Bremerton basketball pecking order

remains intact

by Mark Butcher

Sports Writer

Sheridan Park, also known as the Bremerton Brick Palace, is the heartbeat of Bremerton basketball. Not the Les Eathorne gym at Bremerton High School or the Bremer Student Center gym on the campus of Olympic College.

Why? Because it is on the venerable hardwood of Sheridan, as it has been for decades, that the pecking order of Bremerton basketball players is establish, maintained, and lost.

Such was the case Wednesday (Oct. 25^th) night in the opening game of the Parks & Rec Men’s Fall League (Div. I) between Heavy Hitters (1-1) and Casey’s Under Dogs (0-2). Eight of the 15 players were Bremerton High alumni, with ’07 gradate Patrick Lewis leading Heavy Hitters with a Knight contingency of three and ’06 alumnus Shedale Washington captaining five former Bremerton blue and gold players.

The forty-four-minute contest was a chaotic affair. Very similar to the Wednesday afternoon Open Gym sessions at Sheridan. The only difference being the three officials that oversaw the game. In Open Gym, players call their own fouls.

Fans, friends and family members were entertained by a steady diet of: players dribbling the full length of the court, weaving in and around traffic, to attempt a layup or some other kind of shot; defenders running ballhandlers down from behind to knock the ball away and start another fast-break for their team; opponents squaring off one-on-one in the open court to see if one’s offensive skills were better than the other’s defensive skills; scorers driving strong to the basket for a bucket or having their shot rejected by a former school teammate; and, a barrage of statement attempting three-point shots.

At the mid-game intermission Heavy Hitters held a slim one-point advantage over Casey’s, 38-to-37, behind 22-points from Lewis. Casey’s achieved their first half success through a balanced scoring approach, from Jeff Timm (4), Jumier Johnson (4), Allen Anthony (10), A.J. Herring (5). The surprise of the half were the three three-point baskets by Casey’s Michael Powell for nine points. In his two previous contests, Powell had only managed to put only a single field goal into the scorebook.

In the second half, the slightly older and college experienced Heavy Hitters showed they were no ready to relinquish the Bremerton basketball reigns and outscored Casey’s again, this time 35-to-31. At the final buzzer, Lewis put an exclamation on his team’s 73-to-68 win and his league-high 32 points with a rim rocking dunk.

With the win, Heavy Hitters (2-1) remains in contention for the league championship three weeks hence and Casey’s Under Dogs (0-3) have the opportunity to work on their game in preparation for the upcoming Post-Season Tournament a month from now.

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Honey Badgers (0-2) had the perfect opportunity to knock Boat Shed (2-0) off their undefeated perch and get back into championship contention in the second contest Wednesday night. Boat Shed was without the services of their #2 scorer, Teni Vaoifi (13.5 points per game), and leading rebounder. But, for the third consecutive week the Badgers were not able to put together a game winning performance.

Badger Dez Johnson dotted the scorebook with his second twenty-point game (22 pts) of the season but none of his teammate were able to score more than five points. Teammate Mykhael Hayes, who was averaging 16 points prior to the game, recorded a season-low four points.

At half-time, Boat Shed led 27-to-20.

But the Boat Shedders paly a great game either. Caleb Jennings and Atyus Smith were the team’s only double-digit scorers, with Jennings getting team-high honors with 11 points and Smith adding 10. What Boat Shed did accomplish, that enabled them to outplay the Honey Badgers in the second half also, 29-to-21, was get all their players into the scorebook with four or more points. A simple tactic of the masses overwhelming the one great performer - Johnson’s game-high 22 points.

With the win, Boat Shed (3-0) is the Div. II team to beat in the second half of the regular season.

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Anyone that left the gym after the first two games Wednesday missed a humdinger between O.R.N. (2-0) and Suquamish (0-2) in the third and final contest of the evening. To put it simply, there was not a lot of defense played, as O.R.N. out bombed Suquamish for behind the three-point act to a 87-to-81 victory.

Thirty-one three-point baskets were made in the contest with O.R.N. setting a league record with 18 trifectas and Suquamish adding 13. O.R.N. actually made more shots from behind the arc (18) than in the paint (16). They also didn’t take a single free throw shot in the contest. Suquamish was whistled for only six personal fouls, two in the first half and four in the second.

But all the game honors didn’t go to O.R.N. Suquamish’s Jacob Hill recorded the most three-point baskets, six, in route to his second 20+ game of the season, and Keoki Laguana followed with five long-range buckets and a game-high 23 points.

Next Tuesday (Oct. 30^th) O.R.N. (3-0) has the early 6:00 p.m. game against Unguardable (2-0), who play Admirals Rec (1-1) tonight at 7:05 p.m. Suquamish (0-3) will tip-off against Heavy Hitters (2-1) at 7:05 p.m. on Tuesday.

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