Round Ball Club members please remember to put the evening of the 24th on your calendar for the Mid Season social at the Golf Center!  This is a great event to meet the other teams and coaches and get a chance to discuss basketball in a more relaxed environment.  More details to follow!

Coach Jake Grunkemeyer led a team of over 30 on Saturday December 13th in preparing meals for starving children around the world.     The Kings Men’s basketball program Varsity and JV players came along side Larry Bergeron and the Kids Against Hunger Cincinnati program to prepare meals for starving children around the world.     In two hours the team prepared enough food to feed a village of 30 for a year.   Today over 30,000 deaths occur daily from starvation.    Our Kings Athletes, took time from their schedule to make a small dent in this global issue.     The learn more about Kid’s Against Hunger watch the Kids Against Hunger Video and to learn more on how you can make a real difference visit www.kidsagainsthunger-cinci.org.   

2008-mens-game-schedule  2008-wbball-schedule

February 26, 2009

Once a Knight – Always a Knight

The Knights, seeded #27, opened Sectionals on Thursday evening when they traveled to Lakota West High School to face the #29 seeded Owls of Mt. Healthy. Mt. Healthy entered the contest with a 9-11 overall record and a 4-6 record in the FAVC Scarlet Division.

            Derrick Harris, Spencer Berlekamp, Andrew Winebrenner, Phil Fox and Tyler Smyth opened the game for the Knights, who were the home team – dressed in white – since they were the higher seed. Mt. Healthy controlled the tip and sank a couple of early free throws to start the scoring for the evening. Tyler tied the game with a bucket which was followed by a 4-0 run by the Owls. Harris beat his man off a crossover dribble and drive to bring the Knights back to within two, but the visitors answered with a trey. Derrick’s two free throws and a fast break bucket by Fox off a nice feed from Smyth brought the Knights to within one at 9-8. However, Mt. Healthy scored from the field and then put in a three point play the old fashioned way as they took a 13-8 lead. Zac Murphy drained a bucket just before the buzzer to send the Knights to their bench trailing 14-10.

            Murphy started the second quarter with a rebound and put back. After a 5-0 run by the Owls; Murphy again scored to bring the Knights back to within five, at 19-14. Harris was fouled on a three point attempt and while his teammates were resting, Derrick sank all three free throw attempts. When Harris drained a trey, the Knights only trailed by one, at the 4-minute mark, 20-19. Chip Barkett and Matt Rumelhart provided strong defense on the interior for the Knights. Following an Owl timeout, the Knight defense rose to the occasion and stopped the Owls as the ball came loose inside, but a fortuitous bounce landed the ball in an Owl Player’s hands and resulted in an easy bucket. Mt. Healthy would put two more field goals in the hoop prior to half-time and take a 25-20 lead to the locker room.

            A field goal and a trey by the Owls opened the third quarter and pushed their lead to 30-20 as the third quarter began. The Knights called a time out, but the Owls scored again coming out of that meeting. However, the Knight Offense was ready to get on track. Berlekamp hit the final offering of two shots from the line, which was followed by Tyler Smyth’s field goal and then a textbook “And-One” off a drive to the bucket. Phil Fox scored on the end of a Knight fast break as Harris fed him a nice pass to pull the Knights to within four, at 34-30.

            The final quarter opened with Mt. Healthy having the ball and they promptly put two buckets in to widen their lead again to 8 at 38-30. Tyler Smyth’s triple, at the 5:15 mark, brought the home team to within five. After an Owl free throw, Derrick opened the textbook and schooled his defender on a drive to the bucket for two. Two free throws from the Charity Stripe by Derrick, at the 4:02 mark, brought the Knights to within two at 39-37. The Owls nailed a basket, but Burton tossed in one of two from the line to bring the Knights to within five at 43-38. An Owl stepped to the line in an attempt to complete an And-One, but a lane violation waved off his made free throw. Tyler sank two from the line, at 3:10, to bring the team in white back to a 43-40 deficit. The Owls scored coming out of a time out, but Derrick drained one of two from the line to cut the deficit to 45-41. Mt. Healthy threw up a shot in what can only be described as a prayer and it went in to widen their lead to six at 47-41. When Berlekamp nailed a bucket and free throw; the Knights only trailed 47-44. Mike Olds and Brian Howell rotated into the contest to provide the Knights with a fresh set of defenders.  Harris sank two free throws, at the 1:14 mark, and the Knights were only down one. An Owl field goal put them up by three, but Derrick’s bucket narrowed the Owl lead to one with just 28 seconds remaining on the clock. Tyler Smyth fouled an Owl and the strategy worked as he missed the front end of the one and one to give the Knights the ball. The Knights worked the ball around for a good shot, but a Knight stepped on the baseline on a drive to the bucket with just seven ticks remaining on the clock. Kings called a time out and coming out of that, the Owls took the ball out under the Knight bucket. A long throw got the ball behind the Knight defense and resulted in an easy Owl bucket. The Knights still had a chance as they advanced the ball up the court quickly and got off a decent three at the buzzer which would have counted if it went in. However, it was just off the mark and the Knights’ season was officially completed with a 51-48 loss to the Owls.

Derrick Harris led the Knight scoring attack with 19 points including a 10/11 night at the line. Tyler Smyth finished with 12. Zac Murphy drained 6. Phil Fox nailed 4. Spencer Berlekamp and Chris Burton rounded out the Knight scoring with 3 apiece. The Knights finished 17 for 22 (77%) from the free throw line while the Owls only managed to drop in 2 of 10 (20%) Rebounding was even as both teams grabbed 11 offense rebounds and wrapped up 24 boards off the defensive glass. The Knights managed 12 baskets from inside the arc with three 3’s, while the Owls were draining 19 field goals and two 3’s. The Knights finish the season with an overall record of 8-13. The Owls, now 10-11, will face off against the Middies of Middletown, who is ranked #3 in the state of Ohio, on Tuesday evening at the Cintas Center.

As the Knights left the court for the final time in the 2008-09 season, the words of President Teddy Roosevelt came to mind:

It is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs,
comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;
but who does actually strive to do the deeds;
who knows the great enthusiasms,
the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end
the triumph of high achievement,
and who at the worst, if he fails,
at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those
cold and timid souls
who neither know victory nor defeat.

            For ten Knights, this marked the end of their basketball career at Kings but with the understanding that “Once a Knight, Always a Knight!” Congratulations men on a great career at Kings.

Graduation will again hit the Knights hard, but will also provide many opportunities to those underclassmen that choose to take the challenge and work to improve their game over the off season.

As always, Go Knights!

-Scooter Knight

Varsity
Final two games of the season
away vs Loveland W 54-43

home vs Walnut Hills L 47-57

Final regular season record 13-7

With the last week of our regularly scheduled games in the books the Lady Knights now begin their tournament preparation.  No, wait, that tournament preparation began along time ago when we opened the season at home against Lebanon and these final two games this past week were just another step in the process.

On the road at Loveland the Lady Knights faced a line up that could have been intimidating, a 5′11 player and 4 6′0 players took the court for the Tigers.  With confidence in what we do best the Knights played their game with determination and at times real grit.  Down by 3 at the half the defense took over in the third quarter sparking the run that outscored Loveland by 10 and gave us a lead that wouldn’t be relinquished.  Controlling key rebounds and hitting key free throws allowed us to seal the sweet victory.  Logan Warye turned in another solid performance scoring a double double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.  We also saw balance in that scoring attack with Katelyn Haralamos putting up 11 and Shelby Kies with 10.  What can not be accurately put into numbers is the great defensive work off the bench by Megan Fultz and Allegra Logan that makes a win like this possible.

And then our final home game against the league leading Walnut Hills team.  We know the talent and athleticism we must face when we step on the court with them.  For the seniors on our team this would be their final start in the Lady Knights gym that has been a great place to play this season.  Not enough can be said about the fan support.  Thank you!

We started the game with a pretty even run up and down the court as usual, but the defense we faced was tall and active making it hard to get the inside shots we usually pull off.  Up by 2 at the end of the first quarter was where we wanted to be, obviously, however with a slower run in the second quarter we trailed at the half by 5.  With some adjustments and fresher legs we still had a slow start to the third quarter which created a challenge for us and gave us an opportunity to test our defense against the quickness of their ballhandlers.  What do you know, the Lady Knights can out work and create turnovers when they show the desire to win!  Even though the final score shows us coming up short in the win column defensively the Lady Knights held the Walnut Hills team to just two field goals in that final period.

Rebounding again was tough against a taller team but we saw great effort by Katelyn Haralamos who led the team with 9 rebounds.  The scoring leaders for us this game were once again Logan Warye with 22 points and Shelby Kies adding 13 points.

With a final season record of 13-7 the team has the experience now to face about any style of team in the region.  We will be playing our first tournament game on Tues. Feb. 24 at 7:30 at Milford High School.  Please come out and creat that home court advantage that has been so fun to play in this whole season.