YAKIMA — If you ask his coaches, King’s Way guard Brady Metz is a knock-down shooter. But sometimes he passes up open shots.
“He’s always worried about shooting too much,” King’s Way coach Daven Harmeling said. “The coaches and teammates were always on him like, ‘be aggressive, you’ve got the green light.’ ”
Metz was hot hand on Wednesday morning. He scored a team-high 17 points, hit shot after shot and sunk the game-clinching free thows with 15 seconds left to lead King’s Way to a 60-57 win over Cascade Christian in the loser-out round of the 1A state tournament.
“I was feeling it,” Metz said. “My teammates were giving me good passes and I was getting open looks and knocking them down.”
His teammates didn’t have any problem finding him.
“Brady was hot,” Khalfani Cason said. “We were giving him the ball. Whoever was doing it we were fine with it, that’s what separated us.”
The No. 14 seeded Knights advance to the quarterfinals to play No. 1 Lynden Christian on Thursday at 10:30 a.m.
And Metz didn’t have any trouble hitting open shots. He left the Knights little doubt of where to pass the ball down the stretch.
“He had the ball on the wing and (assistant) coach Kal (Bay) was probably going to tackle him if he didn’t shoot it,” Harmeling said. “So instead of passing, he turned, put it up and I don’t even think it touched the rim.”
Khalfani Cason scored 16 points for the Knights and forward Bryce Dodge added nine points. Cascade Christian was paced by Dylan Cooley, who finished with 27 points.
King’s Way trailed by six points at halftime. With a deficit to cut into, Harmeling knew the margin for error was slim.
“Coach said if we want this game, we have to kick it in gear in the second half,” Khalfani Cason said. “We all bought into the idea and all wanted to play defense, rebound and look for open shots.”
The Knights pulled within one by the end of the third quarter, then mounted a run capped by a steal-turned fast break three-point play by Kobi Cason that put them ahead 58-51 with 2:27 left in the fourth quarter.
Cascade Christian scored six consecutive points to pull within one with 48 seconds left. That’s when King’s Way found Metz coming around a pick at the top of the key, and he was fouled shooting a 3-pointer. He made 2 of 3 free throws to give the Knights a three-point lead.
Cascade Christian had the ball with 15 seconds left, but Khalfani Cason poked the ball free, dove on it and despite Harmeling trying to call timeout, officials motioned for a jump ball, giving the Cougars a half-court inbound with 2.5 seconds left—the final shot attempt missed long.
“As soon as Khalfani got possession I screamed timeout right at the closest referee, then they ended up calling it a jump,” Harmeling said. “I called it two or three times.”
The Knights shot 31.8 percent from the floor in the first half—61.1 percent in the second.
KING’S WAY 60, CASCADE CHRISTIAN 57
KING’S WAY—Khalfani Cason 16, Kobi Cason 8, Gage Koenders 2, Bryce Dodge 9, Brady Metz 17, Kaden Lucas 0, Kefentse Cason 4, Justin Frahm 4. Totals 18-40 (7-16) 17-21 60
CASCADE CHRISTIAN—Corbin Norh 10, Nathan Larsen 7, Noah Wilkins 2, Parker Johnson 9, Connor O’Brien 0, Dylan Cooley 27, Ben Vandouris 2, Conner Zetterberg 0. Totals 21-49 (4-13) 11-15 57
King’s Way 10 12 20 18—60
Cascade Christian 16 12 15 14—57
