By any name, King’s West impressive in its first State B

A first appearance at the State B boys tournament was a long time coming for Rick Walker and the King’s West Warriors.

The school, previously Bremerton Christian until 1991, took the next step by earning a berth in tonight’s semifinals with a 48-45 win over Lind-Ritzville at the Arena.

“It goes to show how hard our guys have worked to get here,” said KW head coach Rick Walker, who has been coach since the 1992-93 season. “These guys, especially Adam (Shildmyer), (Erik) Bright and Jesse (Reeves), grew up together. They just have a good chemistry and they’re real good kids, too.”

King’s West moves into a semifinal at 8 o’clock tonight against Sunnyside Christian, which beat DeSales 54-31.

L-R (25-3) made it difficult, coming back from a 10-point deficit to tie the game at 40 on Jake Kragt’s putback with 1:52 left.

KW (24-3) answered when Adam Shildmyer found John Lamsma alone underneath for a layin.

Kragt scored inside to tie it again, but on the other end, with 1 minute left, 6-8 center Erik Bright hit a turnaround jumper to give the Warriors a 44-42 lead.

After two Lamsma free throws, L-R’s Jon McPherson drilled a 3-pointer from the left baseline with 18 seconds remaining to bring the Broncos within one at 46-45.

KW missed the front end of a one-and-one, but with Kragt fouling out, the Broncos didn’t have the height to rebound, and Bright pulled down the rebound. He hit 1 of 2 free throws for a two-point lead.

L-R’s last gasp, a tough look from the left wing by Cameron Stevenson, fell short.

“We just couldn’t get another shot to drop,” L-R head coach Dwight Pflugrath said. “The big thing was they hit shots and we didn’t. That’s a good team.”

Shildmyer and Bright led KW with 12 points apiece, with Bright pulling down 11 rebounds. Stevenson had 17 to pace L-R, and Jake Kragt had his second-straight double-double, with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

For KW, which starts five seniors, this success in the tournament was not unexpected.

“They have played select ball for quite a few years, so they’ve been in big games before,” Walker said. “They know what they need to do and what each other can do to make some plays happen.”

L-R was forced into some different defenses in order to counter the Warriors’ height. KW starts a frontline of 6-4, 6-5 and 6-8, while L-R has Kragt the only starter above 6-feet.

“They’re a pretty good half-court team, so we were trying to take them out of it,” Pflugrath said.

It was a surprising season for the Broncos, who flew under the radar for most of the year.

“I’m proud of how our kids played,” Pflugrath said. “Even last season, when we had a 6-16 season (at the 1A level), they always played hard.”

In the late game, a completely different DeSales team showed up for the 23-point loss to Sunnyside Christian. The Irish, who couldn’t miss in an upset of Republic on Wednesday, shot only 16.7 percent from the field for four points in the first half.

SC used lengthy possessions and tough defense to frustrate DeSales (23-2), which also lost to the Knights 63-54 earlier in the season.

“We tried to keep and hand in their face and keep them out of rhythm,” SC head coach Dean Wagenaar said. “That was our goal.”