It was the type of season no one wanted to see come to an end. A 29-game run that, in some ways, defied logic.
How could a team pegged to finish sixth in its own league, a group that had just one returning starter, take third place at state?
Yet, during the winter, Kentridge boys basketball coach Dave Jamison managed to push all the right buttons.
Of course, there were plenty of occasions when the longtime KR coach didn’t push a button at all and simply let his players run the floor, a scenario Jamison often referred to as letting his “horses” do their thing.
The Chargers finished the season with a 20-9 record, were just one of two teams to knock off eventual Class 4A state champion Federal Way, took third in the South Puget Sound League North Division, fourth at district and ended with a third-place trophy from state.
Not bad for a squad with just one returning starter and which graduated the league’s co-MVP (Renado Parker) a year earlier.
Add up all the numbers and Jamison was pretty hard to beat this year, which is why he is being recognized as the Kent Reporter’s male sports Coach of the Year.
“It was a blast,” said Jamison, who has had just one losing record in league play in nine years at the helm of the program. “I didn’t want it to end. It was a satisfying year in a lot of ways, especially knowing we could do things after Renado was gone.”
The Chargers did things, all right. Matter of fact, they ran the floor with a guard-driven frenetic tempo that few teams could keep up with. It was a style that Kentridge essentially was forced into playing after Parker — the team’s 6-foot-6, 240-pound hammer in the middle the year before — graduated.
This past season, Jamison re-invented the Chargers, leaning heavily on star sophomore Gary Bell, who was the team’s lone returner and who averaged 18.9 points per game.
“I think (Jamison) was letting us do his thing,” said Bell, who is being recruited by a host of Division I schools. “He wanted us to run and we got a lot of people tired.”
The turning point — the moment when the Chargers realized they weren’t merely another team in the SPSL North, but rather a contender — came early in the season on Dec. 13, when Kentridge stunned top-ranked Federal Way, 67-66. It would be one of just two losses the Eagles would suffer all year. More important, however, it showed the Chargers were, in fact, for real.
“That was a big win,” said Jamison, who has registered double-digit victories in league play in each of his last five seasons. “The longer the game went, the closer we were. We broke their pressure pretty well and made some big shots.”
It was the team’s three-guard attack — Bell, Shaquielle McKissic and Laron Daniels — that keyed the win, combining for 50 of the 67 points scored. Of the three, Bell was the only one to see any quality game time the year before. McKissic and Daniels both spent the majority of the previous year on the junior varsity or picking up a sporadic minute here and there on varsity.
But the Chargers were about more than a few smart Jamison moves and three standout guards. It was about a group of kids who knew their roles, didn’t complain about playing time and did the little things to win games.
“Dave did a great job,” said Kentwood coach Michael Angelidis, whose team was eliminated from the district tournament by Jamison’s bunch. “They had some guys who were unselfish and willing to do whatever it took. They all played their parts and were a very cohesive unit.”
Of course, there were times when KR’s no-fear, up-tempo style bordered on chaotic. These were the times when Jamison was essentially at his best, facilitating cohesion and calming a group of teenage boys who just wanted to run.
“He’d call timeout and crack a joke just to keep us all loose,” said Daniels. “He’s a very funny guy. One of the funniest I’ve been around, but he also always kept us confident and believing in ourselves. With our team, (success) was really just a case of having the right guys and the right chemistry. We all believed in ourselves when nobody else did. We had three, four explosive guards and nobody could match up with all three of us.
“It was a blast. Probably the most fun I’ve ever had playing basketball in my life.”
That fun began in December with a 77-66 win over Kentlake, and continued into January, which was highlighted with a 67-58 victory against rival Kentwood. In February, the Chargers began to peak, winning six of seven.
Then, KR finished things off with a 62-56 win against Foss at the Tacoma Dome, sealing its third-place finish at the Class 4A state tournament.
“It was one of those years, you just want it to keep going,” said Jamison.
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