On to state for Mercer Island after beating Franklin | Playoff update

Published 6:52 pm Saturday, February 18, 2012

For the second consecutive year the Mercer Island boys basketball team will move into the regional round of the state tournament, starting next Friday. Unlike last year, however, the team will only have to travel to Puyallup for the game, instead of Spokane.

“We had fun driving to Spokane, but it will be nice,” said Islanders head coach Gavin Cree about staying closer to home. “Hopefully we won’t get hit by a snowstorm. And we can smoothly get to where we need to go. We’ll be going down to Rogers High School on Friday, so within in the area. We’re happy to go wherever we’re being sent.”

The Mercer Island boys team earned the No. 5 seed out of District 2 on Saturday afternoon, after beating Franklin 63-61.

The Islanders were up 17-12 at the end of the first quarter, and remained in the lead 34-26 at halftime.

Early on, it was obvious the Islanders weren’t used to playing the style of basketball Franklin was using.

“They are a pressure team that plays at a speed that we’re not accustomed to in our league, so it’s a bit of an adjustment,” said Cree. “They were holding, grabbing, denying and it’s the playoffs so they are going to let some of that go. I think we just had to get adjusted to that style of game, but I thought we responded by getting the offense going, I was pleased.”

After the break, Franklin closed the gap, but Mercer Island was able to hold a 52-47 lead at the end of three quarters.

In the final minutes of the game, the Quakers forced their way to within one point with 1:26 left on the clock. Joe Rasmussen fouled with eight seconds left, giving the Quakers a chance to tie it, but instead Rasmussen was fouled on the missed basket, sending him to the other end of the court. He made just one basket, but it was enough to seal the win for the team.

During the game, Rasmussen hit 22 points, with 17 coming from Sam Cohn. Kaleb Warner had seven, Jeff Lindquist scored six, Sean Hughes added five, Brian Miller had four and Parker Scott had two points.

“Sam Cohn deserves a lot of props for his efforts in the last two games, he’s a scorer. He’s a go point guard, so everybody’s trying to pressure and deny him, but to go out and how those two efforts within 18 hours of each other playing that many minutes against one of the best pressure defenders in the state,” said Cree.

The Islanders will play the District 3/4 No. 1 team at Rogers High School in Puyallup on Friday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. The winner will move forward to the state tournament at the Tacoma Dome, starting March 1.

To make it to the Tacoma Dome, Cree said he hopes the team takes the passion it had in the district tournament forward.

“(We have to) play hard, play with passion and inspire each other with your hard play, toughness,” said Cree. We just have to play our game. I thought the focus in the game against O’Dea the other day wasn’t there, we were a little bit more focused on how can we counter their pressure, so today we kind of countered and got them (Franklin) off early with some back door stuff and loosen them up a little bit and then we were able to run our whole playbook. That was nice and I think that’s what we need to continue to do.”

The Islanders will find out which team will represent District 3/4 after the title game on Tuesday, Feb. 21.