Basketball: Kentridge boys hit with early exit at district tournament

The Kentridge Chargers boys basketball season came to a close with a 55-47 loss at home to Union High School on Feb. 15.

“I thought we came out and worked pretty hard. We got a good core of dedicated senior kids and things just didn’t go our way,” said Coach Dave Jamison.

The Chargers went 0-2 during the 2023 district tournament, which is unfortunate for a team with the experience of the Kentridge roster. On top of that was also Jamison’s last game as a high school basketball head coach as he decided to retire.

Jamison has coached at both Kentridge and Kent-Meridian in his coaching career, leaving his mark on the city of Kent. Jamison finished a 25-year head coaching career with a record of 415-220, which is a career win percentage of 65%.

The game against Union started as a defensive battle with neither team scoring double digits in the opening quarter. The first ended with Kentridge trailing 7-6. One of the bright spots was senior Dominic Randhawa, who came off the bench, recorded an assist and brought the energy for the Chargers.

Kentridge’s main problem against the Titans was they struggled to protect the basketball — countless possessions were taken from them with intercepted passes slowing them down offensively. Union led after the second quarter by a score of 24-22.

Coming out of the halftime break, the Chargers had their best quarter of the game. The effort and rebounding for Kentridge gave them full control of the game, jumping out to their largest lead of the game and taking that lead into the fourth quarter, leading 41-37.

That quarter was where the execution needed to be for the Chargers, and they accomplished what they wanted to focus on.

“I thought that was our best quarter. We did what we wanted to do, which was go down and make them defend,” Jamison said.

During the most important quarter of the Chargers’ season, they let the game and their season slip through their fingers. Kentridge could only muster six points in the final quarter, letting Union back in the game.

With 3:18 left in the game, Union took the lead, 49-47, and never gave it back. Over that three minute and 18 second span, the Chargers wouldn’t score another basket.

Union advanced to a winner-to-state matchup against Emerald Ridge, and the Chargers’ state tournament hopes ended at home.

“Usually I would have to focus on next year. That’s the only difference. My job was getting these guys as far as they could go… It just didn’t work out,” Jamison said.

It is a tough way to end a really good season for the Chargers, who finished 17-6, and an extremely good coaching career for Jamison.

Charger seniors Jalon Blackwell and Dorian Thomas work against a Union defender. Photos by Ben Ray/ The Reporter