The Mercer Island boys won the KingCo tournament title Thursday evening, beating the regular season league champs, Bellevue, 53-48. The win earns the team a No. 1 seed going into the SeaKing district tournament, which begins Saturday, and another step closer to the state tournament.

“It felt really good to beat them,” said head coach Gavin Cree. “Bellevue is a great team that we have so much respect for. They were fantastic all year long and deserved the Kingco Conference championship, but we believed we could beat them if we executed at both ends of the floor. It wasn’t a perfect game offensively, but we were awfully good on the defensive end.”

The Islanders controlled the first half of the match, ending two quarters with a 25-21 score. Bellevue regrouped in the third quarter, hoping to secure the title for themselves, ending the third with a 38-37 lead over the Islanders. But a 16-point quarter, while holding Bellevue to just 10 in the last minutes of the game, gave the Islanders the title.

Quinn Sterling earned 15 points for the team, while Derek Newhof had 12 and Kaj Sherman had 11. Sean Hughes put up five for the Islanders, while Jeff Lindquist added four, and Sam Cohn, Ben Emanuels and Joe Rasmussen each had two.

“Quinn Sterling’s leadership and overall presence was huge for us,” said Cree. “We could not have won this tournament without him. Not only did he put up points for us offensively, but he also played great defense and gave us so much confidence with his determination to win. Kaj Sherman’s physical presence was big for us as well. In the final game he had 11 points and 12 rebounds in about 20 minutes of action, not to mention 7 of 8 from the free throw line. That’s pretty darn good.”

Another player Cree said the team continues to rely on is sophomore Joe Rasmussen.

“Joe Rasmussen continues to be one of the unsung heroes of our team. His steady play the last few weeks has added another dimesion to our team, being able to use both he and Kaj at the same time or in place of one another,” said the coach. “It helps to maintain continuity on both ends of the floor when you can always count on a physically imposing presence on the inside.”

Earlier in the tournament, after securing the No. 2 seed out of the regular season, the Islanders beat Mount Si 55-46. During the game, Newhof put up 20 points for the Islanders, followed by 13 from Sterling. Lindquist and Rasmussen each had six in the game.

While the team struggled throughout the year with injuries, it found depth on the bench to help fill holes left by broken bones and pulled muscles.

“It was a tough year injury-wise, but those are the breaks of sports,” said Cree. “Our guys did a great job sticking together all year and really believing in one another. Guys stepped up when they were called upon and got the job done. Now we are almost healthy (Brian Miller is still out) and have quite a bit of depth at all positions, which is nice.”

The Islanders played Chief Sealth on Tuesday, after Reporter deadline, in the second round of the district tournament.

“The key for us to continue on will be just staying hungry and healthy,” said Cree. “Some of the aspects of the way Bellevue plays (getting out in transition, pressure defense) have prepared us well for the next rounds. We have enough talent to win a State title, but so do the 8 other teams left in our district tournament. We need to execute on both ends of the floor, obviously, have a little luck come our way and just flat out get after it.”

A win would push the team into the district semifinals with a 3 p.m. game on Thursday at Bellevue College against the winner of the Seattle Prep vs. Franklin match on Tuesday. A loss to the Seahawks on Tuesday means the Islanders would face the loser of the Seattle Prep/Franklin game on Saturday at Bellevue College at 3:30 p.m.