Bremerton's Andre Coleman is fouled by Kingston's Tucker Bowman with eight seconds left in the game. Coleman took a trip to the foul line and put the Knights up 70-68, the final score of the game. Behind Coleman is Kingston's George Hill and Bremerton's Andrew Shadle (Steve Zugschwerdt | For the Kitsap Sun)

Andre Coleman shrugs off a rough shooting night as Bremerton keeps Kingston from clinching the Olympic League title

Posted: Jan. 28, 2011

By Nathan Joyce of the Kitsap Sun

Andre Coleman was having a horrible Friday night.

The Bremerton star was 4-for-17 from the field and 1-for-9 from the free-throw line in the third quarter. He even missed a dunk.

"Man, I'm not even going to lie to you, when I went in the first half, I honestly said, 'Please get me out of this one," he said. The pressure was even greater, he said, because he hit a halfcourt shot at the buzzer on Tuesday to help the Knights win at Port Angeles.

"I'm usually a pretty good free throw shooter, and I couldn't even buy one," Coleman said.

But when you're a shooter, the only thing to do is to keep shooting.

"All my teammates said, shoot the ball and it will come to me," Coleman said.

They were right. Coleman flipped a switch and hit a 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter. Then he hit three more to start the fourth quarter.

He had 14 points in the fourth, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with just under 30 seconds remaining.

It allowed the Bremerton Knights (13-4 overall, 10-3 league) to win their 10th straight game and hand the Kingston Buccaneers (13-4, 12-1) their first Olympic League loss, 70-68.

Coleman had a game-high 28 points on 9 of 26 from the field, including 7 of 16 from 3-point range. He was 3 of 13 from the free-throw line.

Bremerton coach Darren Bowden said there was never any thought of telling Coleman to stop shooting.

"I told all those guys don't get discouraged," he said. "... If you keep shooting those shots, they'll start falling."

And when they did, it allowed the Knights to erase their deficit quickly. Bremerton was down 10 points in the third quarter, but came roaring back with a 13-4 run in the fourth quarter and tied the game 64-64 with 2:54 remaining.

The teams traded the lead until Bremerton took it for good on Coleman's final 3-pointer. Kingston had its own shot, but turned it over with 10.4 seconds.

Those turnovers were the downfall of the Bucs

The Bucs had 11 in the first half and five in the fourth quarter.

"We let them get momentum," Kingston coach Blake Conley said.

Kingston, which was lead by the 21 points on 9 of 11 shooting from Sam Byers, also struggled with foul trouble. Bremerton shot 16 free throws in the second half (hitting only eight), while

Kingston was only 2 of 5. Zane Ravenholt fouled out with 5:59 remaining, and fellow starter Richie Sander joined him on the bench at 2:26.

"We weren't moving our feet," Conley said. "We were putting our hands on people too much."

The loss denied the Bucs the chance to clinch their first league title. They can clinch at least a share of the title on Tuesday when they host Klahowya.

But there was no way the Knights could let the Bucs clinch the league title on their own floor.

"Not after we won league last year," Coleman said. "They're not taking it here."

Bremerton 70, Kingston 68

Kingston 15 18 23 12— 68

Bremerton 19 10 18 23— 70

Kingston—Tucker Bowman, Cody Combs, Jon George 1, Richie Sander 7, Jacob Hill, KT Deam 8, George Hill 15, Sam Byers 21, Zane Ravenholt 13, Brady Sundquist 3.

Bremerton—Daniel Broussard, Andrew Shadle 10, Kevin Almen, Michael Lawrence 12, Virgo Banks 2, Andre Coleman 28, Isaiah Wesby 8, Marshall Stevens 9, Tim Pounds, Shaq Jones.

Olympic League

Team League Overall

Kingston 12-1 13-4

Bremerton 10-3 13-4

Sequim 10-4 13-4

Port Angeles 9-4 10-6

Olympic 7-6 8-8

North Mason 4-8 5-11

Port Townsend 5-10 6-12

Klahowya 3-10 4-12

North Kitsap 0-13 0-17

About Nathan Joyce

Nathan Joyce is the sports editor of the Kitsap Sun.

• @njoycekitsapsun
• nathan.joyce@kitsapsun.com
• 360-792-9209

Facing a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter last Friday, senior Andre Coleman rallied his teammates with a speech that was received loud and clear. “Is this what we came here for?” the Bremerton High School guard said. “We need to show some heart.” The Knights responded by erasing an 11-point gap in the fourth quarter en route to a 70-68 win against undefeated Kingston High

By Mike Baldwin

Friday, February 4, 2011 3:16pm

Bremerton High School teammates Isaiah Wesby (left) and Michael Lawrence celebrate the team's 70-68 win against undefeated Kingston High School Jan. 28. The Knights extended their winning streak to 10 games and clinched a district playoff berth

Facing a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter last Friday, senior Andre Coleman rallied his teammates with a speech that was received loud and clear.

“Is this what we came here for?” the Bremerton High School guard said. “We need to show some heart.”

The Knights responded by erasing an 11-point gap in the fourth quarter en route to a 70-68 win against undefeated Kingston High School at Les Eathorne Gymnasium.

Coleman scored a game-high 28 points, including seven 3-pointers to halt the Buccaneers from clinching an Olympic League title. The triumph extended the Knights’ winning streak to 10 games, informing the rest of the league that the defending champions are still a threat.

“We’re finally starting to get our credit,” Coleman said. “We won our league last year, and Kingston had a chance to clinch it on our home court, and we weren’t going to have that. They could have stayed undefeated, and that got our adrenaline pumping before we even walked out there.”

Kingston, which led by 11 in the third quarter, used its size early to overpower Bremerton as 6-foot-4 forward Sam Byers totaled 21 points for the visiting Buccaneers.

The Knights’ offense found a spark with 23 points in the final quarter. Guard Michael Lawrence scored 13 points while wingman Andrew Shadle finished with 10. The comeback victory was nothing new for Bremerton, which earned a reputation for erasing double-digit deficits this season.

“I was very proud of the boys, especially when we were down 11 and I told them not to quit,” Bremerton head coach Darren Bowden said. “In the first game against Kingston, we only played a couple of quarters. This time, we played all four.”

The Buccaneers won the first meeting 62-48 at home Dec. 17. Coleman was held to nine points, but last week’s game painted a different portrait of the senior’s potential.

“My shots were just coming into a rhythm and they started falling,” said Coleman, who hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 30 seconds remaining.

The Knights improved to 13-4 overall, 10-3 against the league following last Friday’s win. Bowden will coach Bremerton to the Class 3A West Central District tournament this month in his first season. The program lost guard Jarell Flora to Seattle University and head coach Casey Lindberg, who left in the offseason to become assistant principal at Kopachuck Middle School in Gig Harbor.

The duo helped lead Bremerton to a league title and state tournament appearance last season, and both were in attendance for the Kingston game.

The former Knights standout said Saturday at Seattle University that he was proud of Coleman, who dedicated the final 3-pointer of the night to his friend, Flora.

Bowden praised Coleman’s leadership in the crucial game, and said the team shares its victory with a small town that’s witnessed its only high school undergo a makeover in 2010.

“This is big for everybody,” Bowden said. “When you have that kind of support, we hope we can reward them with wins. We want to win for the program, the guys, the school and community. Everyone’s been very supportive of me.”

Knights post player David Lewis said the team is trying to win as many games as possible to earn a high seed for districts. Lewis believes they have the potential to win more games this season regardless of the past.

“The win shows that we can play as a team, it doesn’t matter who’s there, we’re just going to play together,” he added.

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