 seconds left.
When the Knights reclaimed the lead off of Bryson Metz’s dime, La Center had four seconds left with a baseline inbound. Evan Norris lobbed the ball to Hunter Ecklund just shy of mid-court, who collided with Cason to send the ball out of bounds, Wildcat ball with two seconds left.
But Brady Metz stole the inbound to seal the win.
La Center is the defending outright league champions after running the table in Trico play last season, but King’s Way was the lone 1A team from Clark County to make it to the 1A state tournament in Yakima.
In fact, the Wildcats’ last league loss came in 2016 at home to — you guessed it — King’s Way.
“They’ve had our number,” Jeremy Ecklund said. “Hats off to Daven.”
Harmeling, and the rest of the team for that matter, are under no illusion that La Center will be seeking vengeance in the team’s rematch on the last league game of the season.
Jeremy Ecklund told Harmeling after the game to win its next four games, and he’ll try and do the same, to set up a rematch that would decide the Trico League title in a year when three teams — including Seton Catholic — appear poised to make a legitimate run at it.
That’s why Harmeling said his team would need to turn the page quickly on Wednesday’s game.
“They’re going to be jacked up wanting to give us their best shot, which they will,” Harmeling said. “Same thing with Seton. This isn’t declaring that we’re better than them, that game could have gone either way, that’s the only conclusion I can draw in that game.”
KING’S WAY CHRISTIAN 65, LA CENTER 64
KING’S WAY — Khalfani Cason 14, Kobi Cason 10, Gage Koenders 10, Bryce Dodge 0, Justin Frahm 4, Brady Metz 14, Bryson Metz 13. Totals 29 (9) 1-2 65.
LA CENTER — Hunter Ball 2, Colby Shaw 10, Evan Norris 4, Avery Seter 10, Matt Bryant 9, Cedric Hubler 0, Hunter Ecklund 29. Totals 25 (2) 12-13 64.
King’s Way 18 9 22 16—65
La Center 9 22 13 20 — 64
JV — La Center 76-66
