North Kitsap advances to 2A boys basketball quarterfinals with win over Mark Morris, 3 takeaways
TACOMA — The North Kitsap Vikings are on to the Class 2A state quarterfinals.
After trading the lead with No. 6 seed Mark Morris several times in the first half of Friday night’s regional contest at Tacoma Community College, the No. 3 seed Vikings took a three-point advantage into the break, and never trailed in the final two quarters on the way to a 58-48 victory.
Three Vikings reached double figures scoring in the win. Harry Davies scored a team-high 17 points and added five steals, while Cade Orness had 14 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals, and Jordan Williams also added 14 points.
Braydon Olson scored a game-high 21 for the Monarchs, while Malakai Gray had 11.
The win sends the Vikings (21-4) — who have now won 16 of their past 17 — to Thursday’s quarterfinals, needing three wins to top the state bracket in 2024.
How much momentum do the Vikings have heading into the Yakima Valley SunDome next week?
“A lot,” Davies said. “We feel like it’s ours, so we’re going to go out and do our best, and see where it takes us.”
North Kitsap’s next opponent will be determined in the first round Wednesday night in Yakima. The Vikings play in the quarterfinals at 7:15 p.m. Thursday
Mark Morris (19-6) also moves on to the tournament site, and will play the winner of Saturday morning’s regional contest between No. 14 R.A. Long and No. 11 Bremerton at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday afternoon in a first-round, loser-out game.
Here are three takeaways from the Mark Morris-North Kitsap game:
BACK ON TRACK
There were no overtime buzzer-beaters in Tacoma this time.
Six days ago on this court, the Vikings — then on a 15-game winning streak — rallied in the second half and tied the score late to take their 2A District 2/3 championship game against Renton to overtime.
Cade Orness connected on a go-ahead, spinning layup with 7.5 seconds to go, but Jordan Agosto answered with a corner 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift Renton to the title.
“We had won quite a few in a row before Renton, and right when we got done with that game, I just had a good feeling it would light a fire under us,” Vikings coach Scott Orness said. “We had a really great week of practices, and the guys came through tonight with a little grit.”
Friday night, the Vikings controlled the lead much of the way.
“A lot of fire,” Davies said. “We had a whole week. I know in state, we’re back-to-back-to-back, so we don’t have that much time to prepare, but we had a whole week. Coach talked us through it, our guys locked in and we came out with a W.”
SECOND-HALF SURGE
There were nine ties or lead changes in the first half, but the Vikings eventually led at every quarter break.
They went on a 10-0 run midway through the second quarter to lead by as many as eight in the first half before Mark Morris closed the gap to 29-26 heading into halftime.
The Monarchs tied the game once more at 29-29 on a 3-pointer from Olson early in the third, but Cade Orness’ contested jumper in the paint on the next possession gave North Kitsap the lead for good with 6:55 to play.
Mark Morris still kept the lead within reach much of the second half, but the Vikings held the Monarchs to just three baskets in the fourth and took a double-digit lead for good on a basket from Logan Hudson — who had eight points, 14 rebounds and four blocks — with 2:59 to go.
ON TO YAKIMA
The Vikings are certainly familiar with the Yakima Valley SunDome — this is the seventh consecutive season they’ve advanced to the tournament site.
And North Kitsap has reached trophy games in five of the past six, placing sixth last season, third in 2022, winning the tournament in 2020 and placing sixth in both 2019 and 2017.
Can this year’s team, which also won an undefeated 2A Olympic League title earlier this winter, top the bracket?
“We’ve done it once before, in 2020, and it takes a little bit of luck, it takes staying healthy and it takes having some good games when we get to the Dome, which is not always an easy thing to do,” Scott Orness said.
“So, I think this team has the grit to do all of those things, and hopefully we’re playing on Saturday for the golden ball.”
