Media Credit: Photo by Sam Fisher

The following story was written by TJ Cotterill. TJ is a staff writer for The Clipper – the Everett CC student newpaper.  This article ran in the 1-30-09 issue. 

Kegan Bone encourages teammates to work hard

The Everett men’s basketball team is fighting to get back to the NWAACC tournament this season after placing eighth in 2007, but for sophomore Kegan Bone, winning has become the expectation.

Bone has been around basketball almost his entire life, from playing his first game of organized basketball in the first grade to starting on a college basketball team.

“I always had a basketball in my hands,” Bone said. “Always just dribbling around with it.”

The Bone family has included many with basketball knowledge with his grandfather and uncle being coaches, as well as his father, Snohomish High School basketball head coach, Len Bone who has been coaching at Snohomish since before Kegan’s birth.

Bone’s brother Grady Bone also played basketball for Snohomish High School and even played a year at EvCC before going to the University of Washington to continue his education.

Bone grew up in Snohomish and was a next door neighbor to current University of Washington star Jon Brockman, playing in the backyard against Brockman and his older brother Paul Brockman who also played at Snohomish High School.

“Me and my brother would battle it out with the Brockman boys,” Bone said. “I never got to play organized basketball with Jon, but we had some battles out in the backyard.”

Bone tried out for the basketball team his freshman year at Snohomish High School but ended up being cut from the team, and despite all the basketball knowledge around him in his family, one of his best friends Stacey Cox was one of his strongest influences.

“[Cox] really encouraged me to keep playing and to do anything I could to make that sophomore team,” Bone said. “We spent a lot of time in the gym and I probably spent more time in the gym with him than anyone besides my dad.” Bone added, “He was really there for me when things weren’t going so well.”

The hard work eventually paid off as Bone made the varsity team his senior year and became a starter with his dad as the head coach.

Bone was third on his team in scoring averaging 8.7 points per game his senior year while also earning a Herald Player of the Week honor after he scored 25 points in a 79-55 win over Jackson High School.

Snohomish went on to compete in the 4A State Tournament at the Tacoma Dome where the Panthers placed fifth including a 19 point game from Bone against the Curtis Vikings. “It is a pretty incredible atmosphere atTacoma,” Bone said. “That will definitely be something I will remember for the rest of my life.”

Bone was able to play with and against some great players including teammate Tim Diederichs who is currently playing Division 1 basketball for Loyola Marymount, Marysville-Pilchuck sharpshooter Jared Stohl who plays for the University of Portland and Cascade standout Dirk Snell who played at EvCC in 2007.

Bone also played against current Trojans starting forward and best friend Nate Holthenrichs who received Wesco North Honorable Mention along with Bone his senior year, but Bone says he did not know Holthenrichs when they played against each other.

“I saw him shooting around in open gyms spring of my senior year,” Bone said. “I finally decided to go over there and beat him in a game of “Pig” and we have been good buds ever since.”

You would think Holthenrichs would recognize Bone after they played against each other in High School and Bone made a 3-pointer with 0.03 seconds left to go to win the game for Snohomish over Marysville-Pilchuck.

“He would probably be delivering pizzas right now if it weren’t for that shot,” Holthenrichs jokingly said. “That shot made him famous.”

Bone also said that Holthenrichs was part of the reason he came to Everett Community College along with being inexpensive and a good option for school.

Bone made the Trojan basketball team his last year as a freshman and played in 23 games but struggled to earn minutes as he averaged just over five a game.

“My freshman year was tough in that I didn’t get to play a whole lot,” Bone said. “But I really tried to encourage my teammates because my senior year [high school] I felt like there were guys encouraging me who didn’t play much.”

Bone did gain experience playing for a team that finished 22-9 including a 10-1 record at home last season while making the NWAACC tournament.

This season Bone was named a co-captain for the Trojans alongside sophomore Chris Grounds for a team coming into the season with high expectations.

“During practice he is always making sure people are working as hard as they can,” Holthenrichs said on Bone being named co-captain. “He makes sure people aren’t talking bad about each other and keeps the team positive.”

Bone scored a season high 20 points earlier in the season along with five 3-pointers after averaging 1.9 points per game his freshman year. This season Bone has averaged over 8 points per game despite struggling from the 3-point line, shooting just over 25 percent.

“Our season is half over so hopefully I will start shooting the ball better,” Bone said. “I think we can have a good second half.”

The top four teams in the NWAACC North Division will move on to play in the NWAACC tournament and Everett is currently tied with Skagit Valley Community College for the fourth spot despite beating them 67-62 earlier in the season.

Bone would like to continue his education at the University of Washington after this year and study in communications as well as help out with their basketball program. Eventually Bone says he would like to coach a college basketball team like his uncle at Portland State.

“It would be fun to be in a situation like that,” Bone said. “But it is not easy, it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort, and you gotta be in the right place at the right time.”

For now, Bone is still the co-captain of a team that will be fighting through the last half of their league games to solidify a spot in the NWAACC tournament and put themselves down in Everett basketball history.