Injury Again Sidelines Islanders' 6-11 Jeff Knoll

KIRKLAND - It couldn't be. Not again.

But there he was, Mercer Island High's Jeff Knoll, wearing his maroon blazer instead of his No. 40 jersey during Islander basketball pregame warmups.

There he was in a wheelchair.

Injured.

Again.

"My luck," he said. "I'm sick of this."

Knoll, a 6-foot-11 senior, sat out almost all of his junior season after undergoing back surgery before the season began. Minor setbacks slowed his recovery through the spring and summer, but he had played in all 11 Mercer Island games this season - even scoring in double figures last Tuesday for the first time since the state-tournament opener during his sophomore season.

But Monday in practice, he stepped on a teammate's foot making a cut, turned his ankle and broke a bone in his right foot. Doctors told him he'll be sidelined six to eight weeks, he said.

That would mean the rest of the season.

"It's a travesty, a tragedy," M.I. Coach Ed Pepple said. "I want to cry every time I think about it."

Knoll was considered a candidate for a college basketball scholarship despite having started on the varsity only the final few weeks of his sophomore season before this winter.

"Right now, my most likely option is prep school," he said. "Just because I need another year (playing). I've been considering it for a while anyway. Now that this happened, that's the most likely option."

Knoll, who played only a few minutes of three late-season games last season, averaged 6.2 points per game this season.

As a sophomore, Knoll, then 6-foot-8, was a backup center until starter David Arigbabu was injured in the final week of the regular season.

He averaged eight points per game in nine playoff games as the Islanders won district and Class AAA state championships. He had three double-figure scoring games in that stretch.