The No. 3 seed Bremerton Knights entered the first round of the 2A state boys basketball tournament hungry, cruising to a 62-44 win over No. 6 seed Lakewood March 1 at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.

The Knights will now play in the state quarterfinals at the Yakima SunDome March 6 against either No. 12 seed Franklin Pierce or No. 4 seed West Valley. Those two teams play in an elimination game March 5.

Bremerton entered the matchup winning the district 3 2A Boys tournament, beating Franklin Pierce 66-34 in the championship game Feb. 22. Lakewood entered the game defeating three-time defending state champion and No. 1 state seed Lynden 50-49 Feb. 19.

“It’s funny because when they came in the locker room, they weren’t like crazy jumping around for me,” Bremerton coach Miah Davis said. “I love it because that means they’re not satisfied.”

Bremerton imposed its will early and aggressively.

The Knights immediately started the game with a full-court press on Lakewood, forcing early turnovers and errant shots. Knight senior Frank Allen was able to get the scoring started for both squads, putting in a layup at the 7:45 mark in the first period.

From that point forward, the Knights would continue to score at-will, racking up numerous successful offensive possessions and jumping out to a 13-2 lead with six minutes remaining in the quarter.

Bremerton continued to score at-will in the second quarter with sophomore Jr. Davis-McWhorter hitting a three-pointer, increasing the Knights’ lead to 32-16 over the Lakers with a minute and a half remaining.

Davis -McWhorter and sophomore standout Jalen Davis led the Knights with nine points each at the break. Davis, who averages nearly 30 points a game this season, was being double-teamed all game but was patient and took what the defense was giving him.

“I kind of noticed during the game when they [Lakewood] would come to trap [us],” Jalen Davis said, who finished with 19 points to lead the Knights.

Bremerton continued to impose its will at the start of the second half after Allen put in a slam dunk to kick off the scoring. The Knights jumped out to its largest lead of the day at 19 after senior Dallin Anderson made a three-pointer at the 4:45 mark in the third period.

The Knight defense continued to control the overall flow of the game, generating blocks and steals to produce offensive possessions. Nonetheless, Lakewood began to find some gaps in the Bremerton defense, going on a 9-2 scoring run to cut the lead to 14 at 49-34.

But in the blink of an eye, the Knights quickly got its lead back up to 22, generating an 8-0 scoring run and scoring 19 overall points in the quarter. The Knights led at the end of three 56-36.

Lakewood could not get its shots to fall in the beginning of the fourth quarter, only producing two points within the first three minutes and keeping the Knights’ lead at 20. The Knights put backups in toward the end of the game as the game was out of hand.

“Having this community out tonight just gave them a better understanding [of] why they’re doing it,” Miah Davis said. “Tonight was a great night.”