Kings chill, then win on road over Knights
- Updated: December 29, 2019
2019 SAN DIEGO KINGS BASKETBALL
KINGS 131, KNIGHTS 115
By Damon Sloan
Special to East County Sports
The San Diego Kings remain undefeated in the desert as they trounced the Seven City Knights 131-115.
The Kings had 7 players score in double figures including 3 getting 20+ points tonight, led by James Hancock who had his 3rd straight double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds, 9 came from the offensive glass.
Kings head coach Davion Famber was happy with the effort on the glass and credited the 3rd quarter for their big victory
“Coming into the 3rd we knew we could get lead because it was such a close first half,” said Famber. “We stepped our defense up and were able to go on scoring runs like we always do and we built our lead.”
The Kings went into the second half only up by 1 at 47-46, but they opened the third with 10-0 run, started by a breakaway slam by Marcus Bell who finished the night with 20 points six rebounds while shooting 10-of-14 from the field.
LJ Kimbrough had a huge game off the bench as well, putting up 14 points and was extremely active on the offensive glass grabbing all seven of his rebounds offensively. He was able to score a couple put-backs inside and was able to slash to the basket after receiving passes from Ray Williams and Braxton Smith, who both combined to get 11 of the 19 assists for the Kings.
“LJ and Yuri Kozhanov had big games for us off the bench,” Famber said. “LJ was active on the boards and kept extra possessions alive. Yuri was able to hit two big threes at the end of the game to help out the game away for us.”
Kozhanov talked about stepping up big off the bench for the win.
“It felt good to come in and contribute,” Kozhanov said. “We let the lead slip a little bit in the fourth, so I just wanted to space the floor and knock down shots off of our ball handlers.”
Williams finished with 20 points, seven assists, and six steals and shot 3-of-7 from three.
Smith had seven points and four assists in his return including a one-hand tomahawk jam late in the fourth quarter.
Alex Calloway had seven points off the bench and new King signee BJ Mathews had six.
This win puts the Kings on a three-game winning streak and will return home next Saturday for a showdown with the No. 1-ranked team in the Far West Division, Team Trouble from Stockton.
Kings president Abraham Muheize understands the importance of this home game considering they haven’t beaten them in nearly two years.
“We beat them in 2018 for the Far West Championship, but they’ve had our number since then beating us three times last season.” Said Muheize. “They are a good team, but we’ve gotten so much better since last season, we’re playing championship basketball right now and I wouldn’t wanna play us right now.”
Muheize isn’t concerned about rankings, instead, he’s more excited about the way his team is playing over the last three games.
“I don’t look into the rankings much, those don’t mean anything until March, that’s when it matters most,” Muheize explained. “You want to be playing your best basketball come playoff time and I’m loving how our team is coming together, especially these past three wins. Next week should be another fun matchup for ourselves and our fan base.”
If the Kings get past Team Trouble, it will be four wins in a row and it could potentially make the Kings the No. 1-ranked team in the division and with Team Trouble not having a game this weekend, the Kings’ ranking will only get higher after this week.
Tickets for next week’s home game are on sale at https://san-diego-kings.ticketbud.com/vs-stockton-team-trouble-jan-4-20/damon
Visit the link to get $5 off for standard seats or VIO seating. Tip-off is at 6 PM from El Cajon Valley High School. Don’t miss out on this amazing winning streak that the San Diego Kings have put together.
