The San Quentin Kings basketball team held off a fourth-quarter surge to beat the visiting Bittermen in the surprise pre-season opener, 61-53.
“They got out to an early lead and held on for dear life,” said Trailblazer Ryan Williams, who also plays for the Bittermen. “We’ll put our feet under us and come back ready to rock.”
Before the game, seven visiting Bittermen trooped onto the San Quentin yard on March 18, expecting the Kings to be there ready to play the season-opener.
“It feels fantastic,” said Williams. “We’ve been waiting all winter to come back here.”
However, nobody told the Kings that the Bittermen were coming. More than half the Kings were locked in their cells watching March Madness on their 13-inch personal TV sets.
While King Head Coach Orlando Harris scrambled to assemble his team, the Bittermen watched the SQ Warriors tryouts and chatted with fellow basketball enthusiasts. By the time the sun broke through the overcast, the Kings were in uniform, ready to go.
The Kings jumped out to a 30-10 second-quarter lead with the shooting of Demond Lewis and Oris “Pep” Williams, who finished with team highs of 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Toward the end of the period, Ryan hit a three-pointer while falling to the ground. That ignited a Bittermen 10-2 run with new recruit Ron Quimel contributing an assist. The score was 32-20 Kings at the half after Ryan scored through contact, but missed the free throw. He had 13 first-half points and finished with 23.
For Quimel, a junior high basketball coach, it was his first time playing inside a prison.
“People can tell you or give you a scouting report, but you’ll never experience it until it’s game speed,” said Quimel. “Basketball has been really really good to me. This is an opportunity to give back to the game that I love and make somebody’s day.”
In the third, Lewis dropped a trey to help push the King’s lead back up. Oris followed with five points scored on back-to-back plays including an and-one and a floater. The score was Kings 49-34 at the end of the quarter.
“It feels great being out here with the guys,” said Lewis. “We added nice new pieces and it made us better.”
Lewis was referring to new King members Derrick Holloway, D. “Zayd” Nickolson, and Whitney Vardel Jackson. They played their first game in white uniforms with the gold crown crests on them.
The Bittermen closed the gap to 57-53 with one minute left in the fourth.
Ryan tried a three-pointer from the top of the key, but it missed. The Kings failed to score and Ryan missed another trey.
Bittermen Timmy Hall fouled-out intentionally grabbing Holloway to stop the clock. Holloway sank one free throw, increasing the lead to 58-53.
Bittermen Rob Enber shot for a three from the top of the key that clanked off the rim and landed in the hands of King Tare “Cancun” Beltran. He broke down court to score his sixth point, putting the game out of reach for the Bittermen as time ran out.
“It’s a good start,” said Beltran. “New guys, new chemistry. My prediction is we’re going to be undefeated this year.”
King Charles Sylvester stood beside Beltran, nodding his head in agreement. The two guards borrow a movie title to call themselves Rush Hour for their coordinated fast breaks and slight resemblance to Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan.
Bittermen and former semi-pro Will Wheatly was held to eight points. Quimel and Ted Salviet also dropped eight each.
