LOS ALTOS – After a series of losses despite a promising non-league schedule, The King’s Academy was eager to get its league record back on track on Tuesday night against Pinewood, and proved to be the better conditioned team in their battle against the Panthers, walking away with a 70-55 win.
Coming onto the court for the final quarter with a 13-point lead, King’s Academy (11-6, 3-4 WBAL) was determined to finish the game strong, and did so by maintaining its defensive pressure to keep Pinewood from catching up to them. Offensively, the Knights were led by senior Erik Peterson, who kept a strong presence in the post whilst feeding the ball to his teammates. With both teams in double bonus, the Knights were able to utilize the fact they had two free throws on every foul, with sophomore Kevin Sielski draining two that put the King’s lead at 60-43 – their biggest lead of the night – with five minutes left in the game. The Panthers (10-6, 4-3) were visibly tired by the last few minutes of the final quarter, and the Knights kept the pace just too fast for their opponent until the final buzzer rang.
“We’re really trying to find the chemistry,” King’s Academy head coach Drew Petiti said. “I think [the defensive intensity] is where it starts.”
King’s Academy grabbed the first possession and demanded command of the court as they came at the Panthers with a fast pace on both defense and offense, starting off with several baskets in the post by Peterson. Pinewood struggled to respond, repeatedly suffering turnovers on offense and allowing Peterson to creep behind their zone defense to showcase his strong post moves. Forced to switch to a man-to-man defense, Pinewood was one step behind King’s for the entire first quarter, finishing in a 20-13 deficit.
The second quarter started on a similar note, with Peterson once again leading the team as he utilized his significant size advantage over any of Pinewood’s players to blow past them in the paint, and Pinewood remained dormant on offense until senior Cache Fields wowed the entire gym with a dunk halfway through the quarter, bringing Pinewood within 27-21 of the Knights. This dunk ignited a new energy in both the Panthers and their cheering crowd, as Pinewood noticeably gained control of their offense and was able to hold the Knights back on scoring, finishing the half at 27-23.
Pinewood brought this same energy back after half time, led by senior Connor Riches, who consistently presented the Panthers’ strongest presence in the post, both on offense and defense. Riches finished with 12 points, including two three-pointers. Fields was also a key scorer, putting up 11 points, along with senior Sean Murphy, who had several aggressive rebounds on both offense and defense while also contributing 8 points.
“[Pinewood] is probably one of the best shooting teams in the league,” Petiti said. “You’re always on your heels [with them]. They try to suck you in, kick you out, and shoot, and we just wouldn’t go for that.”
Halfway through the quarter, however, Pinewood lost control of the ball again, and couldn’t respond on offense when the Knights tightened up their defense. Peterson continued with his string of effortless post moves, ultimately contributing 20 points, all of which were from the paint or the free throw line.
“The guys do a good job feeding me,” Peterson said. “That’s how we get going: I look for them, they look for me, and we just play team basketball.”
Sophomore Jordan Salgado put up 11 points and helped weave the ball through Pinewood’s defense as the Panthers proved unable to keep up with the Knights’ stellar conditioning. Freshman Noah Short was the main outside shooter for King’s, finishing with 10 points including two three-pointers. By the second half of the third quarter, King’s had secured their lead again, ultimately sealing the third quarter with a buzzer beater from Peterson, bringing the Knights up to a 51-38 advantage.
“We started out 2-4 in league, and if we want to go where we want to go, we need to be able to start good and finish good,” Peterson said. “We always put it on too late, so we just had to make sure we came out hard.”
King’s Academy will play at Sacred Heart Prep on Friday while Pinewood hosts Menlo at home.