YAKIMA – Two years ago, Bremerton and its freshman guard Jalen Davis entered the Class 2A state tournament a bit of an unknown.

The Knights hadn’t been to state in a decade, and some wondered if Davis’ robust scoring average might be the product of playing for his dad, Bremerton coach Miah Davis.

They left the Yakima Valley SunDome with a fifth-place trophy, having put the state on notice.

A couple tourneys later, Davis is ranked among the top-20 juniors in the country, and he leads the top-seeded Knights’ defense of their first championship in 51 years.

Still, Coach Davis says there’s still plenty of work to do.

“I still don’t think we get the respect we deserve,” he said. “It’s earned, and we’re willing to get that.”

A 6-foot-3 wing, Davis is the top-rated junior in the state with college offers from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten to the Big 12. His smooth game shows little wasted motion, and is ridiculously efficient for a high-volume shooter.

In his school-record 51-point outing in early December, he needed just 24 shots, knocking down 20 of those (83.3%), including 4 of 5 3-pointers.

He’s also grounded in the team approach, hanging out at half court when Prosser switched to a box-and-one after he poured in 28 first-half points in last March’s title game. It allowed teammates to spread the court, and salt away the 74-51 victory.

“That’s just a testament to his true character,” Miah Davis said. “Everything is about the B on the jersey.”

The younger Davis gained a greater appreciation for the game earlier this season when an ankle injury sidelined him a couple games.

“You don’t realize how much you’d miss it until it’s gone,” Miah Davis said.

Bremerton (22-2) will meet the winner of Wednesday’s play-in between No. 15 Foster and seventh-seeded Grandview in a quarterfinal Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

While Bremerton eyes a repeat, top-seeded and unbeaten Lynden (24-0) is going for a three-peat, and an extension of their 72-game winning streak.

Those milestones, though, are on the back burner for coach Rob Adams’ Lions.

“Our focus is, ‘did we play our best basketball game?’” he said. “With them, it’s about blocking out all the noise with the back-to-back and the 72 straight, and the motivation is to play the best game we can.”

Lynden has the luxury of having the past two tournament MVPs – senior Payton Mills in 2024, and junior Finley Parcher last March – still in the lineup.

But much like the Knights, when Ellensburg’s defense focused on the stars in the 2025 final, the rest of the lineup was up to the challenge. While Parcher and Mills finished 14 and 12 points, respectively, then-sophomore Lexi Hermanutz had 10 and now-graduated Kiki York had nine.

Hermanutz has continued to add impact this season.

“She’s stepping outside the shadow,” Adams said. “She’s the perfect sidekick – she’s long, she’s athletic, she can score, she can facilitate and she plays great defense.”

The Lions’ hit the SunDome floor Thursday morning at 10:30 against the winner of No. 2 Deer Park and 10th-seeded Mark Morris.