YAKIMA – King’s Way Christian was trailing late in the first quarter. Its leading scorer had just gone down.
That’s when Bryson Metz stepped up.
Metz, a freshman, scored 21 points to lead No. 11 King’s Way Christian to a 49-39 win over No. 5 Seattle Academy in the 1A boys basketball state quarterfinals Thursday.
King’s Way (18-8) will face No. 10 King’s in the semifinals Friday at the SunDome. King’s knocked off No. 1 Lynden Christian 73-50 on Thursday.
King’s Way trailed 13-8 late in the first quarter when leading scorer Khalfani Cason left the game with a partially dislocated shoulder.
But Metz scored the game’s next eight points. He finished the first half with 16 points, going 3 for 3 from 3-point range, as King’s Way took a 30-21 lead.
“It was pretty special what he was able to do,” King’s Way coach Daven Harmeling said. “He very much wants to distribute and get other guys involved. But when Khal went down, I think he knew he had to shoulder some more of that scoring responsibility.”
Metz didn’t shy away when his team needed somebody to take the scoring load from Cason, who averages 13.7 points per game.
“One of our main players went down, so I felt the need for someone to step up,” Metz said. “I got on a good streak and got us going.”
It wasn’t just Metz who upped his game. Though the scoresheet doesn’t show it, players such as Kobi Cason, Bryce Dodge and Bubba Cason cranked up their hustle. The trio combined for only nine points, but had 23 rebounds and seven steals.
“We had to be more of leaders on the court,” Kobi Cason said. “We depend on Khal most of the time for everything we do. When we lost him, we were like ‘dang, what are we going to do?’ But my teammates lifted me up and said c’mon Kobi, you’ve got it.’”
The Knights avenged a 58-50 loss to Seattle Academy (18-4) on Dec. 1. In that game, the Cardinals used their size advantage to build a 19-point lead after three quarters. King’s Way rallied late when it switched to a full-court press.
“I don’t think we’d do well playing a football game against them,” Harmeling said. “We knew they had the size advantage, so we could not just let them play in the half-court.”
That meant King’s Way defenders, especially Bubba Cason, guarded Seattle Academy’s top scorer Leo DeBruhl the entire length of the court. DeBruhl was held to six points, below his average of 16.6 per game.
Seattle Academy shot just 27.3 percent (15-55) from the field. The Cardinals pulled within 43-39, but did not score for the last three minutes of the game.
“As much as Bryson’s scoring effort gave us a lift, Bubba on the defensive end gave us a shot of life,” Harmeling said.
Now King’s Way is in the state semifinals for the second time in four years. Though it’s unclear whether Khalfani Cason will play Friday, the Knights proved they can’t be counted out.
“The determination of our team is amazing,” Metz said. “Coming back into the locker room, you could see in all the guys’ eyes how bad they wanted it. We proved to everyone what we can do, even when we’re down. We came back.”
KING’S WAY CHRISTIAN 49, SEATTLE ACADEMY 39
KING’S WAY CHRISTIAN (18-8) – Khalfani Cason 2, Kobi Cason 6, Gage Koenders 4, Kafentse Cason 0, Bryce Dodge 3, Justin Frahm 0, Brady Metz 13, Bailey Meek 0, Bryson Metz 21. Totals 15 (6) 13-18 49.
SEATTLE ACADEMY (18-4) – Teja Singh 8, Leo DeBruhl 6, Lewis Welsh 0, Brady Doran 0, Andrzej Domanski 4, Reid McCaw 0, Joe Cookson 5, Logan Britt 4, Isaac Allnut 12. Totals 15 (3) 6-10 39.
King’s Way 11 19 10 9—49
Sea. Academy 13 8 13 5—39
