There will be plenty of green and gold in the Tacoma Dome. Kentridge boys top Mariner to join girls team in 4A tournament

There is certainly going to be plenty of green and gold running the state basketball tournament courts of the Tacoma Dome next week.

The forgotten Kentridge High School boys team rode a big fourth quarter to put away Mariner, 64-50, in a Class 4A state regionals loser-out game Saturday night at Auburn Mountainview High School.

It will be the first time the Chargers’ boys have been in Tacoma since 2014 — and it has been 31 years since both of the school’s squads have played at the last stop of the state championships together.

Kentridge meets Battle Ground in the opening round at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

“We realized we only had one shot to get into the Dome — and that has been our goal all year,” Kentridge guard Jeremy Banks said.

The Chargers (20-7) have Banks to thank for finally getting into high gear, and pulling away from the Marauders, who were the No. 16 seed in the regional round.

In a tie game late in the third quarter, Banks took control on both ends of the court.

On defense, he was the one to slow down quick Mariner point guard Edwin Bouah, who terrorized Kentridge going to the basket for easy points in the first half.

“Sometimes he gets a little greedy and goes for the steals when he shouldn’t,” Chargers coach David Jamison said. “You have the let the athletes go. He is a strong, quick, aggressive kid, and he does way more good than he does bad.”

Banks closed with six points, including a corner 3-pointer, in the third quarter to give the Kentridge a 37-34 lead.

And in the fourth quarter, he converted a three-point play — and sank another corner 3-pointer — as the Chargers made seven of their first 10 field-goal attempts to extend to a 55-41 advantage with 2:17 to go.

Banks, who is signed to play football at Central Washington University, finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and five steals.

“He carried us in the second half,” Jamison said.

Owen Paznokas led the Chargers with 22 points, while Jeff Briceno had 15. Henry Avra was the only Mariner scorer in double digits with 10.

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

M – Simon Fanuel 3, Edwin Bouah 5, Diego Septimo-Ruiz 8, Elijah Harrell 9, Chris Hendrickson 5, Henry Avra 10.

K – Cruz Medina 5, Moses Moore 4, Jeremy Banks 12, Isaiah Hayes 1, Keyshawn Douglas 2, Jeff Briceno 15, Adrian Pop 5, Owen Paznokas 22.