Heritage proves a handful for Knights

MARYSVILLE — When Tulalip Heritage and Highland Christian met in a battle of one-loss teams, the result turned out rather lopsided.

The Hawks built a 20-point lead early on in the Dec. 16 meeting, dominating Highland Christian 65-47 on the Knights’ home court at the old 10th Street School.

Tulalip’s bread and butter proved to be the fast break. For each defensive rebound the Hawks grabbed, it seemed a guard was already halfway down the basket, looking for the pass and the easy lay-up.

The Hawks earned plenty of points driving to the basket as well.

“All of our guys are working hard and we’re good, one to 14,” said Tulalip coach Jamie Sluys, referring to the number of players on his roster.

One bright spot for Highland Christian was their ability to limit Tulalip guard Lesjar McKinney. The senior returns from the state finalist Hawks team from two seasons ago and is scoring in double figures again. The Knights held him to eight points.

As they have in most of their wins, though, the Hawks had two other players with big contributions. James Whitebear, a transfer from Marysville-Pilchuck, had 18 points against Highland Christian while Keith Davis had 15.

Davis’ effort tied Highland Christian’s top scorer Jeff Kelly. Knights’ guard Caleb Brown was held scoreless.

Highland Christian coach Guy Kennedy said he knew it wasn’t going to be his team’s best performance, judging from their warm-ups.

“They made it a point to shut Caleb down,” he said. Speaking of the other team’s play in contrast, Kennedy added, “They were amped up and ready to go. They took it to us.”

The Knights racked up the points in the fourth quarter to match Tulalip shot for shot. Kelly and Craig Crawford hit back-to-back three-pointers and Vince Kurtzenaker had half of his 12 points in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late.

With Tulalip’s only previous loss coming to North Sound Christian, an interesting match between the Hawks and undefeated Lummi loomed Dec. 19 but was ultimately delayed by weather.

Both teams are scheduled to resume play after the holidays.

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