Spartans soar to victory against Falcons

A barrage of baskets from beyond the arc propelled the Skyline Spartans boys basketball team to the Class 4A KingCo championship game.

Skyline, who nailed a total of 18 3-pointers as a team, cruised to a 77-55 victory against the Woodinville Falcons in a KingCo 4A semifinals on Feb. 11 at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland. The Spartans will face the Bothell Cougars in the KingCo 4A title game at 8 p.m. on Feb. 16 at Lake Washington High School. Skyline guard Kellan Przybylski had the game of his life, scoring a game-high 41 points which included 11 3-pointers. The 41 points and 11 3-pointers were new single game Skyline school records. Przybylski credited his teammates for his success against Woodinville.

“The guys set good screens and made good passes. It was good work from my teammates. It was nice to see Ashish (Manda), Ryan (D’Arcy) and Ben (Smith) get hot and score a lot too,” Przybylski said.

Manda scored 22 points and hit five 3-pointers in the win for Skyline. Skyline head coach Joe Fithian believes the unsung hero for the 18 3-pointers was post player Freddy Jarvis.

“We spread the floor really well. A lot of our shots came from the inside to the outside. Our post player Freddy Jarvis is just such a good passer when he has the ball in there. He sees everything so well,” Fithian said.

Przybylski, who was subbed out of the game toward the end of the fourth quarter, was inserted back into the game once Fithian was aware his player was on the verge of setting school records.

“I didn’t know about that (the records) until I took him out. Our official scorekeeper told me he was tied for the school record. I told him, you get one more point and then you’re coming out of the game. He did his business and then we got him out of the game. He loves seeing his teammates ( reserves on the bench) play,” Fithian said with a smile.

The Spartans, who suffered a devastating loss to Eastlake in the regular season finale on Feb. 3, were clicking on all cylinders in their first playoff game against Woodinville.

“These kids are resilient. The thing about my team, they are just so smart. That is a good thing,” Fithian said.

Przybylski hopes his squad can keep the momentum going.

“We just want to get to the dome (Class 4A state tournament). Hopefully we can get one more win in KingCo and just keep on winning from there,” Przybylski said.