The first thing Khayri King wanted to do was tell the truth.
"It definitely was boring," he said, laughing. "Nobody was really hitting shots. But I guess good defense had something to do with that, too."
King, a 6-3, 180-pound senior, is a swingman for Delaware Valley Charter's basketball team. And Tuesday, at East Germantown's Lonnie Young Rec Center, he contributed seven points, nine rebounds and excellent fourth-quarter defense to a 39-35 Public B win over visiting Abraham Lincoln.
King shot 3-for-7 (0-for-3 on treys) and 1-for-4.
"I haven't played too many games where I didn't have at least one three," he said. "I did have one that went in and out. But I did have a steal and went down for a dunk, so that was good. Foul trouble was part of [the low point output]. I missed almost the whole first half.
"I'm not worried about that stuff, though. I just wanted the win."
In the fourth quarter, King mostly focused on trying to shut down Lincoln's multidimensional 6-7 center, Michael Bowlers. And that he did; Bowlers (10 points, 14 rebounds, six blocks) was finished scoring by the end of the third quarter.
"The key was getting under his dribble," King said. "He can really go fast to the rack, but I think he thought I'd knock the ball away from him. While we were shutting him down, we were also getting rebounds from guys like Antwan [Scriven] and James [Edwards]. Bowlers could have killed us by himself with offensive rebounds, if we'd let him."
Scriven had eight points, six boards and two blocks. Fateem Brockington added seven points, and he canned the layup that put the Warriors ahead for good, 36-35, with 1:27 left. Bowlers and Ismail Wilson halved 20 points for the Railsplitters.
King, who lives on the 5600 block of Crowson Street, near Chew and Chelten in East Germantown, is the brother of former D-V star Troy Blue and the cousin of Tymere Blue, Roxborough's star rusher this past football season. He wants to become a sports agent, and college interest is coming little by little.
"I'm not thinking about college ball too much," he said. "I'm just enjoying this time around my teammates and coach [Jason Harrigan]. He has become a good friend. He has done a lot of things for me both on and off the court. He's always there for me.
"Some things he does would seem little to most people. But they're always big to me, and I thank him."
