TKA, Shirey, outlast Woodside Priory in key league battle

The King's Academy- 16 12 18 12 - 58

Woodside Priory- 7 17 13 16 - 53

Scoring

TKA

Ben Leong- 15

Mark Petiti- 6

Amir Carlisle- 2

David Shirey- 19

John Cox- 3

Matt Mitchell- 10

Brandon White- 3

WP

Alex Peyser- 14

Gabor Syomogyi- 23

Josh Nimer- 6

David Bessin- 2

Benny Kovachy- 6

David Nimer- 2

King's Academy senior center David Shirey brought his football toughness indoors in a pivotal WBAL league tilt.

Shirey scored a team-high 19 points, helping the King's Academy-Sunnyvale boys basketball team defeat Woodside Priory 58-53 on a rainy Friday night in Sunnyvale.

With Wooside Priory rolling out an NBA-sized front line loaded with length, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Shirey got physical in the paint.

The Knights seniors game plan of playing strong inside and using his pump fake early and often worked like a charm, helping TKA back to the .500 mark in league.

“They played really physical tonight, especially Shirey,” Woodside Priory head coach Dave Moseley said. “Shirey brought that American football play inside and our European players aren't used to playing against that.”

Shirey and 6-foot-10 sophomore Brandon White both did plenty of banging inside for the Knights, combining for 22 points, five blocks and 10 fouls.

Each big was relegated to spectator status in the final minutes when an unlikely hero stepped up to seal the deal.

Junior forward John Cox, who is listed at 5-11, may have stood a foot shorter than a couple of the Panthers bigs down low, but the gritty junior's hustle proved to be the nail in the visitors coffin.

With a little over a minute left to play and the Knights ahead by five, Cox picked off a post entry feed by the Panthers, then secured a huge offensive rebound off a missed one-and-one attempt.

“John is a really solid team player,” Shirey said. “He was the real MVP of this game tonight.”

TKA improved to 4-4 in league play with the win and 8-10 overall. The Knights fell by six, 57-51, on Jan. 12 at Woodside Priory.

“It was a huge win for us today,” Shirey said. “We had a tough loss against Menlo earlier in the week and we needed to get back to .500.”

After falling by two in a heart breaker to Menlo School on Tuesday, TKA got off to a torrid start Friday night.

Woodside Priory guard Alex Payser opened the scoring with an offensive put back, but it was all Knights after that early.

Four free throws from junior Ben Leong, followed by a deep triple from sophomore shooting guard Mark Petiti gave the Knights a 7-2 lead.

Five different players scored in the first quarter for the home team, aiding the 16-7 TKA advantage after one.

Woodside Priory ripped off a 9-0 run midway through the second quarter and closed the gap to only four at the break.

Five straight points from senior guard Matt Mitchell closed the third period, including a nothing but net triple to beat the buzzer and put TKA ahead 46-37 after three.

Woodside Priory fell to 3-5 in league and 8-9 overall with the loss. The Panthers sit in sixth place in the WBAL with crucial league bouts against Eastside Prep and Sacred Heart Prep coming up next week.

“They wanted it a little more than we did,” Moseley said. “Our main focus now is winning out and getting ready for CCS.”