A strong defensive showing from the Central Kitsap boys basketball team led them to victory over Olympic 63-46 at home Nov. 29 to open the season.

“It all started with defense,” Central Kitsap senior forward Liam Bieber said. “We knew that it was gonna be a physical game and a lot of fouls would be called, so we just had to be physical.”

Defense proved to be the main focal point for the beginning of the first quarter, with neither team able to generate much offense altogether, largely due to both teams imposing full-court presses on each other

Both teams rattled off scores in a back-and-forth affair, but Cougar Jess Judie managed to steal the ball, generating a breakaway layup and giving CK the largest lead of the game at 21-17. Olympic managed to go on an 8-2 scoring run, giving them the lead at 25-23 with less than a minute remaining in the half.

The game was tied 25-25 at halftime, with point guard Zach Eck leading the way for the Trojans with six points and Bieber leading the way for the Cougars with seven.

“We needed to make a defensive adjustment [at halftime], so I had a small change in our defense that helped us out, “CK coach Larry Williams said. “Defense is offense.”

The Cougars jumped out to their largest lead of the game at six after Judie broke away on a fastbreak score late in the third quarter, giving CK a 33-27 lead. The continued defensive pressure from CK allowed them to increase their lead to 48-29 at the end of the third.

Olympic came out in the fourth quarter with a full-court press after getting outscored 23-4 in the third. Nonetheless, their attempt to slow down the CK offense and control their turnovers didn’t work, with the Cougars jumping out to a 21-point lead with little time left in the game.

“In the second half, we had 11 assists, and we made shots,” Williams said. “So that was the difference in the third quarter.”