Things are clicking for the Kentridge High boys basketball team.
All it took was a loss to help kick the Chargers up another gear.
That loss came on Feb. 16, when the Chargers fell to Kentwood 75-62 in a first-round West Central/Southwest Bi-District tournament game.
If ever there was a wake-up call to a team, that was it.
“That loss hurt us big,” said Kentridge guard Gary Bell. “That was our third loss in a row. We knew we couldn’t lose again (if we wanted to make it to state). I think now that it did help us.”
It very well may have. Since the loss to the Conquerors, the Chargers (20-8) have won five in a row and clinched a berth to the Elite Eight at the Tacoma Dome. Kentridge plays Gonzaga Prep Thursday at the Tacoma Dome in a Class 4A state quarterfinal game.
The winner will advance to a 5:30 p.m. game Friday night against the winner of the Puyallup/Garfield showdown.
Kentridge’s average win during its five-game run has come by an average of 15.2 points per game. In their previous 15 wins, the Chargers had beaten their opponents by an average of 8.33 points.
“We’re all clicking now, I guess,” said Bell, who will play at Gonzaga University next season on a full-ride scholarship. “Playing those loser-out games really helped, too.”
Indeed they did. Especially for Bell, who averaged 27 points per game through Kentridge’s first 23 contests, but has averaged 32.6 points during the five-game winning streak. Bell’s hot hand included a 47-point outburst in a 73-59 victory over Bellarmine Prep.
“That Bellarmine Prep game was when Gary decided we’re going to keep playing,” said Kentridge coach Dave Jamison.
Bell’s play has rubbed off on his teammates, too.
The 88 points the Chargers posted against Arlington followed by the 84 they dropped on Auburn in the first two rounds of the state tournament are two of the three highest-scoring outings Kentridge has posted all year.
“We’ve won five in a row and four of them have not been very close,” Jamison said. “We really hadn’t blown people out all year. We’re shooting it really well. We had three near-death experiences in a row (to end the regular season and start the postseason) and the guys went, ‘Oh, man.’ Now they’re shooting the ball really well. It has seemed to snowball.”
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