Boy, that Kennedy basketball team is good! Really, really good!

Oh yeah, tell me something new. The girls just won the 3A state title and a repeat is not out of the question.

Kennedy has only played two preseason games so far but beat some tough non-league, tune-up competition in West Seattle on Dec. 1, always tough out of the Metro with the likes of Odea (5th at state last year) and then, two days later, Dec. 3, the Lancers lost -- Wait, lost, that’s not good!

It was in this case because Bellarmine Prep is who they lost to, and it was a close game to this stalwart ball team. The Lions are a team always in the hunt for the Narrows League title and a pretty good bet to make state yearly.

So a good indicator, these first two preseason games, for the Lancers?

“I hope so,” said boys coach Don Hoffman. “The kids are excited and we need to keep practicing well, play each game like it’s your biggest game, and worry about the next one when it comes up.”

Another thing about Bellarmine Prep, they are in a higher classification --4A -- than JFK, including third place at state two years ago and perennially being in the postseason. So, that’s a good quality program at B-Prep, and Kennedy only lost by one point, and had the last shot. Actually the last three shots to win it, but losing, 63-62, on first Kevin Taylor-William’s bomb kicking out and then, with 2, 1, seconds on the clock, Joe Ryan-Mekkhavong threw up a desperation prayer that unfortunately wasn’t answered positively.

Well, religiously they say, it’s all about His timing so this just wasn’t the time for the Lancers to win a greatly played, tightly contested, fun-to-watch game for all the fans in attendance at the red, white and blue’s homecourt these two affairs.

West Seattle was a good win, too, 73-67, that the Lancers led throughout and the Indians kept chipping away at 8-10 point leads, according to head coach Hoffman.

Hoffman seems like he’s putting this thing together well as he did for so many years with the girls program perennially getting to the postseason. ‘Course, now, a quick shout out to Tom Mummert, current girls coach, for his great job, but it seems like Hoffman really is tuning these players into some kind of wonderful.

Take Deshea Bell, 6-2 and around 175-180 pounds. That kid, currently a junior, has grown, both his game, and, well, his figure. Two years ago Bell, who is the point guard for the Lancers this season, weighed about 150 pounds soaking wet and was probably 5-10, in high heels, and was pretty much a type player that hustled hard and was not a great factor.

This year? He’s the man running the show, passing pretty outlet balls on the wing to Mitch Penner, Mekkhavong and Taylor-Williams, while also involving himself in the action with lightning-fast dribbles and drives to the hoop for two. He hit a three point ball in this game, too, scoring 18 points, not to mention seven rebounds and five steals and another half dozen assists.

The Lancers led 61-58 with 3:25 left, having erased deficits in this game of 44-38 midway through the third quarter, ignited by a Bell three, making it 44-41, and Taylor Williams made it 44-43 on a short-range jumper, and JFK led, 45-44, on a steal and score by Bell.

But the Lancers led by three with just over three minutes left in the game. It was a point in the game that Hoffman repeated a couple times about the ending.

“We had them by three,” he said.

Listing some of the good things in the game afterward, “The kids played hard, played great defense, rebounded against a bigger team,” said Hoffman, who then would come back to, “We were up by three.”

Just where the Lancers wanted the Lions, in their mouths and the only thing left to do was make a bucket to start shaking the big cat violently...

After the Lions scored to make it 63-62 with 30 seconds to play, Hoffman called a timeout and set up a play. The Lancers, and the Lions, stepped back on the court to play out the final dramatics of a game that deserved a curtain call it was so exciting. For the Lancers, the final play went...awry.

Bell was supposed to get the throw in but B-Prep was on him like a hot knife through butter. The ball went to a second choice and the ball was grabbed at the top of the three point arc on the right side and passed to Taylor-Williams, because Bell was still hounded by the B-Prep defense devastatingly to be out of the play. Mekkavong did get the pass from Penner as Bell, the first option, could not be used.

But the pass deflected just enough off a Lions defender to cause Taylor-Williams to be double and triple teamed, Lions’ arms up and around him everywhere as he got off a shot that kicked off the rim. Then, with not enough time to do more than grab it and shoot, Ryan-Mekkhavong did get a shot off -- kudos to him for getting the ball off his fingertips with 2, 1, 0. The ball lipped and circled the rim.

And out...Game over.

“I was supposed to get the ball in the backcourt,” said Bell, “and run a pick and roll with Mitch (Penner), but they kind of double-teamed me off the throw and then there was a deflection and by that time there was no time to do anything. I had to get it up there.”

Kennedy trailed 13-6 to start the game as the Lions rolled early and looked to be socking this one away before the first quarter was through. But the Lancers rebounded from tough early on shooting, a 1-for-5 to start, including Penner missing a couple threes and a two.

But Penner would rebound in this game to be the top scorer by game’s end, 21 points, and he also, even with missing shots early, corralled a couple significant boards and slapped in a steal and a block to counter his shooting woes. He also threw in 2-for-2 from the line in the first quarter. He led the Lancers in rebounds too, 10 for the game. Not bad for the 6-4 sophomore forward.

Penner’s efforts helped out, and, were significant because Kennedy used all the little things to storm back to tie things (on Penner’s two free throws) by the end of the first quarter, 17-17.

B-Prep again went up by a lot, 28-23, early in the second quarter and again, 35-27, before behind the Lancers’’ fans cheering them on made it 35-32 at halftime -- thanks to Penner’s three-point play (bucket and bonus) to give the Lancers the final points until halftime for either club and closed out a 5-0 run by the Lancers to end the second.

“We kept fighting, and kept battling. The ball just didn’t fall our way in the end,” said Bell, whose team has made it close to making the 3A state playoffs but missed out-by one game the last two years.

It was just a good basketball game, like West Seattle’s team that had a speed edge on the Lancers but the Lancers’ will found a way to counter that like B-Prep’s size, not to mention cat-quick Donald Gaddy, blood relative of Abdul Gaddy, who played for B-Prep last year and very well may be one of the better point guards to ever come out of the state before he’s done at the University of Washington.

Gaddy, that is, Donald, was frustrated by the Lancers in this game, playing that “great defense” Hoffman spoke of and by the late stages of the third quarter, Donald Gaddy picked up his fourth personal foul and was on the bench much of the fourth quarter.

Just against B-Prep, it was not to be, a chance against a team that’s predicted to win this game before it started is good enough. Just tougher to take when that three-point lead was the Lancers’ and just couldn’t be held. An elbow supposedly thrown at the end by a Lancers player was something that gave B-Prep the ball after a player for them had missed to keep the score 62-61 Lancers. But the referee said that the rebounder threw an elbow and called an offensive foul that gave the ball back to the Lions at this critical juncture, with 1:10 on the fourth quarter clock.

“I didn’t think it was a foul, but obviously they did,” said Hoffman. “The player was kind of crowding him and...pivoted and hit him with his elbow.”

Just a tough loss that will undoubtedly just make the Lancers think about what could have been and what could be down the line this season in the Seamount, which opened against Hazen Dec. 4, the day after this already stretched week of b-ball for the Lancers playing their third game in four days.

What could be down the line for the Lancers, if anyone’s guessing, is, let’s just say what’s predicted for the girls-good things.
After Penner’s 21 and Bell’s 18, Vince McCluskey, who made a nice reverse layup early in the game, chipped in seven for the night, and Chris Grandberry had six, Taylor Williams five and Ryan-Mekkhavong five. Jordan Cain and Gaddy led B-Prep with 15 each.