Juanita boys finish fourth at KingCo 3A tournament

The Juanita boys basketball team picked up a big win against Liberty Feb. 17 that helped the team to a fourth place finish at the KingCo 3A tournament and a trip to the Sea-King 3A district basketball tournament.

February 24, 2009 2:26 am
Juanita’s Cole Graves puts up a shot past Liberty’s Turner Chatterton last Tuesday at Liberty.
Juanita’s Cole Graves puts up a shot past Liberty’s Turner Chatterton last Tuesday at Liberty.

The Juanita boys basketball team picked up a big win against Liberty Feb. 17 that helped the team to a fourth place finish at the KingCo 3A tournament and a trip to the Sea-King 3A district basketball tournament.

The Rebels will have a shot at a state tournament berth at districts.

Juanita topped Liberty 60-52 at Liberty after splitting games with the Patriots during the regular season.

Juanita scored 16 points and took an eight-point lead after the first quarter. The Rebels held on for the win. Christian Bingcang, Kris Otterholt and Jesse Zackery each scored 11 to lead Juanita.

Juanita fell in the next two games of the tournament, 74-27 to Bellevue and 56-48 to Mercer Island. But because of the early win the team still garnered the fourth seed from the KingCo 3A to districts.

In his first season at Juanita, coach Jeff Patrick had to rebuild from a roster that lost 11 seniors after last season.

Juanita faced the Metro League’s fifth seed Tuesday in the first round of districts. If the Rebels lost, they will play Franklin Thursday at 8:15 p.m. If Juanita lost, it will be out of the district tournament.