Saxons flummox Kentwood

STATE 4A TOURNAMENT

When facing the Ferris High match-up zone, an offensive player is often times surprised by where the defense comes from.

A clear pass clearly isn’t. An open lane to the hoop is suddenly closed. A one-on-one dribble turns into a double team. And the ball is turned over.

Such was the life of the Kentwood Conquerors on Wednesday night. For a look at the game story, click here.

Leading scorer Cody Thueringer never got a good look at the basket, forced up seven shots and made one. His two points were 16 less than his average.

The guy UW coach Lorenzo Romar may have come to see, 6-foot-8, 270-pound Josh Smith – who is still growing taller if not wider, according to local reporters – was still able to get his shots – 10 – and makes – 8 – but he did it with hands clawing at the ball.

The other guy Romar was watching – and I followed his eyes – was the Saxons’ DeAngelo Casto, who lost the muscle battle to Smith but little else.

Casto out-scored the younger player by two, 19 to 17. He pulled down the same number of rebounds. Smith blocked five shots to Casto’s one, but he also fouled out while Casto finished with just two personals.

Now the Saxons have to play a Redmond team that used its muscle to eliminate one of the semi-favorites, Federal Way. They will meet Thursday at 7 p.m.