Kentwood finds third-quarter spark, rallies past Issaquah

The situation, while uncomfortable, was not unfamiliar to Kentwood High School.

With a half to go, the Conquerors were down 10 points to Issaquah, who eliminated them in last year’s tournament. This time, it ended differently.

Davonte Sanchez, who scored 14 of his 15 points in the second half, led a Kentwood (21-6) come-from-behind win, downing the Eagles 57-51 in a 4A boys quarterfinal game at the Tacoma Dome.

“We’ve been there before,” said Sanchez, who tied teammate Rayvaughn Bolton with a game-high a 15 points. “We have been down plenty of times, we just had to come back from it. It’s all heart, that’s all it is.”

And hard work, especially on the defensive end. Issaquah dominated the first half, shooting 48.1 percent from the field, including 42.9 from 3-point range. Jason Crandall, scored 10 of his 13 points in the half, three of them coming on buzzer-beating, half-court shot that stretched the Eagles (21-4) advantage to 30-20.

The third quarter began with a bang for Kentwood with Koby Huerta making a 3-pointer. Not 10 seconds later Bolton stole the ball and drove in for a layup and the rally was on.

“You have to have energy all the time. Get up and down the court quick, all gas, no brakes,” said Bolton.

The teams traded the lead seven times. But it was the consistent scoring of Sanchez that made the difference.

“He makes plays all the time,” Conquerors coach Blake Soloman said. “We don’t really have to draw any plays up for him.

“He’s just a guy who has so much heart. It’s his senior year, he does not want anything less than winning, and he shows that every time he steps out on the floor.”

Said Sanchez: “I just set out to play hard. If I play hard then my teammates will find me.”

Kentwood wasn’t able to breath easy until a key layup by Bolton with 22.1 seconds left pushed their lead to four. It came on an inbounds play from halfcourt when Bolton came wide open and finished a pass from Beau Roggenbach.

“That’s a sideline (play) we have run all year, you know, we haven’t had to show it too much,” Soloman said.

“We were out of timeouts so we knew we either had to get a bucket or get on the free-throw line. Rayvaughn made a huge play, Beau made a great pass, it worked out really well.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2016 at 9:14 PM with the headline "Kentwood finds third-quarter spark, rallies past Issaquah."