By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

TACOMA - Two teams with decidedly different callings and publicity clashed in the WIAA/Dairy Farmers of Washington/Les Schwab Tires 2015 high school 3A boys state tournament Hardwood Classic on the quarterfinal round held at the Tacoma Dome on Thurs., March 5.

In one corner were the No. 3 state poll standing Garfield Bulldogs, who were part of the much heralded and well-represented Metro League. Their opponents were the Seamount League Kennedy Catholic Lancers, who were never in the regular season top 10 of polling.

Kennedy stayed well under the radar most of the way as it worked its efforts toward the Elite Eight of the state quarterfinals.

At the West Central/Southwest Washington bi-district tournament, Kennedy Catholic was on the verge of elimination several times, beginning with an opening round comeback 46-45 win against Prairie (Vancouver). In this game, The Lancers' only lead was at the very end.

Then came a second round 64-60 loss to Foss (Tacoma), which forced Kennedy to win three loser-out games just to survive bi-district. The Lancers recovered to win a 58-43 game against North Thurston before drilling Auburn Mountainview 60-44.
In a hard fought match up, the fired up Lancers defeated Peninsula 71-67 for the fifth and last spot to regionals.

Traveling more than 70 miles to Mount Vernon High School, Kennedy shocked Stanwood 68-47 to gain the state quarterfinals.

On this early Thursday evening, it was Kennedy Catholic who came out with hot shooting to put a leash on Garfield for the better part of the first half before finally withering in the second half to drop a 66-54 verdict to the Bulldogs.

"Fatigue comes into play. The constant pressure, it takes a little out of you," Kennedy Catholic coach Don Hoffman said. "There were some possessions that were there that were huge, where we went down and missed a layup and they go down and get a bucket. Those four-point swings, when you're playing a team like Garfield you've got to covert those. Those were tough misses. The defense played well and the kids played hard."

Kennedy played lights out basketball in the first quarter, with hot shooting from the outside that accounted for conversion of its first four three-pointers of the game.

James Jolly nailed a free throw line jump shot ahead of a three-pointer from a nice kick out pass. Michael Sasonoff joined in with a pair of free throw conversions ahead of Parker Diller's three as the Lancers had the Bulldogs on a tight leash at 15-4 with 4 minutes, 50 seconds to play in the initial quarter.

Behind the efforts of Terrell Brown, Garfield initiated a 13-4 run of its own to trail only 19-17 before an A.J. McGrew free thrown and Emilio Mancol's quarter ending three-point missile sent KC into the second quarter with 23-17 lead.

Kennedy still led, 28-23, as just more than five minutes remained until intermission.

The Bulldogs broke loose from their leash to fire off 12 consecutive points before a Sasonoff field goal kept the Lancers within 35-30.

Consecutive baskets from Jayshaun Agosto in the second half's opening action helped Garfield roam away and extend its lead to 51-38 by the end of the third quarter.

Two free throws from Mancol and a Sasonoff drive down the lane brought the fighting Lancers within 51-43 with 6:30 to play, but the Bulldogs pushed ahead by 17 points before a closing Kennedy Catholic surge created the final score.

"They burned us from beyond the arc early," said Garfield coach Ed Haskins. "I think they were probably 6 of 6, 7 for 7 from behind the arc ( in the first quarter)...They came out with energy...We weathered the storm and played through it. It's survival time."

Kennedy (23-4) moved on to a Friday loser-out game against Lakeside. Garfield (26-2) faced a semifinal against Settle Prep.

Sasonoff paced Kennedy Catholic with 14 points, seven rebounds and three assist.s James Jolly added 10 points with six boards. Diller also scored 10 Lancer points. Mancol closed with nine.

Jaylen Nowell notched 19 points for Garfield while Brown contributed 15 points and eight rebounds. The Bulldogs received 14 points and seven rebounds from Alphonso Anderson.