Eighth place OK with SK

Extending the winter sports season to the brink, the South Kitsap High School boys basketball team came away from the 4A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome with an eighth-place finish and the school’s first trophy since the 1950 championship season.

The Wolves had hoped for a fifth-place finish, but Shadle Park derailed those aspirations with a 53-50 win.

While a look of dejection was obvious on the players’ faces, the sadness slowly turned into a positive reflection on the season that was; and for six seniors the prep careers that ended.

Senior Jason Boyd said there wasn’t much reason to hang his head.

The team accomplished a goal he set as a sophomore.

“I said my sophomore year I wanted to end my senior year at state on Saturday,” Boyd said. “I don’t care what place we’re fighting for.”

Senior Tremaine Curry, who had 11 points in the loss to Shadle Park, said South Kitsap made a statement.

“We made our season last as long as we possibly could,” Curry said. “A lot of teams can’t say that. I think coming here and losing game we even made a statement. Against Franklin everyone was expecting a blowout but we lost by only seven. We come here (against Shadle Park) and lose by only three.”

The outside shooting that helped thrust SK to the state tournament was almost non-existent, but the post presence of Beitinger and fellow sophomore Adam Bennett paid dividends.

Beitinger, who averaged 20 points and a tournament-high 13.3 rebounds per game, was the only underclassman named to the all-tournament team.

Following the loss to Shadle Park, the SK players gathered in the locker room and took turns saying whatever was on their minds.

While all that was said was off the record, junior Nate Seitz made a statement he wanted on the record.

“We are going to be back next year, and we’re going to win it all,” Seitz said. “And you can print that in the paper.”

With the return of Beitinger, Bennett, Seitz, Brian Cox, Trivone Curry and Joe Riley, South Kitsap should be a heavy favorite to make it back to state.

But for now, the players—including seniors Boyd, Tremaine Curry, Tyler Mayfield, Boya Quichocho, Aaron Metz, and Josh Meeker — will relish in the a season capped by a team SK coach John Callaghan calls the best team at SK in 52 years.

Callaghan called last year’s state team the best in 25 years, but he said this year’s team tops the charts.

When Tremaine Curry isn’t playing a basketball game at a college somewhere, he said he vows to come back and support a team he thinks can reach higher than this year’s team.

“Our trophy case at home is a little bare, but now we’ve got something to put in it,” Curry said. “Look at these guys in the next years to come. They’ll put some more trophies in that case.”

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