By Tim Clinton
SPORTS EDITOR

Kennedy Catholic bumped off No. 3-ranked Bellevue by a 77-68 score Thursday morning to open Class 3A state boys basketball tournament play in the Tacoma Dome and earn its way to Friday's semifinals.
The Lancers shot 27-for-50 from the field including 9-for-22 from 3-point range and made 14 of 19 free throws -- despite playing in a 9 a.m. game.

"I'm glad we liked it," said Kennedy head coach Don Hoffman of the early draw. "We shot the ball really well. The kids did the rotations that they had to."

Emilio Mancol led the way to victory for the Lancers, scoring 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the field including 4-for-8 from 3-point range.

"He just plays the game with a ton of emotion," said Hoffman of Mancol. "All he does is play basketball. I like having that enthusiasm out there."

Simon Harris of Kennedy was also impressive from 3-point range, shooting 3-for-6 for his nine points off the bench.

"He's a streaky guy," said Hoffman of Harris. "He'll knock a few down."

Harris hit all three as the Lancers made their move in the second quarter to come back from early deficits of 7-2, 9-4 and 16-10.

His first with 7:06 to play in the period cut an 18-13 lead to 18-16 and his second made it 20-19 with 6:04 left on the clock.

Mancol made a 3-pointer at the 5:45 mark, tying the game at 22-22.

Bellevue slipped into the lead again at 4:51 on a pair of free throws, then Keannu Royster tied it at 24-24 on a two-point score.

Matthew Mascias of the Lancers then came through with a steal, leading to a free throw by Royster that gave them the lead for good at 25-24 at the 4:15 mark.

Harris then iced his third 3-pointer with 3:46 to go before halftime to make it 28-24.

Kennedy worked its way to a 34-26 lead right before intermission.

Royster scored on a drive underneath with 1:15 to go and Mancol made a layup after a steal at 57.0 seconds.
Bellevue managed to close the margin to 34-29 early in the third quarter ahead of a left-side layup by Mancol where he drew a foul and also hit his free throw to make it 37-29.

The Lancers led by as much as 41-31 before Bellevue gradually battled back to make it 53-50 with 52.0 seconds left in the third quarter.

But Jared Thurber of JFK hit a 3-pointer from the right side at 24.0 seconds and struck from underneath with 1.0 seconds left and the Lancers were on their way again at 58-50.

James Jolly backed Mancol up with 18 points as Matthew Sasonoff scored 10, Harris nine and Royster and Thurber eight each.

Sharif Khan tallied 22 to lead the Wolverines and Andrew Kenny added 21. Mikey Henn sank 16.