The South Whidbey boys basketball team (1-3) took on league-leading King’s Knights

(5-1) Friday and very nearly pulled off the upset of the year.

Behind by five points at the half, the Knights blew out the Falcons’ lights with a 20-8 third-quarter rampage and won 67-60.

Nevertheless, Falcon coach Chris Ferrier was upbeat.

“We played our best game of the year; we just came up against a team that was a bit better than us on this night,” he said.

“Any team in our league can beat anyone, and I think we displayed it tonight,” he said. “We played four solid quarters of defense and three and a half quarters of good offense.”

Ferrier added that his players were extremely ready to play and executed a different game plan very well.

“Their 6-foot-6 transfer player, Dan Cheledinas, was on fire; he is a perimeter player and we would do a good job of closing him out, but he would just shoot over the top of us, and usually make it,” Ferrier said.

Cole Erikson led with 13 points and Riley Newman had 12.

“Riley did a great job setting up his teammates and not forcing shots, as King’s defensive game plan was to stop him. Sean George was very assertive on offense, and Ben Cary played a solid defensive game,” the coach pointed out.

Erikson said there has been a certain attitude the past few years going into games with the Knights.

“We were scared of them,” Erikson said. “But not any more. The year, we feel comfortable playing with anyone, anywhere.”

He said that the Knights were big and fast, a great defensive team that began to get frustrated as South Whidbey kept the lead the first two quarters.

“But they came out hard in the third and their shooting percentage went way up,” Erikson recalled. “They don’t like to lose on their own court.”

Ferrier said that, in anticipation of playing the Wildcats from Archbishop Murphy on Friday, the team will focus on keeping a positive mental outlook.

“This is a good team that is much better than the record shows,” Ferrier said. “We are looking to hit our stride down the stretch of the league season. We plan to fine-tune a few things on defense and continue the evolution of our offense.”

Ferrier noted that the object of the game is to score more points than the other guys.

“While that may sound obvious, some teams forget that winning comes when you do all the little things right. We are working on a lot of little things right now,” he said.

Erikson led the Falcons with 13 points, Newman posted 12 points and Sean George, nine. Knight Cheledinas had 28 points and six rebounds and was 13-for-14 from the free-throw line, knocking down all five of his fourth-quarter attempts.

At 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, the boys welcome Archbishop Murphy to Erikson Gym.

Jeff VanDerford can be reached at 221-5300 or sports@southwhidbeyrecord.com.