Clash of Nobility Resulted in King’s Knights Victory over Royals

Clash of Nobility Resulted in King’s Knights Victory over Royals
By Steven Dion

Game three of the first round of the Christmas Classic at Kennedy High School mashed up a 1A school in King’s against the 4A Royals of Kent-Meridian. The guard duo of Quincy Brown and Romaine Jackson would prove to be a tough matchup for a King’s roster loaded with forwards. However, Rick Skeen’s has prepared his Knights to be able to play up against higher classification teams.

The Royals quickly established they wanted to run up and down the floor on both sides of the ball. King’s adjusted nicely and their ball movement was able to counteract KM’s energy. The backcourt presence of Royals guards opened up the King’s attacking zone and their superior ball-movement led to easy buckets. Seven Knights scored in the first quarter and as a result led 16-12 after the first quarter. KMHS head coach Brian Lockhart made a defensive adjustment in the second frame to apply slightly less pressure in the King’s backcourt forcing them to move the ball up the floor. Brown and Jackson began to jump into passing lanes and set up the Royals for some transition buckets. Junior Chris Lewis nailed another three pointer in the period; one of his five from downtown in the contest. However, King’s was able to match their sixteen points from the first quarter to carry a 32-22 lead into the break.

Trailing by double digits meant Kent-Meridian would have to take some chances on the offensive end to claw back into the contest. Shooting triples appeared to be their strategy in doing so. Lewis knocked down a pair from downtown in the third, but the team shooting percentage was low. King’s continued their gritty attack in the paint and protected their ten point lead going into the fourth. The Royals put together a solid fourth quarter, but failure to bury buckets from close range dashed their hope of vying for the lead. Freshman Knight Corey Kispert pulled down several critical rebounds in addition to scoring a game-high twenty points. When the buzzer sounded, King’s claimed a 64-56 win.

Top Performer:
King’s
Corey Kispert – 20 points (4/7 FT’s)