POULSBO — Saturday night hoops combined with a loyal Bremerton following filled — and indeed overflowed — the North Kitsap gym for the first time since its renovation was completed in December. But to the Vikes’ dismay, it was an intense Bremerton squad that would meet and greet the facility with an 85-point performance.
Stealing the show was Knight senior Marvin Williams, who was formidable on both ends of the hardwood, scoring 29, grabbing 20 rebounds, blocking six shots and adding five assists.
“We knew the gym was going to be packed — and we knew Marvin was going to get his,” said Vikings coach Aaron Nations. “(But) if you just back off like we did at the start, where we played a little scared, a kid like that takes over.”
The Knights employed a run-and-gun style of offense, with Williams as the centerpiece on both ends — setting up fast-break after fast-break on defense and leading the charge to the hoop on offense.
“The difference in the game was the fast break lay-ins,” Nations said. “We didn’t respect them enough in the running game to get back and that killed us. There was probably 22 easy lay-ups and then you add Marvin (Williams) on top of that.”
Knights coach Casey Lindberg was quick to note that though Williams does dominate often, he is a still a piece to Bremerton’s overall success.
“These guys understand that they can’t stand around and watch Marvin score,” Lindberg said.
“The X factor with our team is not what Marvin Williams is going to do — we know what he’s going to do. The question is: who is going to come help him,” he added.
For the Knights, Phil Houston added 15 points and Landon Ramsey scored 12.
The game began with a 12-0 Bremerton run, with Williams showing his prowess early on a Viking team on its heels. Each time the 6’9’’ senior would make a steal, rebound or block to start a Knight fast break, there was a sense that everyone in the packed Viking gym was taking a deep breath, knowing regardless of whether Bremerton would score, the break would yield fierce results either way — a big Vikings’ stop or an generally explosive Knights’ bucket.
North opened its scoring with Garrett McKinstry hooping on an impressive move on the baseline. It was the beginning of a 31-point night for the senior guard — including 14 of 19 from the freethrow line — to lead all scorers.
“They had no answer for (McKinstry) — this was his break out night,” Nations said. “We just couldn’t get the defensive stops.”
NK would respond to Williams with big plays of its own: after center Ryan Young got a steal, he ran end-to-end the same play to power home a dunk that saw Viking fans — which were probably a little over half of the total attendance — create a ruckus of cheers.
When the first half finally did come to an end, Bremerton had a handle on things at 22-9. But that’s when Williams would turn up the heat, getting more aggressive going to the hoop.
North had flashes of brilliance, on plays when Jacob Gonzales would find Young through the back-door or Randy Beck going end to end with a steal and a bucket. But Bremerton always had an answer and more likely than not, it was Williams making the plays to lead his team.
Matters didn’t get any better by the half, with the Knights leading 48-30 after a Ramsey three-pointer — with Vikings in his face — at the buzzer.
NK looked for their chance at the beginning of the third, often a time when North has taken advantage of an opposing team’s lackluster second-half start, on solid offensive and defensive plays from Beck, Gonzales and McKinstry. The Vikes would cut the lead to 13.
But the Williams show soon got down to business once again, this time with the senior taking a charge, scoring underneath, as well as blocking anything that came from the Vikings. Williams used his height advantage well: the senior post boasts at least a four-inch height advantage over every NK player.
Scrappy plays by the Vikes as well as calls that didn’t go his way did frustrate Williams, who angrily slammed the ball in the third to receive a technical.
But he would remain calm for Bremerton, pleasing Knights fans in attendance and frustrating those for NK. It was apparent that when Williams was pulled from the game in the fourth with around 2:00 to go, the seats started emptying fast, a surefire sign of the draw the future UNC Tar Heel brings to games.
But Nations said flashy and powerful play from Williams may have brought the fans in but didn’t lose the Vikes the game.
“We’re a pretty good shooting team,” Nations said. “And we’ve shot real poorly the last few games. We’ve got guys who can play the game, we just need to make the defensive stops.”
Vikings forward Jared Prince said there is much to improve but good things are happening.
“We’ve got to taste the victory,” said Prince. “The new coach is putting us in the right direction. It’s coming but it’s not there yet.”
The Vikings’ schedule doesn’t show any signs of slack in the near-future; facing Shelton at home tonight and Port Angeles away Friday.
“If we’re going to make some noise in league, we’ve got to get a win or two here,” Nations said. “And then we’ve got South and CK right after that, so it doesn’t get real easy. We want to be in the league playoff, that’s our goal this year. We don’t care how but we’ve got to win some games.”
The Knights will play at Olympic today.
“We’ll take (each game) one game at a time,” said coach Lindberg. “We just want to come out and keep the intensity up, play hard and hopefully everything will fall into place.”
