Getting 20 points from Sharif Khan and 17 from Mikey Henn, the Bellevue Wolverines finished their 2A/3A KingCo season undefeated with a 58-47 win over Mercer Island Friday night at Mercer Island High School.
Pride was on the line in this rivalry contest, as Bellevue had already locked up the league title and the top seed heading into the playoffs. Though Bellevue coach Chris O’Connor said he was looking to see a consistent effort on both ends of the floor from the Wolverines in their final regular season game.
“I thought for most part we were pretty poised,” O’Connor said. “This is a great environment for a high school basketball game. The crowd was real loud and it was noisy in here, and our guys showed a lot of poise and patience and they communicated really well during the game with each other. That’s something we have been preaching about, talking and communicating with each other. In this environment, you have to or else you’re not going to be very successful.”
Mercer Island (15-5, 8-4 in KingCo) was without leading scorer and starting point guard Josh Stenberg, who was out after suffering a concussion, though the Islanders were able to keep the game close through the first half. Henn scored nine points and Colin Suter knocked down three 3-pointers in the first quarter, including one to beat the buzzer, to give Bellevue (18-1, 12-0) a 22-13 lead after one.
Bellevue extended its lead to 10 twice during the second quarter. A putback dunk from Henn gave the Wolverines a 30-20 advantage, before a couple buckets from Andrew Pickles cut Mercer Island’s deficit to six at the half.
In the third, Bellevue began to pull away. Khan got the Wolverines going, promptly knocking down a 3-pointer to open the second half. The Bellevue senior had 11 points in the quarter, as the Wolverines extended their advantage to 44-32 heading into the final period.
The Islanders cut the deficit to single digits twice in the fourth quarter, with the Wolverines responding each time, as Bellevue maintained a double-digit advantage throughout most of the fourth quarter.
Mercer Island coach Gavin Cree said Friday’s game was a tough situation for his team to be in without their starting point guard and he was ready to look toward getting healthy for the KingCo tournament. He said too many times, his team left the Bellevue shooters with open looks, something that cost the Islanders in both of their matchups with the Wolverines this season.
“We have to guard the 3-point line better. They have a bunch of guys who can shoot and they’re efficient, so we have to take that away from them,” Cree said. “Offensively, it’s tough to adjust when you lose your leading scorer and your point guard, the complexion of your team changes a little bit and it was hard to adjust to that. And they’re a great defensive team, it was tough to break them down.”
Sam Nordale led Mercer Island in scoring with 17 points, while Pickles had 12. Suter finished with 10 points for Bellevue.
Next, Mercer Island and Bellevue will begin 3A KingCo tournament competition Tuesday, Feb. 9 at Newport High School. Mercer Island will be the second seed in the 3A KingCo tournament.
