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Lake Washington Falls to Mercer Island, 67-53

Kramer Taylor scores 15 for Kangs, but Islanders defense holds star guard Matt Staudacher to eight points.

The Mercer Island Islanders took care of Lake Washington in the final game of the KingCo 2A/3A regular basketball season Thursday night, defeating the Kangaroos 67-53 thanks largely to a 20-point effort from senior Quinn Sterling.

“Quinn Sterling…he got us off to a great start,” Islander head coach Gavin Cree said of his all-KingCo forward. Sterling set the tone early with seven points in the first quarter, which combined with six early Lake Washington (13-8, 8-6) turnovers gave the Islanders a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter.

Lake Washington controlled the opening tip and got the first points on a bucket from senior forward Robert Reyes, but Mercer Island tied the game immediately when Sterling hit a long jump shot.

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Mercer Island (16-4, 11-3) got a defensive stop and took the lead on the ensuing possession when junior forward Jeff Lindquist threaded the needle on pass just between two Lake Washington defenders that found senior forward Ben Emanuels for an easy layup.

Mercer Island seemed to have a huge advantage when the Kangaroos were forced to send 6’10” junior center Darien Nelson-Henry to the bench with two fouls with a minute to go in the first quarter, but Lake Washington responded by going on a 5-0 run to cut the Islander lead to two. Mercer Island pushed it to five just as the quarter came to a close as senior guard Derek Newhof drilled the second of his three 3-pointers at the buzzer.

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The teams battled back and forth through the second quarter and the Islanders led by eight at halftime. When the teams emerged, Emanuels set the tone by pushing the Mercer Island lead to double digits sinking a three-pointer from the left corner and the Islanders never let off the gas. By the time the third quarter ended Mercer Island led by 14 points.

“Our defense was really great in the second half,” added Cree.

The Islander coach’s statement was affirmed by Kangaroo junior Matt Staudacher’s final point total. Staudacher, who was averaging 16.9 points per game, was held to only eight points.  The Islanders also held Lake Washington to just 22 points in the second half as the Kangaroos were held to under 55 points for only the fourth time this season (twice by Mercer Island).

Kangaroo head coach Barry Johnson addressed how his team can improve heading into the KingCo tournament.

“We have to hit free throws and not get technicals at key points in the game,” Johnson said in reference to the two fouls junior forward Guy Lynott received in a matter of seconds. Lynott committed a reach-in foul and was immediately given a technical for a remark he made to an official. Lynott would later foul out.

Sterling led all scorers with his 20 points and senior guard Kramer Taylor led Lake Washington with 15. Sophomore center Joe Rasmussen added 11 points and five rebounds for the Islanders.

Both teams will now enter the KingCo tournament as the Islanders will be the second seed and the Kangaroos will be the third or fourth.

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