News Archives

Friday March 11, 2011
Alaska Newspapers/Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches All-State teams announced
     Juneau-Douglas junior point guard Lance Ibesate was named Third Team All-State on the boys’ side, with backcourt running mate Tony Yadao selected as All-State Honorable Mention.

“I certainly think both Lance and Tony had really good years and are deserving of their spots,” JDHS boys’ coach Steve Potter said.

Ketchikan’s Chas Allen was named Second Team All-State.

“That’s nice that guys from Southeast were recognized,” Potter said. “Some years, nobody from Southeast gets on but maybe one honorable mention. It doesn’t always feel like we get the recognition, and there were other guys that if they were playing in Anchorage where they’d be seen more often, might have gotten some looks. Hopefully, they’ll keep playing well.”

The second-seeded Juneau-Douglas girls begin defense of their state title at 8 a.m. Thursday against No. 7 South. The No. 4 boys face No. 5 North Pole at 11:30 a.m. Thursday in Anchorage’s Sullivan Center.

All-State Teams Class 4A Boys:

Player of the Year: Devon Bookert, West

Coach of the Year: Tyler Moor, Service

First Team:

Devon Bookert, West; Damon Sherman-Newsome, Bartlett; Jesse Ward, North Pole; Connor Devine, Wasilla; Ryden Hines, Dimond

Second Team:

Eli Sponseller, North Pole; Amu Aukusitino, Service; Chas Allen, Ketchikan; Jalil Abdul-Bassit, East; Brayton Kuiper, Wasilla

Third Team:

Christian Odom, Palmer; Adam Klie, Service; Sean Niekamp, Palmer; Lance Ibesate, Juneau-Douglas; Colby Mitchell, Chugiak

Honorable Mention:

Trenton Anthony, Bartlett; Kody Broderick, North Pole; Treshawn King-Dunbar, Bartlett; Tommy Hobbs, South; Dylan Lauwers, Dimond; T.J. McKinney, South; Ray Streeter, Lathrop; Tony Yadao, Juneau-Douglas; Dominique Queen, West

All-State Teams Class 4A Girls:

Player of the Year: Keiahnna Engel, Dimond

Coach of the Year: Lesslie Knight, Juneau-Douglas

First Team:

Keiahnna Engel, Dimond; Sarah Tarver, Juneau-Douglas; Hannah Mattson, West Valley; Kaitlyn Klapperich, Colony; Alexis Imoe, Wasilla

Second Team:

Karli Brakes, Juneau-Douglas; Sierra Afoa, Dimond; Taylor Larson, Juneau-Douglas; Alyssa Hutchins, Wasilla; Mary Klapperich, Colony

Third Team:

Joanna Garcia, Kodiak; Bobbi Britt, Bartlett; Jasmine Yarde, West Valley; Heidi Pichler, South; Kelsey Cottle, Wasilla

Honorable Mention:

Kate Anderson, Dimond; Josie Broderick, North Pole; Celeste Colegrove, Wasilla; Erin Doherty, Ketchikan; Tia Mason, South; Allison Schoenborn, East; Raquel Young, Kenai

Monday March 07, 2011
4A Boys All-Conference
     Chas Allen (Ketchikan)

Jesse Lindgren (Ketchikan)

Kyle Day (Ketchikan)

Tony Yadao (JDHS)

Lance Ibesate (JDHS)

Keith Ainsworth (TMHS)

Sunday March 06, 2011
Braves edge Bears as last-second tip misses - Juneau Empire by Matthew Tynan
     It might have been just an exhibition with each of the combatants already guaranteed a berth in their respective state tournaments, but both teams played like it was their last.

Juneau-Douglas forward Colin Gozelski jumped in the paint and tipped the ball to the rim off a Phillip Fenumiai full-court pass from the baseline with .3 seconds remaining, only to watch it glance off the iron before Mt. Edgecumbe students rushed the court in celebration of their team’s 44-42 win over the Crimson Bears in the finale of the Region V 3A/4A Basketball Tournament on Saturday night at Juneau-Douglas High School.

The Bears nearly completed an improbable comeback in the final seconds of the game as junior Tony Yadao drilled a 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left to cut the Braves lead to 43-42 before JDHS fouled Mt. Edgecumbe junior forward Travante Williams with .3 remaining.

Williams hit the first free throw, but in an effort to miss the second intentionally he missed the rim, giving the ball to the Bears with no time elapsed. Fenumiai’s pass was on point, but a deflection by Alec Calloway and the tip by Gozelski fell short as the Bears fell in their final home game.

“We knew Mt. Edgecumbe was talented, we’ve seen them twice before. For whatever reason we were not locked in,” Bears coach Steve Potter said. “Being down five points at half doesn’t seem like a big deal, but against them it was. We made errors down the stretch. Hopefully this is an eye-opener. We need to focus on the task at hand.”

Juneau-Douglas had several costly turnovers down the stretch of a close game that Mt. Edgecumbe led most of the way. But the Braves never led by more than seven points, and that was in the first quarter.

“We had some mindless turnovers, but I think the guys played hard and maybe it was fatigue that was a factor,” Potter said. “I thought we got a lot out of our matchups, it was an extremely physical game and I thought we eventually got them to do what we wanted them to do, but it didn’t happen quickly.

“We played hard, just not particularly well.”

But this was just an exhibition, and in about two weeks the Crimson Bears will head up north to test their mettle against the best in the state. Potter said he knows what his team needs to be successful.

“We need to be in the game, mentally, and we need to be focused. We can’t have unforced errors,” he said. “Teams are good enough to force errors so we can’t just give the ball away for nothing.

Gozelski led the Bears in scoring with 13 points, but was the only player in double figures. Williams’ 14 points were a game high.

Saturday March 05, 2011
JDHS wins the war against Ketchikan - Juneau Empire by Shaun T. Cox
     Once again, the Crimson Bears are Anchorage bound.

A late 9-1 run propelled Juneau-Douglas to a 61-53 win over archrival Ketchikan on Friday in another classic Southeast Conference clash in the 4A boys’ bracket championship of the Region V 3A/4A Basketball Tournament in Juneau.

Chas Allen banked a shot high off the glass with about two minutes remaining to make it a 50-48 game, and the Bears’ Lance Ibesate answered with a runner in the lane the other way to start the Bears’ big push.

Tony Yadao got a steal and a free throw, and then Ryan Baldwin put back a missed free throw to push JDHS ahead 55-48. Allen was fouled on a 3-pointer but he made just one free throw and Baldwin got another stickback. Two more free throws for JDHS essentially put the game out of reach with less than 20 seconds to play.

Junior Alec Calloway added insult to injury for the Kings by swatting away Allen’s last-gasp 3-pointer at the buzzer, the crowd went crazy and the Crimson Bears celebrated.

“In the timeout we all just stopped and talked about how we’ve already lost to them by two points in a really close game, and that irritated us,” senior forward Colin Gozelski said of the Bears’ key run. “We said, ‘We’re five minutes away from winning the game, let’s give it all we got, and let’s cut down these nets and win the Southeast.’”

JDHS coach Steve Potter credited the Bears’ defensive effort and overall balance. Ten different players got into the scoring column for JDHS, led by Gozelski’s 16 points. Yadao and Ibesate scored 10 each, and Baldwin added eight.

“(Ketchikan) made some tough shots and they made us look silly a couple of times, but I think it wore on them down the stretch and at the end of the game, we were still big,” Potter said. “Baldwin came up huge down the stretch and I thought Colin played his best game of the year, Lance and Tony were very good. I thought top to bottom, everybody contributed.”

Gozelski also saluted the raucous crowd that rocked the gym for giving the Bears a boost.

“We loved it. We’re 4-0 here and 0-2 there (in Ketchikan), so the crowd has something to do with it,” he said. “You have to love the crowd; both sides. Ketchikan brought like a hundred people to cheer for them. It was a loud gym with no open seats, and you’ve got to love that for a regional.”

Both teams came out firing in the early going, with Allen knocking down a long jumper to start things off. Yadao answered the other way with a 3-pointer from the top of the key for the Bears’ first lead.

Allen hit a free throw and Gozelski scored after two Juneau-Douglas offensive rebounds. Jesse Lindgren went to the cup for a deuce and Allen stuck a triple from the right side. Yadao then buried another 3-pointer to tie the game at 8-all as the teams traded blows back and forth.

Ketchikan finished off the first with a 9-2 run after Lindgren and Allen went straight to the basket for scores, and the Kings made seven straight free throws for a 19-10 lead, but JDHS senior Nino Crisostomo got a stickback to make it a 19-12 game after a quarter.

“I was nervous because whenever we beat them in one game, the next one is always really close,” Gozelski said. “I though we got kind of fat and happy there in the first quarter, but then we came back and made a good push to win the game.”

The teams traded scores to start the second period, and two straight JDHS buckets inside cut into the deficit. Ibesate found Gozelski wide-open underneath the basket for a score, and an Eddie Hurtte jumper tied the game at 25-25 at the 4:55 mark.

Lindgren regained the lead for the Kings with a tip-in the other way, and two free throws by Alex Williams pushed Ketchikan ahead by 3, 29-26.

But it was all Crimson Bears over the final two minutes of the first half.

De’Andre “Jazz” King scored inside and then Yadao made the play of the night, driving and whipping a behind-the-back pass to King for an old-fashioned 3-point play, again sending the crowd into a frenzy. Baldwin then got a score inside and Juneau-Douglas went into the locker room with a 33-29 lead at the break.

Ketchikan oustscored Juneau-Douglas 10-9 in the third quarter.

Allen led the Kings with 15 points and Lindgren added 15.

Friday March 04, 2011
Bears v. Kings... again.
     The Ketchikan Kings defeated the Thunder Mountain Falcons Wednesday for the second time in the tournament to earn another game against the Crimson Bears. This will be the seventh time the two teams have faced off this season. A win for the Bears means a 4A Championship. If the Kings win tonight it will force the "if necessary" game and the two will play for an eighth time on Saturday.

Tip-off is at 8:30 tonight.

Thursday March 03, 2011
Crimson Bears top cold-shooting Kings - Juneau Empire by Shaun T. Cox
     Juneau-Douglas controlled the paint and kept cold-shooting Ketchikan at bay down the stretch for a 53-45 win in Wednesday’s second round of the 4A boys’ bracket of the Region V 3A/4A Basketball Tournament at JDHS.

“We’ve tried to emphasize containing guys and not gambling so much and just doing the work,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said afterward. “I thought we did a fair job with that. Obviously, we broke down there at the end a couple of times late in the game and missed some free throws we don’t want to miss, but I’m certainly pleased with our effort.

“We’re looking forward to Friday’s game.”

Free throw and perimeter shooting were the downfall for the Kings. Ketchikan shot just 3 of 17 from the arc and made just 8 of 19 from the line, and were never able to crack the Crimson Bears’ defense in the paint. The Kings, outsized in the paint, fared well against JDHS underneath this year by taking advantage of their superior quickness.

But not on Wednesday night.

JDHS made better than 41 percent of its shots from the field and 15 of 23 from the stripe.

Junior guard Tony Yadao led all scorers with 20 points after a hot start.

Yadao scored the first 11 points for for the Bears, including a trio of triples, as Juneau-Douglas built a 16-9 lead after a quarter of play. Yadao’s third 3-pointer made it a 9-4 game, and a Ryan Baldwin steal led to a stickback for Alec Calloway and a 13-6 JDHS lead.

The teams traded scores the rest of the way and the Bears led 16-9 heading into the second quarter.

Ketchikan senior Jesse Lindgren made two free throws and Kyle Day scored inside to cut into the Bears’ lead to start the second quarter.

JDHS answered with six straight points to push back ahead by nine after De’Andre “Jazz” King scored inside, Lance Ibesate got a steal and dished across the lane to Yadao for a contested layup. Yadao then whipped a pass from the wing inside to Alec Calloway for a 22-13 Bears lead.

A putback for Day drew the Kings within five points, 24-19, but a loose ball was slapped out to a wide-open Ibesate at the top of the key, where he rose and drained a 3-pointer.

On the Kings’ ensuing possession, Day ball faked, dribbled right and stuck a pull-up jumper.

Senior Colin Gozelski scored a stickback at the buzzer and the Bears took a 29-21 lead into the locker room.

Juneau-Douglas held its lead throughout the third quarter as Ketchikan made just 2 of 9 free throw attempts. The Bears scored just 10 points in the third but took a 39-30 lead into the fourth, and the Kings drew no closer than five points the rest of the way.

Gozelski pulled down 13 rebounds as the Bears beat the Kings 40-29 on the boards and scored 14 second-chance points to Ketchikan’s six. Ibesate chipped in 11 points and five rebounds for JDHS.

Day led the Kings with 17 points, and Allen chipped in 11 points and six rebounds.

Ketchikan plays Thunder Mountain today at 1:30 p.m., and the winner face JDHS at 8:30 p.m.

Tuesday March 01, 2011
Rivals ready for SE tournament - Juneau Empire by Matthew Tynan
     It was a first for each of the current coaches on the boys’ basketball side of the Southeast Conference, not knowing who won Region V outright on the final night of the regular season. But when it came to tournament seeding, even one of the conference’s top team needed a little luck.

Ketchikan, Juneau-Douglas and Thunder Mountain begin their final runs at the conference’s lone state opening following a weekend that saw the Crimson Bears nab the No. 1 seed by way of a blind luck draw after the tiebreakers in place could not determine the top spot in the Southeast Conference Tournament.

Juneau-Douglas fell twice in Ketchikan over the weekend, giving the two schools an outright tie Saturday night. The Bears might have gotten lucky to grab the top spot, but coach Steve Potter said being the No. 1 seed isn’t crucial in this scenario.

“We still have to play the same teams. In a different setting it might be huge, but we know we have to play Thunder Mountain and Ketchikan no matter what,” he said. “But it helps us in that we don’t have that extra game.”

Despite coming off the two losses in Ketchikan, Potter said he feels confident in the way his team performed.

“I think we played pretty well on Saturday. We had a plan and we executed it,” he said. “But in a game where there were fewer possessions because of the tempo of the game, when we made mistakes they were highlighted. Obviously, there are some things we need to shore up, but I don’t think there are any major things we need to change.”

On the other side of the ledger, Kings coach Eric Stockhausen said he felt his team could have been better despite the victories. Still, he believes his group is ready for the chance to come back to Juneau to try and avenge the loss to the Bears in the final game of last year’s conference tournament.

“We’re looking forward to the opportunity knowing we have to play better than we did last weekend,” he said. “We’re just happy everybody is healthy and we’re excited to go.”

And while Potter seemed somewhat indifferent about being the top seed, Stockhausen said he’d almost rather it be this way.

“To me it’s no big deal. Last year, sitting around waiting to play on Wednesday wasn’t good for us,” he said. “With the tournament going on it was hard to get quality practice time. So, for us to get out and get some blood flowing through our legs, I’m excited for the opportunity.”

Saturday’s 44-42 Kings victory was a slow-paced, low-scoring tilt, but when asked if he’d prefer a game with a faster tempo, Potter said it didn’t matter as long as his team played the kind of defense he wants.

“At this stage of the game I’m just hoping for a game where we’re locked in defensively and don’t have lapses,” he said. “Slow pace, fast pace, it doesn’t matter as long as we’re guarding people.”

The Bears’ two victories over the Kings this season came when Ketchikan was less than fully healthy. But a full-strength Kings team that just defeated Juneau-Douglas twice in two nights will be ready to try and do what they couldn’t do a little more than two weeks ago: win at Juneau-Douglas High School.

“(Friday) was the first time we played (JDHS) at full strength, so we’re kind of where we thought we’d be,” Stockhausen said. “I don’t think we played particularly well last weekend, and a lot of credit goes to Juneau(-Douglas) for what they did defensively to us.

“We’re just hoping to be a little sharper next game out and try to build on that.”

The Bears will sit and watch as the first round of games is played out, but the Kings must match up with Thunder Mountain today at 6:25 p.m. at JDHS gym for the chance to play Juneau-Douglas on Wednesday night. Falcons coach John Blasco said he hopes is young team can have its best run of the season with so much at stake.

“Everybody is going to be elevating their game because everybody wants to go to state. Even though we’ve seen these teams four times each, we can’t underestimate anything they may or may not do,” he said. “I fully expect both coach Potter and coach Stockhausen to make some adjustments that could potentially catch us off guard, and we have to be ready for it.”

Though Thunder Mountain’s young group is relatively inexperienced when it comes to Southeast Conference Tournament play, Blasco said his kids are preparing with the focus of keeping the game close from the start. If they can do that, he said, there just might be a chance at an upset this week.

“With a young group like this we’ll break down the opponent for each game, but the focus for us is purely on what we’re trying to do as far as getting ourselves established in the game from the tip: keeping our defense strong but also getting our offense going early because that seems to be a lagging point for us,” he said. “There will be small adjustments, but at this point in the season you can’t throw in anything off the wall because there’s not enough time to prepare.

“So there’s no time to try anything brand new, but you can tweak what you have going. I just want my guys to be ready to compete for 32 minutes, and if we do that we’ll give any opponent a good challenge,” he continued. “You never know what can happen in a tournament like this because everyone’s playing for their lives, essentially.”

As for the girls’ bracket, Juneau-Douglas looks like a lock to make it to the state tournament in a bid to repeat as Alaska state champions. While nothing is certain, the Bears have been a dominant force all season in conference play.

Juneau-Douglas has lost only once all season — and that was to one of the state’s top teams, Wasilla — but its conference record is unblemished. The Crimson Bears are 8-0 in conference with an astronomical margin of victory. In those games, JDHS outscored its Southeast opponents by an average of 44.25 points and never won a game over Thunder Mountain and Ketchikan by less than 37 points.

Southeast Conference Tournament action begins today at 4:25 p.m. with a clash between the Thunder Mountain (7-16, 1-7) and Ketchikan girls’ teams for the chance to play the Crimson Bears in the second round of the double-elimination tournament. The Falcons (4-20, 0-8) and Kings boys’ teams square off at 6:25 p.m. following the early game, also for the right to challenge the top-seeded Bears.

Monday February 28, 2011
JV and C-Teams close season with wins
     The Junior Varsity and C-Teams finished their seasons in Ketchikan this weekend. Both teams secured victories in their last game of the year. Both groups showed steady improvement throughout the course of the 2010-2011 campaign.

The C-Team made great strides as the season progressed. Despite victories being hard to come by (4-10), this group of young men continued to work extremely hard in practice to improve their fundamentals. They competed in every game and never gave up.

The members of the C-Team should be proud that their dedication paid off at the end of the year. After a tough loss on Friday, they were able to earn a ten-point conference victory in Ketchikan Saturday night, in their last game of the season. This group of players will continue their climb if they keep working on their basketball skills.

The JV team also had a successful year of growth and improvement. They started the season by winning the first-annual Holiday Hoops Tournament, hosted by Thunder Mountain. This was a boys and girls JV tournament that featured teams from across the region.

As the season moved forward, the players on the JV team became a more focused and cohesive unit. They were able to execute the fundamentals at a high level, which lead to a stellar 20-2 season record, driven by a 14 game winning streak to close out the year. The JV team displayed improvement, dedication, and excitement that speaks well for the future of Crimson Bear basketball.

The players and coaches would like to thank all the parents and those in the community that supported their efforts in the 2010-2011 Junior Varsity and C-Team season. Without you none of this is possible.

Sunday February 27, 2011
Kings, Bears finish tied atop SE Conference - Ketchikan Daily News by John Borneman
     Southeast Conference rivals Ketchikan and Juneau-Douglas staged another classic clash Saturday at Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium.

Neither team knows exactly when it will play again.

Jesse Lindgren hit a free throw to break a 42-42 tie with 12.5 seconds remaining, Chas Allen scored a game-high 18 points, and the Ketchikan boys’ basketball team beat Juneau-Douglas 44-42 on senior night in Ketchikan.

“It was what a game should be this time of year,” Kings coach Eric Stockhausen said. “It was a grinder and we somehow found a way to win at the end.

“We’ll watch film Monday, practice Tuesday in the morning, and we don’t know when we play.”

With the No. 1 seed — and a first-round Southeast Conference Tournament bye — at next week’s 4A Southeast Regional in Juneau up for grabs, Ketchikan’s two-point win only served to further muddy the conference waters.

The Crimson Bears entered Saturday’s game with a 2-1 advantage head-to-head and a plus-two point differential against the Kings. But Ketchikan’s win gave the rivals matching 6-2 records in region play, and the teams were still tied after head-to-head, point-differential and common-opponent tiebreakers.

According to an e-mail from Ketchikan Athletic Director Lynn Wadley, the final tiebreaker will be a blind draw with the first team chosen seeded No. 1. The Region V secretary in Thorne Bay will conduct the draw Sunday afternoon, and the No. 2 seed will play Thunder Mountain at 6:25 p.m. Tuesday in Juneau.

Ketchikan needed a 10-2 run over the final eight minutes just to make things interesting.

Lindgren got a nice feed from senior Xavier Jones and converted a layup to make it 40-36, Juneau-Douglas, early in the third quarter, but the Crimson Bears’ Eddie Hurtte answered with a basket — the Bears’ only points of the period — to push the lead back to six with 5:45 remaining.

Jones hit Allen for a layup to made it 42-39, then forced a steal at half-court and drew a foul on Juneau-Douglas’ Colin Gozelski in transition. He split a pair of free throws to cut the lead to two, and the score steadied there as the Crimson Bears turned the ball over after a lengthy possession, Juneau-Douglas’ Lance Ibesate missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and Ketchikan senior Keagan Lervick missed a layup.

Allen tied the game at 42-42 with a driving left-handed layup with 44.4 seconds left, drawing a foul but missing the free throw after the Bears’ DeAndre “Jazz” King failed to convert a 1-and-1 chance at the other end.

Lindgren gave Ketchikan a 43-42 lead with a free throw. On the next JDHS possession, Gozelski was called for traveling on the wing with 2.1 seconds left and Ketchikan senior Alex Williams made it 44-42 with another 1-for-2 trip to the line.

When a deep 3-pointer by Lance Ibesate hit the back iron at the buzzer, Ketchikan escaped.

“We were a little flat for about 28 minutes,” Stockhausen said. “We just weren’t sharp. ... We didn’t shoot as well as we knew we were capable, and a lot of that credit goes to Juneau.”

Juneau-Douglas went 5-for-17 from the free throw line in a 62-50 loss Friday and 4-for-7 with two big misses late Saturday.

“We missed our free throws,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said. “Really, we make one of those free throws, it’s a completely different game. It changes the whole end-game scenario.”

Allen came up big in his final home game, scoring seven points in the first quarter and five in the fourth to finish as the only player on either team in double figures. Junior Kyle Day added eight points and Williams had seven. Lindgren had averaged 19.8 points per game in his previous five contests, but finished with five Saturday.

JDHS utilized a balanced scoring attack led by Ibesate and Ryan Baldwin’s eight points each, King added seven, and Tony Yadao and Gozelski each had six.

Ketchikan drops JDHS

62-50 on Friday

Jesse Lindgren continued his strong play of late with a team-high 20 points, senior Chas Allen added 15, and Ketchikan took a big step toward earning the No. 1 seed at next week’s 4A Southeast Conference Tournament with a 62-50 win over the rival Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears on Friday at Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium.

Ketchikan led for most of the first three quarters until an 11-0 run by JDHS put the Crimson Bears ahead 35-34 with 2:30 left in the third quarter. The Kings responded immediately with a 10-0 run of their own, getting a pair of 3-pointers from junior Kyle Day and a floater from Lindgren to make it 44-35 with 59 seconds left in the period.

The Bears cut the lead to 51-44 on a jumper by Tony Yadao with 3:01 left in the fourth quarter, and the teams traded baskets until Lance Ibesate hit a triple to pull the Crimson Bears within six at the 1:42 mark. Ketchikan turned the ball over and Yadao split a pair of free throws to make it 55-50, but Day earned two freebies on the other end and Ibesate missed the front end of a 1-and-1 on Juneau-Douglas’ next possession.

Wednesday February 16, 2011
Bears up win streak - Juneau Empire by Shaun T. Cox
     Juneau-Douglas upped its win streak to eight games while improving to 6-0 in Southeast Conference play Tuesday with a 55-35 win over cold-shooting Thunder Mountain at JDHS.

The Crimson Bears, on the other hand, started out hot from the field, making 63 percent of their first-half field goals, including 4 of 6 from the perimeter.

“That’s a positive for us. Sooner or later we’re going to have to figure out how to play against a sagging zone,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said. “They came out of (the zone), played a little man and then we started working on some other stuff.

“But it was a good game for us,” he continued. “We got a lot of floor time for our seniors and everybody contributed. They’ve contributed all year but this time, they got a chance to do it on the floor.”

Senior Kyle Barry, seeing his first-ever varsity action, scored inside off a Lance Ibesate drive and dish to get things started. Ibesate drove the lane for a score and a 4-0 lead as the Falcons turned it over on four of their first five possessions.

“We weren’t quite ready to go and I think it started with the JV game. Our energy level was down from the start,” TMHS coach John Blasco said. “I think we kind of woke up in the second quarter, but once you’re already down to a top team, it’s hard overcome.”

Ibesate made a 3-pointer and senior Eddie Hurtte scored an old-fashioned 3-point play before Ty Grussendorf netted the Falcons’ first points with a triple. Nino Crisostomo scored the final basket of the first quarter from behind the arc, and JDHS held a 12-3 lead after a period.

The Crimson Bears surged ahead with a 9-0 run early in the second quarter. Travis Godfrey splashed a triple from the wing and an Ibesate steal led to two free throws for Tony Yadao. Alec Calloway came off the bench to add another 3-pointer to make it a 20-5 game, Yadao made another free throw and De’Andre “Jazz” King scored inside off an inbound play before Keith Ainsworth stopped the run with a bucket at the 5:38 mark.

Ben Jahn made it a 23-9 game but Yadao got a steal and two free throws, and two Ryan Baldwin buckets inside sandwiched a Matt Seymour triple for Thunder Mountain. The Falcons closed the half with a free throw to head into the locker room trailing Juneau-Douglas 29-13.

The Falcons got back into the game with a 5-0 run to start the third quarter, but the Bears answered with a 6-0 run to push their lead back to 17, 35-18.

“We talked about coming out strong (to start the second half), and I was really proud of how they did come out and competed,” Blasco said. “But then JD made a couple of buckets and we got stuck in the hole again. From start to finish, I’m proud of the way we competed. We just have to find ways to score.”

An old-fashioned 3-point play for Ainsworth and two free throws for Sam Jahn made it a 35-23 game with 3:03 left to play in the third quarter.

The Bears continued to attack the basket inside and took a 44-26 cushion into the fourth quarter, and Thunder Mountain got no closer than 18 the rest of the way.

“We didn’t want to come out flat and we had a goal to finish undefeated on our home court,” said Ibesate, who scored 12 points with five boards to lead the Bears. “That’s what we were looking for the whole game, to finish undefeated (at home).”

JDHS has upped its record to 16-4, 6-0 on the year after losing three straight games.

“We wanted to get our rhythm back,” Ibesate said. “We were obviously really flat up in Anchorage. We’re figuring out what we need to do to get the wins.”

The Bears have just two games left at Ketchikan the weekend of Feb. 25-26. Thunder Mountain hosts the Kings Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. The Southeast Conference Tournament is March 4-6 in Juneau.

The JDHS JV team pulled off a 53-36 win behind 18 points from Darien Stanger and 14 from Jeffrey Pusich. Ben Jahn scored 10 points for the Falcons, and Matt Seymour added nine.

Tuesday February 15, 2011
Final JDHS v. TMHS contest this week
     The Juneau-Douglas JV and Varsity play Thunder Mountain today at JDHS. The game times are at 4:45 and 6:30 p.m. respectively. The C-teams will square off on Wednesday at JDHS. That game will occur at 6:30 p.m.

Sunday February 13, 2011
JDHS still perfect in SE; JV Bears sweep, C-Team swept - Juneau Empire by Matthew Tynan
     It wasn’t the barnburner Friday’s game produced, but Saturday’s clash was another battle for prime position in Southeast’s fiercest 4A rivalry.

The Kings never pulled closer than seven points over the final frame as Juneau-Douglas was able to hold off rival Ketchikan 56-46 on senior night at JDHS.

Trailing 33-30 late in the third, the Juneau-Douglas broke out of its offensive doldrums and closed the quarter on a 12-0 run that swung the momentum back in the Bears’ favor for good, and a sophomore came up big on senior night.

Swingman Phillip Fenumiai came off the bench late in the third and immediately impacted the game offensively, connecting on two 3-pointers in the final minutes of the quarter. Six of his 10 points came during the 12-0 run, but he also scored the first two buckets of the fourth to keep the Kings at bay.

“Emotions were running high and some of the guys got a little tired,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said. “Phillip was fresh and is aggressive on offense. We had gotten a little tentative — Phillip is not tentative.”

Fenumiai made the most out of limited minutes on the court. He scored 10 points, good enough for second on the team behind junior point guard Lance Ibesate’s 11.

Already without one of the team’s top players, senior Charles Allen, Ketchikan needed someone else to step up. Fortunately for coach Eric Stockhausen’s group, the Kings are well-rounded offensively.

“That was a big run by them at the end of the third – they did a great job,” Stockhausen said. “We played as hard as we could and when we get (Allen) back, I’m hoping we’ll be a little better than we were this weekend.”

Seniors Jesse Lindgren and Alex Williams scored 27 and 14 points, respectively, as the two combined for 41 of the team’s 46 points. Lindgren’s 15-point second quarter single-handedly brought the Kings back into a game appeared over early.

“I think we were feeling pretty good, and then we just didn’t come back in with the same intensity,” Potter said. “I thought we came out better in the second half, but we gave them a confidence that we didn’t want them to have.”

The Kings erupted for 21 points in the second quarter after posting only four in the first. The Crimson Bears looked like they had the game under control, but one night after Kyle Day’s 38-point performance, Lindgren took advantage of the extra attention JDHS paid defensively to his teammate.

Juneau-Douglas’ big men were forced to guard the smaller, quicker Lindgren in the post and the senior forward exploited the lack of speed in the Bears’ interior by taking his man off the dribble repeatedly.

But the Crimson Bears were finally able to establish the kind of defense Potter preaches.

“It feels good to get a couple of wins. Winning on senior night is something I’ve always looked forward to,” Bears senior guard Travis Godfrey said. “I think we’re playing better, but I think we’re progressing each game. We’re really getting the ball inside to our bigs, and against the smaller teams that’s what we have to do.

“They’re a big competitor for this conference, so playing them now and getting those wins gives us confidence.

Though it is a rivalry, each team has mutual respect for the other.

“As a program, they all play hard. They do good things and we can’t try to put our backs to them and get anything done,” Stockhausen said, referring to the Bears’ interior size. “Our best chance is to keep it moving and hope for a breakdown (defensively). Neither team shot the way it did (Friday), but coach Potter always makes adjustments. We’ll make adjustments and we’ll see what happens later in the season.”

The Crimson Bears (14-4, 5-0) face Thunder Mountain at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at JDHS before hitting the road for their final conference games Feb. 25-26 at Ketchikan.

Saturday February 12, 2011
Bears win classic SE Conference clash - Juneau Empire by Matthew Tynan
     Nine ties, eight lead changes, a frenetic second-half pace with a flurry of consecutive baskets, 146 combined points and a would-be game winner at the buzzer — that’s what rivalry games are all about.

And that’s exactly what the raucous crowd at Juneau-Douglas High School got to see Friday night as the Crimson Bears held on to edge visiting Ketchikan 74-72 in a Southeast Conference classic.

“Well, I guess I would say it was an exciting game,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said. “I wasn’t particularly pleased with how we defended. I certainly don’t mind an up-and-down pace because I think that gives our guards an opportunity to shine.

“We got to see some of Lance (Ibesate) and Tony (Yadao’s) better play, but our defense is what we’ve been hanging our hat on all year and it was not acceptable.”

Ketchikan’s Kyle Day led the Kings’ charge with a 38-point, seven 3-pointer barrage, but it wasn’t enough as the Bears were able to hold on down the stretch. Senior Colin Gozelski found De’Andre “Jazz” King underneath for what proved to be the game winner with just 5.6 seconds remaining. The Bears called timeout with 22 seconds left in a 72-72 ball game to set up the play.

“Obviously, we wanted to go inside,” Potter said. “The first look wasn’t there because they took it away. Colin penetrated the gap and they helped up a little bit. I’m sure that’s not what they were supposed to do, and Colin was able to find Jazz underneath. He got the ball up on the glass and finished.

“We always knew one of our strengths would be inside and this was a good example of it,” he continued. “In and up-and-down game, that was a big plus for us. When we needed a bucket, we could get one.”

Ketchikan still had a shot to win at the buzzer even after Jesse Lindgren lost the ball underneath the basket under heavy pressure from Yadao, but Ibesate contested a deep Day 3-pointer at the final horn.

“We haven’t watched it on tape yet but it really looked like Lance, for once in his life, was on top of the ball,” Potter said of his 5-foot-5 point guard. “He’s challenged guys late in games and we’ve been like, ‘What are you doing? The only way we can lose is if you foul that guy.’ I thought Lance got his hand on the ball and it was OK. I think it was a long .5 seconds, but I didn’t believe there was a foul on that play.”

The was game tied at 31-31 with five-plus minutes to go in the third quarter, and that’s when the fireworks began.

Day stuck a triple, but King got a bucket inside with a chance for a free throw, which he missed, and Calloway put the rebound back in for an and-1 and a 36-34 JDHS lead.

Two Lindgren free throws the other way tied things up again at 36-all. Ibesate and Day traded long pull-up jumpers, and then Ibesate went to the cup for a bucket. Baldwin got a tip-in inside and Lindgren answered with a layup.

Ibesate went to the basket again for a deuce and a steal by Hurtte led to a couple of free throws. Calloway reversed the ball for a spot-up 3-pointer for Hurtte, and Ibesate again went to the cup for a lay-in and a 51-43 JDHS lead, but Alex Williams buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it a 51-46 game heading into the fourth quarter.

Yadao scored first to start the final stretch, and Lindgren answered the other way to begin a string of eight straight made baskets by the Kings. An Ibesate 3-pointer pushed the JDHS lead back to 8, 56-48, but a Day triple and a baseline drive and score by Lindgren cut the lead back to 5, 56-51.

Yadao rattled in a runner to start a string of six consecutive made baskets for JDHS as the teams traded scores. A Keagan Lervick putback made it a 69-64 game, and Lindgren cut the Bears’ lead to 3, 69-66, with a bucket inside.

“If they’re making eight shots in a row against us, then they’re getting way too comfortable,” Potter said. “Nobody should feel that comfortable against us. We talked about how we wanted to defend their shooters but we didn’t do it. By the time we did do it, they were comfortable enough that it didn’t really matter. They found the basket and it was really big for them. But I liked the part where we made six in a row.”

Ibesate found Calloway inside for a bucket, but Day answered again with yet a 3-pointer from the wing with 1:30 to play to make it a one-point, 71-70 game.

“He wasn’t supposed to get that look,” Potter admitted. “That wasn’t part of the plan. But we’ve been in a lot of close games this year, and this was the first really high-scoring, close game. Down one or down two or up one or two with a little bit of time left on the clock, we’re OK. We’ve been in that situation enough times that I think sometimes our guys are more relaxed than early in the game when it isn’t clear cut what we should be doing.”

The Kings tied things up for the final time at 72-72 when Evan Gross fouled Day inside after a drive and score, but Day missed the free throw and King got the game winner the other way.

Yadao, who came off the bench with Ibesate as the seniors got the start for senior weekend, led JDHS with 19 points. Ibesate and King each scored 15 points, and Hurtte added 12.

Lindgren added 19 points to Day’s 38.

Wednesday February 09, 2011
Surging JDHS doubles up Thunder Mountain; JV wins too - Juneau Empire by Matthew Tynan
     Juneau-Douglas big man Ryan Baldwin said earlier in the week he and his team hope to finish conference play undefeated.

So far, so good.

The Crimson Bears held Thunder Mountain to just 23 points as they once again reinforced their status as the team to beat in the Southeast Conference on Tuesday with a convincing 46-23 win at Thunder Mountain High School.

“We came out hard and played at our tempo. We were slow at the beginning of the season, but we’re starting to get there,” said Baldwin, who led the Bears with 16 points. “There for a while we didn’t block out and let them back in the game.”

Trailing 35-12 after three quarters, the Falcons stormed out on an 11-0 run over the first three minutes of the fourth. Thunder Mountain freshman Ben Jahn scored a layup, sophomore Keith Ainsworth hit two technical foul free throws. Sophomore Sam Jahn nailed a putback before Ainsworth connected on a 3-pointer and two more free throws to cut a 23-point deficit to 12.

But the Bears regrouped to hold the Falcons scoreless over the final four-plus minutes while going on an 11-0 run of their own, closing out the game. While Juneau-Douglas’ defense was up to the task, Thunder Mountain missed an inordinate number of open jumpers as there was a lid on the basket all night for the Falcons.

“I don’t think you can have much of a worse shooting night,” Falcons coach John Blasco said. “I don’t know what it is because it’s our home floor, and that’s tough. But you can’t win ball games with 23 points, and we were as cold as could be on both ends of the floor.”

Senior Eddie Hurtte was second on the team in scoring with 10 points, while senior Colin Gozelski scored six points after being slowed by a lingering ankle injury he aggravated in last weekend’s victory over Wasilla.

“I think we’re starting to figure some things out. We’re not all the way there, for sure, but we got a lot of guys opportunities with Colin (Gozelski) still nursing that ankle a bit,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said. “We try to guard. Certainly, we know they’re going to go on runs — they’re too talented not to — but we want them to have to work for everything.”

Juneau-Douglas gave up just nine points the entire first half as the Falcons struggled to crack the Bears’ full-court pressure. And whenever Thunder Mountain was able to break the press, the 2-3 zone gave the Falcons fits.

Baldwin was too much to handle inside for Thunder Mountain, scoring eight of Juneau-Douglas’ 12 first-quarter points, while Gozelski scored the other four.

The offensive deficiencies for Thunder Mountain didn’t stop there, however. The Falcons managed only three second-quarter points, but kept the game close by not fouling and playing good defense. Thunder Mountain committed only one foul in the first half. Still, the Falcons scored just three points again in the third quarter before exploding for 11 in the opening three minutes of the fourth to give the Bears a scare. TMHS was relentless on the offensive boards but couldn’t capitalize on second- and third-chance opportunities.

“We were crashing (the glass) really hard tonight, we just have to finish and find a way to put the ball in the bucket,” Blasco said. “That little spurt we had, the guys just woke up for a second. I told the guys it’s a 32-minute ball game. We played about four hard minutes and look what we can do. We cut it to 12 (points) quickly.

“We just have to find a way to do it consistently.”

The Falcons were led by Ainsworth’s 11 points, followed by Sam and Ben Jahn, who scored six points apiece.

In the JV game the Crimson Bears jumped out to a 20-0 first quarter lead and never looked back. When the final horn sounded the first quarter deficit was the final margin, too, 58-38.

Darien Stanger netted 19 points for the Bears to lead all scorers, and Phillip Fenumiai tossed in eleven points. The JV Falcons were led by Ben Jahn's nine points and Matthew Seymour's six.

The Crimson Bears (13-4, 3-0) face Ketchikan at 8 p.m. at JDHS on Friday and Saturday.

Thunder Mountain’s (4-16, 0-5) next contest at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Juneau-Douglas.

Sunday February 06, 2011
Bears upend No. 4 Warriors; JV sweeps, too - Juneau Empire by Matthew Tynan
     Two games against the fourth-ranked team in the state this weekend were viewed as a measuring stick for Juneau-Douglas, and two wins would go along way in validating the Crimson Bears.

Consider coach Steve Potter’s club validated.

Juneau-Douglas hit its free throws down the stretch and managed to keep Wasilla at arm’s length as the Crimson Bears won for the second time in as many nights, 48-42 this time, against a team that entered the weekend No. 5 in the Winning Percentage Index, and fourth in the Alaska Basketball Coaches Association Poll.

Wasilla big man Connor Devine fouled out of the contest at the 3:26 to play in a 39-39 ball game, and the Bears took advantage. With the outside shot not falling — JDHS shot just 35 percent from the floor, including 1-for-8 from behind the arc — the Bears weren’t able to spread the floor against the 6-foot-9 Devine. But it was a different story when the big man took a seat for good.

Juneau-Douglas repeatedly attacked the paint when the anchor of Wasilla’s defense was on the bench, and the Bears finished the final 2:42 on a 9-3 run with all points coming in the paint or from the stripe.

“I thought we did a good job getting them to play at our tempo,” Potter said. “I thought we made them play faster than they wanted. We had a tough time with their bigs, but today we were a little more effective.

“We did a better job with Ryan (Baldwin) and (De’Andre) Jazz (King) going at (Devine) instead of going around him.”

Devine scored just five points on the night even though JDHS battled foul trouble as well — Baldwin fouled out in just eight minutes and Evan Gross played only nine minutes, racking up four fouls — but his absence at the end of the game was felt on the defensive end and on the boards. The big man also had nine rebounds and three blocked shots in about 23 minutes.

“Obviously (fouling out) meant a lot because he changes so much defensively. He rebounds the ball, defends, changes shots and he does a great job,” Wasilla coach Ryan Engebretsen said. “Unfortunately, he got called on a couple of things we didn’t agree with, but it is what it is and our guards have to keep guys out of the paint as well.”

Junior guard Tony Yadao paced the Bears with 10 points and junior Lance Ibesate, senior Edward Hurtte and junior Alec Calloway scored seven points each.

Braydon Kuiper led all scorers with 12 points. The Warriors did have their chances throughout the game, but Juneau-Douglas responded whenever Wasilla would make a move.

“Coach just regrouped us at halftime, saying if we wanted to win we had to come out with more defensive intensity. That’s what we did,” said Hurtte, who celebrated his 18th birthday with a win Saturday, and then was elevated to captain by his teammates afterward. “We got off to a slow start this season, but now we’re starting to trust our teammates and we’re really starting to come together.”

Juneau-Douglas once again overcame a slow start to win its fourth game in a row, but the first quarter was anything but a model of offensive efficiency. Neither side could keep control of the ball, and neither was able to capitalize on the other’s mistakes as two of the top six teams in the state labored to score just nine points combined in the quarter, with Wasilla leading 5-4.

Trailing 11-7 after the first 10 minutes of the game, the Crimson Bears found their rhythm during a 7-0 run midway through the second quarter. Two Colin Gozelski free throws, an Ibesate free throw and two layups from Yadao and Calloway sparked a Bears offense that had been stagnant for most of the early going. Still, once again, it all started with Juneau-Douglas’ defense.

The Bears adjusted their press in the second, eliminating Wasilla’s long, diagonal passes downcourt, and trapped the Warriors whenever possible, making Wasilla visibly uncomfortable getting into its offensive sets.

“That’s got to be our calling card — we have to hang our hat on our defense. Apparently we’re not the best shooters in the world,” Potter joked. “We have guys who can hit shots, but if our defense gets us easy opportunities, that’s what we need to do.”

Next up for the Crimson Bears (12-4, 2-0) is the crosstown rival Falcons (4-15, 0-4) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Thunder Mountain High School.

JDHS defense shines through on Friday

Juneau-Douglas played perhaps its best defensive game of the season Friday night in knocking off No. 4 Wasilla 51-44 in Juneau.

“Obviously, we had a couple of lapses but I thought we made it hard for them to get shots,” Crimson Bears coach Steve Potter said. “We didn’t want to foul (Connor Devine) quite as much, but we have to make people work against us and I thought, for the first time, that our guards and big guys were on the same page with their effort. The bigs were there providing backup and making it difficult for where they wanted to go.”

Wasilla led 10-9 at the end of the first quarter, but JDHS scored the first six points of the second after two straight old-fashioned 3-point plays to take a lead the Crimson Bears never relinquished.

Senior forward Colin Gozelski scored on a breakaway layup, made the free throw and then got a steal, passing to junior point guard Lance Ibesate for another layup and-1 for a 15-10 JDHS lead.

Another Gozelski steal led to a bucket inside for senior guard Edward Hurtte off a dish from Ibesate for the Bears’ biggest lead of the first half, 25-16, which was a 25-18 cushion at the break after Devine made a couple of free throws for Wasilla.

The Bears went ahead by 10 points after the 5-foot-5 Ibesate canned a tear-drop runner over the top of the 6-foot-9 Devine early in the third quarter.

Wasilla chipped away and pulled within three, 32-29, after junior Tyler Anderson followed his own miss inside and senior Cole Schierman scored an old-fashioned 3-point play as JDHS missed nine straight shots and two free throws.

Sophomore wing Phillip Fenumiai came off the bench for the Bears and splashed a huge 3-pointer from the top of the key, and Wasilla countered with a Wade Stahle bucket inside.

Junior guard Tony Yadao drove and dished to Hurtte inside for a bucket, and Fenumiai buried another 3-pointer from the wing to push JDHS back out by 7, 40-33. Fenumiai attempted another triple and missed, but sprinted toward the basket for an easy bucket after Gozelski corralled the offensive rebound and fed him for two, and a 42-32 JDHS lead.

“It was (a huge boost). Phillip’s got a nice shot and he’s got an offensive mindset. He’s an attacking player and he’s making the most of his opportunities,” Potter said of his sophomore wing’s instant offense off the bench. “It was a nice boost for us and it gave us just that little bit of cushion where we knew we could defend with confidence. We could be aggressive and gamble a little bit and make things difficult for them.”

Wasilla pulled within 6, 45-39, heading into the fourth quarter and after airballing a couple of 3-pointers, finally got one to drop to make it a 47-44 ball game as Yadao and Ibesate missed the front end of a 1-and-1 three straight times. But there was only 13 seconds left after Brayden Kuiper’s triple, and Yadao made four straight free throws to close the game, much to Potter’s relief.

“I think the guys do that on purpose just to see if they can make me lose all my hair before they leave,” Potter quipped, referencing the missed free throws that allowed the Warriors to make it a one-possession game.

The balanced Bears spread the ball around. Nobody reached double figures but five players scored at least six points. Hurtte led with nine points, Ibesate, De’Andre “Jazz” King and Fenumiai scored eight each, and Gozelski put up six. In all, 10 different players scored for JDHS.

“I think that’s when we’re at our best, when a lot of guys are scoring,” Potter said. “We have guys that are capable of having big scoring nights and when it happens that’s great, but I think part of what makes us potentially a good team is that we have a lot of guys that can score. Depending on how teams defend us, we have guys that are a threat at every position, and guys that can score off the bench.”

Devine, a possible Division I prospect, led all scorers with 14 points, and added 15 rebounds and nine blocks. He made just two field goals as 10 points came from the free throw line. JDHS chose to body him up with strong men Ryan Baldwin, 6-foot-6, and the 6-foot-4 King. Six-foot-7 center Evan Gross, closest in height to Devine, matched up with him for a time after Baldwin drew his fourth foul.

“I thought they all did a pretty good job on him,” Potter said. “He still was the leading scorer in the game but he didn’t get his stuff for free. He had to work for everything he got.”

The JV Bears pulled out a 50-43 win against the visiting Wasilla JV team Friday night behind 12 points from Fenumiai, 11 from both Jeffrey Pusich and Darien Stanger, and 10 from Jackson Lehnhart.

On Saturday the JV team also secured another victory against the JV Warriors behind 22 points from Fenumiai and 19 points from Stanger. The final score was 67-53.

Thursday February 03, 2011
Warriors a tall order for Bears - Juneau Empire by Matthew Tynan
     The season is now more than a month and a half old, but Juneau’s prep hoopsters have yet to be tested like they will be this weekend when Wasilla visits the capital city for a three-game road trip.

The 8-4 Warriors boys’ basketball team, ranked fourth in the Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches Poll, will square off with Thunder Mountain (4-12, 0-2) tonight at TMHS before a two-game series with Juneau-Douglas (10-4, 2-0) on Friday and Saturday.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for us. They’re ranked above us in the (Winning Percentage Index), they have an elite player and not only that, but they kicked the tar out of us last year in the state tournament,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said. “When you’re highly ranked it usually means you’re doing something right, and I think they do things right.

“They usually play pretty tough man (defense), they cut hard and they rebound well. They play basketball the right way.”

The Crimson Bears’ strength all year has been their size inside, but that’s about to be tested. Wasilla’s two leading scorers, juniors Connor Devine and Braydon Kuiper, stand 6-foot-9 and 6-foot-4, respectively, and are capable of scoring from anywhere on the floor.

While he might not necessarily be larger in girth, at 6-foot-9, Devine is taller than anyone Juneau-Douglas can throw at him. His 16.6 points, 10 rebounds and 4.1 blocks per game also prove he’s more than just a big body inside.

“(Devine) is a talented player. We just have to move our feet and not let him set up where he wants. He can shoot the 3-pointer and he also two-hand dunked on us in the post during the state tournament,” Potter said. “He can do it from wherever he is on the floor, and we just need to make sure we guard him. He’s tough going to the board and if you let him get the ball, he’s going to score.”

But he’s not the only threat Wasilla poses.

“They have another good player (Kuiper) who’s a pretty strong player,” Potter said. “He’s been scoring in big bunches for them this year.”

Kuiper’s numbers aren’t that far behind Devine’s at 15.8 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, but he plays the role of swingman for the Warriors. His size on the perimeter will certainly test Juneau-Douglas’ smaller guards, but Potter said he has seen improvement in his squad in recent weeks.

“We played a little better against Mt. Edgecumbe (on Jan. 27). They’re obviously a tough matchup for us, but I thought we defended them pretty well,” he said. “Our offense still has those lulls we’re working hard to overcome, but we’re hoping this weekend will give us a chance to try out a couple of new things we’re working on.

“We’ll see if we can be more effective.”

Tuesday February 01, 2011
Wasilla Warriors this Friday and Saturday!
     The 2010 state runner-up will be in town with their varsity and jv teams this weekend. Show up and support your Crimson Bears as they test their mettle against a top-ranked opponent.

Friday January 28, 2011
Bears hold off Braves - Juneau Empire by Shaun T. Cox
     Juneau-Douglas avenged its first loss of the season Thursday with a 50-46 win over visiting Mt. Edgecumbe at JDHS.

The Braves handed the Crimson Bears a 47-42 defeat Jan. 6 and Mt. Edgecumbe would not go away Thursday, never letting Juneau-Douglas get comfortable.

JDHS coach Steve Potter credited the play of senior guard Eddie Hurtte for giving the Bears a big lift off the bench. Hurtte finished second on the team in scoring with 12 points, but Potter said it was the little things he did that really stood out.

“He was on loose balls and cutting hard the whole game. He hasn’t played that much varsity basketball but as a senior, he’s trying to lead by example,” he said. “We don’t really have any true vocal leaders and I think with his play, he’s trying to set an example for the other guys.

“And I think it carried over. Guys started moving with more purpose.”

The Braves quickly built a 5-0 lead after a jumper by sophomore guard Dominique Hall and a triple from the wing by senior Savion Waters.

Junior Tony Yadao put the Bears on the board after knocking down a jumper on a kick out from De’Andre “Jazz” King, and then King scored inside. Junior Evan Gross scored down low to give the Bears their first lead at 6-5, and then made it 8-5 with a tip-in score off a King miss. A stickback by senior forward Ryan Baldwin doubled up the Braves at 12-6, but Hall knocked down a jumper and it was 12-8, JDHS, after one quarter of play.

The Braves began with a 7-2 spurt to retake the lead in the opening minutes of the second quarter. Hall got an and-1 inside and then a bucket off the dribble to push Mt. Edgecumbe back out front, 15-14, with 5:47 to play in the half.

JDHS tied it at 15-15 with a Baldwin free throw and then went up 19-15 on easy bucket inside for Hurtte off a beautiful baseline drive and dish by Yadao.

The Bears took a 23-17 lead on a 3-pointer by junior point guard Lance Ibesate after a Yadao steal, but the Braves took the air out of the ball with 2:37 to play, dribbling and passing around the perimeter for two full minutes, until Zach Ivanoff rose and splashed a triple.

“That’s pretty much what we’ve seen our last few games and we’ve got to learn how to deal with it,” Potter said of other teams slowing the tempo. “We’ve got to get out and guard guys. We tried to stir things up in the second half and we were able to move the tempo a little bit — not as much as I’d like, but it was still better than the first half.”

Kacy Green then made it a 23-22 game after knocking down a couple of free throws with 1.3 seconds remaining in the half.

Mt. Edgecumbe tied the game twice in the third quarter but never could get over the hump. A 3-pointer by Waters at the 5:48-mark knotted the game at 25 apiece, and two free throws by Hall tied it at 27-all.

JDHS went inside to the 6-foot-7 Gross for a bucket, and went up 5, 32-27, after a steal and lay-up by Ibesate.

JDHS led 34-27 after Yadao drove the lane and finished with a nifty up-and-under lay-up, but Mt. Edgecumbe scored the final four points on free throws by Waters, again keeping the game within reach at 34-31 heading into the fourth quarter.

Both teams had trouble getting anything going over the first half of the final period, but a Yadao 3-pointer on a King kick-out gave the Bears their biggest lead at 43-35.

A triple by Waters cut it to 5, 47-42, but the Braves would get no closer.

“I thought we did a good job in spots of being patient and getting good shots. The biggest thing I thought was missed lay-ups and free throws,” Mt. Edgecumbe coach Archie Young said. “If you look at the stats and see how many shots we missed in the paint and how many free throws we missed in a four-point game, I think we missed more free throws than we lost by.

“We were able to get close but we could never get over,” he continued. “I think we made strides, though. I thought we played hard — a little out of control, but hard.”

Mt. Edgecumbe went 4-for-7 from the line in the first half before making eight straight and finishing 15 of 20 from the stripe.

Ibesate led JDHS with 13 points, Hurtte scored 12 and Yadao six.

Waters led all scorers with 23 points.

JDHS (10-4, 2-0) is off until Feb. 4, when Wasilla treks to Juneau.

The Crimson Bears JV team pulled out a 44-42 victory over Mt. Edgecumbe behind 12 points from Jeffrey Pusich and nine points for Aquiro Brinson. Kyle Barry and Jackson Lehnhart added six points each.

Calvin Franklin led all scorers with 17 points.

Sunday January 23, 2011
Juneau preps have rough time on the road - Juneau Empire by Shaun T. Cox
     uneau-Douglas wrapped up a rough four-game road trip Saturday with a 44-38 win over Ketchikan in the seventh-place game of the 2011 Alaska Prep Shootout at Dimond High School.

The Crimson Bears opened the road swing Wednesday with a 71-47 loss at West Anchorage before dropping the first two games of the Prep Shootout. Palmer beat JDHS 58-51 in the tourney opener Thursday, and then host Dimond beat Juneau-Douglas 42-30 on Friday.

Against a familiar foe in Ketchikan, the Bears finally got back on track, though it took two quarters for things to get moving in the right direction.

The Kings jumped to an 11-2 lead by the end of the first quarter and led 22-11 at the half.

“We were in danger of getting shut out for the first quarter. (Alec) Calloway got a steal with about three seconds left and laid it up when the buzzer went off so we could actually score,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said. “It was a pretty ugly first half but we were able to dial up our pressure in the second half, and they had a little bit of a hard time with it.”

JDHS rallied in the third quarter with a 22-7 stretch that saw the Bears claim the lead heading into the fourth and JDHS held on, outscoring Ketchikan 11-9 over the final eight minutes.

“We were able to get them into the open floor and apply pressure,” Potter said of the turnaround. “We just had to get after guys. We don’t match up with them well because they’re all really small, and we were tentative at the beginning of the game. All of the struggles we’ve had seemed to be magnified by that, but we finally calmed down and started playing, and we were able to reverse the ship.”

The shorter Kings actually outrebounded the Bears 29-23, but Potter said a good chunk of that difference came in the first quarter.

“We didn’t rebound particularly well and there were a lot of missed free throws (for Ketchikan), and that kind of skewed the rebounding numbers a little bit. They shoot long shots, and that leads to crazy rebounds sometimes. And we just haven’t developed our blocking out to the level that it needs to be.”

Senior Colin Gozelski led JDHS with 11 points and three steals, while sophomore Lance Ibesate scored 10 points along with three assists and four steals. Eddie Hurtte added eight points and Phillip Fenumiai seven points and five rebounds. A key for JDHS was its free throw shooting, where the Bears made 11 of 14 to the Kings’ 6 of 14. The underlying theme of the road swing for Juneau-Douglas again was its horrid 3-point shooting. The Bears made 1 of 10 against Ketchikan, and just 2 of 26 in the tournament.

“We’ve just been really tentative on offense,” Potter said. “We’re getting good shots but we’re not making them, so there’s a little bit of uncertainty whether we should be taking them. We’re doing the things we need to do, we just need to start making shots.”

Potter said the Bears “struggled mightily” Friday against Dimond’s 2-3 zone as JDHS scored just four points in both the second and third quarters. The Bears also were outrebounded 34-29, and the Lynx scored 12 points off 15 JDHS turnovers.

“Our defense kept the game close, but being unable to score prevented us from coming back,” he said via e-mail. “This was also the first game of the year we were outrebounded.”

Ibesate and Fenumiai each scored six points to lead JDHS (9-4), and the Bears have a rematch with the Mt. Edgecumbe Braves on Thursday at 6:30 in Juneau. The Braves were the first team to defeat the Bears this season.

Ibesate was the lone JDHS representative on the All-Tournament team.

Friday January 21, 2011
JDHS falls to Palmer - Juneau Empire by Matthew Tynan
     The Crimson Bears boys’ basketball team had a chance to avoid a two-game losing streak, but an early start doomed Juneau-Douglas in a 58-51 loss to Palmer at the 2011 Alaska Prep shootout at Dimond High School.

Juneau-Douglas was outscored 12-4 in the opening quarter, and even after coming back to take the lead halfway through the third period the Bears couldn’t quite finish it off.

“We started off really slowly and didn’t have any sense of urgency,” Bears coach Steve Potter said. “The Palmer kids were aggressive and strong and made good cuts, and they jumped out on us early. There’s really no excuse for only scoring four points in the first quarter.”

Sean Nickamp had a big game for the Moose, dropping 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in the winning effort. The Palmer bench also outscored the Crimson Bears’ 24-10 behind 10 points from reserve Kevin Montgomery.

“They were just crisper in pretty every aspect of the game. They made hard cuts, set good screens and went to the boards hard,” Potter said. “We came back and went up about four minutes into the third quarter. Then we just stopped scoring.

“We got into them with our man pressure and got them playing faster than they wanted to, but I guess they just adjusted to it and we weren’t able to change it up enough to keep them uncomfortable.”

Senior Colin Gozelski led the Bears in scoring once again with 13 points, and De’Andre King scored 10 down low. Sophomore Lance Ibesate was named Player of the Game with nine points, four rebounds, three assists and four steals.

Juneau-Douglas plays the host Dimond Lynx today at 4:30 p.m.

In other games from the Alaska Prep Shootout, Cordova defeated host Dimond 62-46 and North Pole edged Ketchikan 51-47.

Thursday January 20, 2011
JDHS falls flat in 4th quarter - Juneau Empire by Shaun T. Cox
     Juneau-Douglas fell flat in the fourth quarter Wednesday, getting outscored 23-5 in dropping a 71-47 decision at West Anchorage in boys’ basketball action.

The Crimson Bear boys led 14-13 after the first quarter and trailed by 8, 36-28, at the half. JDHS closed within 6, 48-42, heading into the fourth, but then fell apart after abandoning their zone defense and facing matchup problems.

“West’s trademark is their full-court pressure and we got a lot of lay-up opportunities early and we converted. But they adjusted,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said. “They have a couple of really talented athletes, and they’re all really long and fast. They press and keep pressing, coming at you from behind. They played a 1-1-3 zone similar to what Thunder Mountain did, but way more aggressive.

“We were patient but with about five minutes to go we needed to come back so we came out of our zone, and then our matchup issues became obvious.”

Colin Gozelski led JDHS with 19 points, scoring 18 in the first half. Three more Bears scored six points each.

JDHS plays Palmer today at 2:45 p.m. in the opener of the 2011 Alaska Prep Shootout at Dimond High School.

The eigh-team bracket also includes Cordova, Nome, Bartlett, Ketchikan and North Pole.

Sunday January 16, 2011
Crimson Bears stuff Falcons - Juneau Empire by Matthew Tynan
     Friday night’s matchup between the Crimson Bears and Falcons might have been closer than anticipated but on Saturday, Juneau-Douglas showed why many consider it the gold standard of Southeast Conference hoops in 2011.

Holding a 12-10 lead after the first quarter, JDHS broke the game open in the second with a barrage of points off turnovers that left Thunder Mountain reeling in front of the raucous Crimson Bears student section in a 54-29 blowout at Juneau-Douglas High School.

The Bears took advantage of nine Thunder Mountain turnovers in the second quarter alone and outscored the Falcons 23-6 in the frame behind nine first-half points from senior swingman Colin Gozelski and forward De’Andre “Jazz” King. Gozelski finished with 17 points to lead all scorers, while King finished with 13 of his own.

“We weren’t ready for their zone (Friday) night,” Gozelski said. “Saturday night we were able to execute better inside and out, and we had a better shooting percentage.”

The Falcons’ zone defense gave Juneau-Douglas fits on Friday night and for most of the first quarter on Saturday. This time, the Bears were able to make the right adjustments.

“We moved the ball quicker and made more cuts to the middle to open everything up and get the guys moving — catch them off guard,” Gozelski said.

JDHS coach Steve Potter said it’s always nice to play in front of the home crowd, especially after winning a close one Friday night at Thunder Mountain.

“We feel better playing in this gym — our guys just feel more comfortable. We came out, we looked for each other and we went inside and drew some fouls,” he said. “Even though we were missing our free throws again, we still stuck with the plan and it ended up paying off.”

But on Saturday night it was the Bears’ defensive pressure that was the difference. The inexperienced Falcons were never able to recover after being outscored by 17 points in the second quarter.

“Our press really got to them. I think they got comfortable in the first half, and then we started putting a lot of random presses on them,” Gozelski said. “They just weren’t able to get the ball around us.”

Juneau-Douglas switched from a zone to man-to-man defense in the second period and the change seemed to work. After committing just one turnover in the first quarter and finding holes in the Crimson Bears’ zone, the Falcons struggled mightily with Juneau-Douglas’ man-to-man press in the second period.

“(Juneau-Douglas) came out way more aggressive in the second quarter, obviously, looking at the 23-6 run,” TMHS coach John Blasco said. “We didn’t step up and stop them, and we just let them take complete control for those eight minutes.”

Blasco said his team did not come out prepared on Saturday as it had the night before on its home court, and the Crimson Bears took advantage.

“You can’t settle for one game the night before. You have to show up to play day in and day out. JDHS showed up to play and we did not,” he said. “That’s one thing we have to learn. This is a competitive league and you better be ready to play.”

Sophomore swingman Keith Ainsworth was the only player in double figures for the Falcons with 10 points. Freshman Matt Seymour was the next closest with seven.

As for whether or not the rowdy environment at Juneau-Douglas affected his young players, Blasco said the atmosphere around the court shouldn’t matter.

“It’s a tough loss because they beat us hard. The environment didn’t bother me at all and I don’t think it should have bothered them,” he said. “JDHS straight up took it to us tonight in every facet of the game. We can’t settle for that.

Juneau-Douglas hits the road next week for an Anchorage road trip Jan. 19-22. Thunder Mountain has the week off.

JDHS edges TMHS

It was the closest game between the two teams in the brief history of the crosstown rivalry, but the result was as familiar as the previous five.

With the score knotted up at 37-37 late in the fourth quarter, the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears went on a key 7-0 run and held off a late Thunder Mountain rally to beat the Falcons 47-43 Friday night at Thunder Mountain High School.

“It was a great game. I mean, obviously, we competed until the very end. I don’t think anybody in town expected a four-point game, and I told the guys before the game that’s how it was going to be,” TMHS coach John Blasco said. “We just needed to go out and prove ourselves, and we executed our gameplan perfectly. A couple of plays here and there and it’s our ball game.”

But it was the Bears who executed the best down the stretch. With the game tied at 37 apiece, sophomore forward Phillip Fenumiai came off the bench and promptly hit a baseline jumper from the left side, and followed it with a big 3-pointer that turned a tie game into a five-point contest with five minutes remaining.

A De’Andre “Jazz” King tip-in and driving lay-up from Colin Gozelski pushed the score to 44-37, and that would be enough for the win.

“Any win is a good win. Like I said before, (Blasco) gets his guys to play hard and when you play hard you have a chance,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said. “They had a little better chance than I wanted.”

The Falcons came out in a zone defense to help negate the interior presence and size of the Crimson Bears, and it worked well for most of the game, forcing Juneau-Douglas away from its strong suit.

Thunder Mountain fed off the energy from the crowd, taking a 10-9 lead into the second quarter, but the Bears responded.

Gozelski and King took over in the second, combining for 13 of the team’s 15 points. The two totaled 14 and 11 points on the night, respectively.

“We came out excited, but they took advantage of the opportunity they had and almost had it,” King said. “But we started playing at our own pace, making our moves and calming ourselves down. Simply, we just played our game.”

The Falcons took a one-point early in the fourth quarter on an Ainsworth floater, but Fenumiai’s baseline jumper gave the Bears the lead for good.

Ainsworth scored 11 for the Falcons while freshman Ben Jahn led Thunder Mountain with 13 points.

Saturday January 15, 2011
C and JV results from Saturday
     The C-team made some adjustments in their second game against crosstown foes, Thunder Mountain, but still came up short. The 4 point loss on Saturday showed much improvement from the first game on Wednesday, which ended in a 20 loss.

In the JV game the Crimson Bears turned their own 17 point loss from Wednesday into a 3 point victory on Saturday.

Saturday's JV game was an up and down affair that was highly contested. The Bears maintained a lead in the second half and held on to seal the victory. The game, which saw Junior guard Jesse Miller head to the emergency room after breaking his wrist when he was fouled on a lay-up drive in the second quarter, also had an ejection of Thunder Mountain player, Sam Jahn, for receiving two technical fouls later in the third quarter.

The Sophomore forward for the Falcons was upset with a foul called on him during a loose ball play and vocally expressed his displeasure, earning him the first technical foul. He continued his demonstration by un-tucking his jersey and making more comments, earning him his second technical foul and the ejection. Crimson Bear Sophomore, Phillip Fenumiai, stepped up to the line to shoot the four technical freethrows and made three of them. The three made freethrows turned out to be the final margin of victory.

Friday January 14, 2011
Big Bears favored in SE - Juneau Empire by Shaun T. Cox
     The Southeast Conference boys’ basketball season gets underway tonight with a crosstown showdown between Thunder Mountain and Juneau-Douglas at 6 p.m. at TMHS.

The Crimson Bears were tabbed the team to beat by Ketchikan coach Erik Stockhausen and Thunder Mountain coach John Blasco, as the Kings reload after losing three-quarters of their scoring punch from last season, and the freshmen- and sophomore-heavy Falcons are still figuring out how to play together.

Juneau-Douglas is blessed with a ton of size inside this year, while Ketchikan and Thunder Mountain will be more perimeter-oriented.

The Kings went 7-1 in the regular season last year against the Falcons and Bears, dropping only their conference opener at TMHS, before getting upset in the tournament’s final game on a last-second steal and lay-up by Juneau-Douglas’ Lance Ibesate.

All three teams and coaches are well aware of the possibilities come tournament time, where any team can get hot and win a few games in the double-elimination format.

TMHS and JDHS are at Juneau-Douglas on Saturday at 8 p.m., and the Falcons face the Kings on Feb. 4-5 in Ketchikan. The Bears and Kings don’t meet until Feb. 11-12 in Juneau.

Ketchikan Kings (4-2)

Coach: Erik Stockhausen

Ketchikan is going through the difficult task of replacing top scorer Jeff Whicker and the versatile Tyller Bell, who combined to put up 37.8 points, 12.6 rebounds and six assists per game last season. Whicker was one of the state’s top scorers at 25.2 points per game, while the Kings made 49 percent of their shots from the field and 34 percent from beyond the arc.

“We lost a lot from last year’s group with Jeff and Tyler, I think around 75 percent of our offense — we had a big senior class last year,” Stockhausen said. “We’ve got some kids who have been in our program who are in their third year, and they’re starting to understand some things. We feel very fortunate to have played well enough to have gotten off to a good start, but we know we’ve got a long way to go.”

Taking up the scoring slack this season is the quartet of Chas Allen (13.3 points per game), Jesse Lindgren (12.8), Kyle Day (11.8) and Alex William (8.5).

“I think our kids are very unselfish and they play a fairly cerebral ball game,” Stockhausen said. “At this early stage, they’re doing well. We all need to get better but I think the kids have really worked on their skills, and we shoot the ball fairly well at times.”

Stockhausen said rebounding is a major factor with his team’s success.

“In our wins, we outrebounded our opponents. The two we lost, we didn’t,” he said. “And I think cutting down on turnovers is big. We’re at 18 a game and when you’re playing with five guards it’s imperative to take care of the ball, and we should be able to do that.”

Stockhausen said he likes how Blasco is building the program at Thunder Mountain.

“I think Coach Blasco’s got a great teaching situation with a lot of young guys that are playing their hearts out,” he said. “He’s a good coach and they’re going to do well, and I think they’ve already shown marked improvement. They’re definitely building for the future and doing it the right way, with young kids learning as they go. I think come March, they’ll be very dangerous because of how many bodies they can throw at you and the energy they have.

JDHS is loaded from top to bottom, Stockhausen said, and the Bears’ size down low is going to present a challenge.

“Juneau(-Douglas), they’ve got a lot of good players. I think Tony Yadao is fantastic, and Colin (Gozelski) is a heck of an athlete,” he said. “I just really respect their kids and what they do. They’re going to be what everyone is shooting for between Thunder Mountain and us, and until we play them we won’t really know what we’ve got.”

Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears (6-1)

Coach: Steve Potter

The Crimson Bears were tabbed the early favorites by Stockhausen and Blasco, but JDHS coach Steve Potter said his team still has a long way to go.

Potter said the Bears are much more effective when patient and making fundamental basketball plays in the flow of the offense, as opposed to trying to make flashy plays.

“We are capable of making some pretty dynamic passes and shots, but we’re not effective when that’s our goal,” he said. “When we reverse the ball and go inside, we’re pretty effective.”

One of Juneau-Douglas’ biggest strong suits is its depth. Eighteen Bears have seen the floor this year, and JDHS can go big or small when the situation calls for it.

“We’re pretty big. It’s not out of the realm of possibility to play with more than 1,000 pounds of guys on the floor,” he said. “We can put some girth out there and we’re not short.

JDHS has six players listed at 6-foot-4 or taller, and swingman Colin Gozelski (22 points in two games played) stands 6-foot-3. Junior center Evan Gross is 6-foot-7, big man Ryan Baldwin is 6-foot-6 and forward De’Andre “Jazz” King is 6-foot-4. Baldwin (13 points and 17 boards in two games) and King (10.8 points and 7.8 boards) are too strong for anyone else in the conference to push around underneath.

Backcourt starters Lance Ibesate (7.4 points, 2.4 assists and 3.2 steals per game) and Tony Yadao (8 points, 3.6 assists, 3 boards and 2.2 steals) stand 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-8, respectively, but the duo is lightning quick with strong ball-handling skills. Potter said he just wants the pair to play under control.

“We definitely have some talented ball handlers but sometimes they forget that the goal is not to display the ball-handling talents, but to use them to get out of trouble, not to get into trouble,” he said. “I prefer the pass and the cut to the dribble-drive, but we have guards that are capable of doing that so it’s been a little bit of an adjustment for me.”

Taking high-percentage shots, Potter said, has been the team’s biggest weakness.

Potter said even though the Kings are rebuilding, he expects them to surprise some people this year.

“The reports I’ve gotten are they are going to dribble, penetrate and kick, and they’ve got guys that can shoot it,” he said. “I’m familiar with the Kyle Day kid and I know he’s a really good shooter, and has apparently expanded his game. I don’t think they’ll be as big as us, but if we try to play on the perimeter and match 3-pointers, we’ll be in trouble.”

Potter’s thoughts of Thunder Mountain echoed Stockhausen’s. Both like how hard the Falcons play, and both feel that constant effort means they’ll always have a chance to win.

“Any time guys play hard, they have a chance,” Potter said. “We’re certainly older, bigger and more experienced, but they have some ability and they’re going to challenge us every game.”

Thunder Mountain Falcons (3-7)

Coach: John Blasco

Thunder Mountain enters Year 2 of its program a little behind where they were last year at this time. Last year’s Falcons had seniors, including All-State swingman Cody Grussendorf and guard Reese Saviers, anchoring the starting unit, and King, who has since transferred to JDHS, in the post. Nine of this season’s 13 players on varsity are either freshmen or sophomores, led by guard Keith Ainsworth’s 12.1 points per game. The Falcons, like the Kings, are balanced. Freshman guard Matt Seymour adds 10.2 points per game, sophomore guard Ty Grussendorf 8.4 and sophomore forward Sam Jahn 5.0.

“We didn’t know what we were going to look like coming back with such a young group. They’re developing quite nicely and coming into their own,” Blasco said. “They’re still young, but they’re gaining confidence and learning how to play together, which I’m excited for. That really bodes well for the future.”

Blasco said the biggest plus he’s seen from his young group is their willingness to compete and mix it up.

“The kids never quit,” he said. “We’re smaller and athletic so we like to get out and run. We brought up a few kids from the JV that have some good size, so that should help us be more balanced.”

Rebounding and post defense are the Falcons’ biggest weaknesses.

“Definitely rebounding and guarding the bigger posts are going to be tough for us, but the main things we’re trying to focus on are pure ball handling,” he said, “and getting more consistent in our flow of the offense and playing a full 32-minute game.”

Blasco said Ketchikan looks solid from what he’s seen this year.

“Coach Stockhausen does a great job with those guys and they work really hard in the offseason from what I hear,” he said. “They’re going to be about the same size as us but they’re older and might have a little bit more talent at this point in the season.

“They have the edge right now but I think it’s going to be a better matchup for us in terms of size.”

Like Ketchikan, Thunder Mountain will have trouble matching Juneau-Douglas’ strength down low.

“Obviously, they’ve got a big front line down there, and they’ve got two really solid guards,” he said. “They’re pretty balanced and they can get out and run or slow the game down and pound you inside. It’s going to be a game of valuing each possession against them because every one will be important against a team like JD. Once you’re in the hole against a team like that, it will be tough to climb out of.”

Friday January 14, 2011
Crimson Bears overpower Wolves - Juneau Empire by Matthew Tynan
     The Wolves wanted to run and gun on the bigs of Juneau-Douglas, but the Crimson Bears’ size down low proved too much in the end.

Twenty-seven of the Bears’ 30 made field goals were in the paint, and JDHS once again took advantage of its size against the smaller Wolves in an 80-56 rout Thursday at Juneau-Douglas High School.

“We’re pretty big, and when we’re patient and our guys are making hard cuts, we’re tough to get around. We do a respectable job of sealing guys inside, and when we go at the rim we’re not that far away from it,” Bears coach Steve Potter said. “They may not be high-flyers, but they’re big.”

The Wolves began the game trying to push the tempo and did so successfully for the majority of the first quarter. Sitka’s dribble-drive penetration gave the Bears fits until Potter elected to go to a zone defense. It was all Juneau-Douglas from there.

“I think in the beginning our pressure was OK, but not as good as it could have been,” Juneau-Douglas junior guard Tony Yadao said. “We’ve been working on our defense a lot, and in the second half we started using our pressure zone. I think that was one of the main causes of all their turnovers, and I think that led to easy baskets for us.”

The Bears’ defense forced 18 turnovers on the night, 11 of which came in the second half, and the combination of quickness and size in the paint overwhelmed the Wolves as the Bears turned a 13-point halftime lead into a 26-point blowout victory.

“We’ve been trying to use our size as much as we can and we’ve been going over plays that were successful in Kodiak,” Yadao said. “We’re just always looking to get the ball to them (inside) because it also opens up shots for everybody else.”

But the Bears didn’t need the outside shot on a night where they scored 54 points in the paint. Senior big man Jazz King, junior point guard Lance Ibesate and senior forward Colin Gozelski each scored 12 points to lead the way for Juneau-Douglas. Yadao and senior post Ryan Baldwin were the other Bears in double figures with 10 apiece.

After the Bears’ man-to-man defense allowed 15 points during the first quarter, Potter said the change to zone was necessary.

“We tried to get into them early, and sometimes when that happens you give stuff up. But we stayed with it and I think they started to wear down a little bit. Then we had opportunities to make plays,” Potter said. “We’re getting better at finding each other and beginning to understand our schemes, but we’re not there yet. I thought this was a good game for us at the end of finals week.”

Mic Potrzuski led the Wolves with 13 points. Sitka never led in the game.

The JDHS JV team won 64-27, and Sitka C Team won 59-39.

Thursday January 13, 2011
Round one ends in defeat; More games to be played
     The Crimson Bears C-team and JV's suffered defeat in the first of four regular season conference games with Thunder Mountain. They will have to wait for the chance to play them again until Saturday, due to the high number of games being played locally this week.

However, the C and JV teams will will not have much time to lick their wounds because they look to bounce back today against the Sitka Wolves at 1:00pm and 2:45pm respectively.

The varsity will also face the Wolves tonight and play their first home games since winning the Capital City Classic tournament. The Bears will try to sharpen their claws tonight at 8:00pm before beginning their own conference games against Thunder Mountain Friday.

The games against the visiting Wolves will will be played at JDHS.

Wednesday January 12, 2011
Big Basketball Weekend; Cross town rivalry games kick things off.
     The JV and C-teams get the action going tonight with games at Thunder Mountain in an extended basketball weekend. The C-team plays the Falcons at 4:45 pm this afternoon, followed by the JV team at 6:30 pm.

The action continues Thursday when 3A Sitka visits the JDHS gymnasium with their C, JV, and Varsity teams. The games begin early in the afternoon with the C-team playing at 1:00 pm and the JV game at 2:45 pm. The Varsity game will tip-off at 8:00 pm.

On Friday the Varsity will get their first conference game when they hit the road and visit Thunder Mountain at 6:00 pm.

Saturday will see a trio of games played at JDHS against the Thunder Mountain Falcons. The C-team begins at 11:00 am. The JV team plays at 12:45 pm. The Varsity will end the evening's festivities with their game held at 8:00 pm.

Monday January 10, 2011
Bears bounce back - Juneau Empire by Shaun T. Cox
     The Juneau-Douglas boys’ basketball team rebounded from its first loss of the season Thursday to finish second in the 44th Annual Joe Floyd/Era Aviation Winter Classic Basketball Tournament at Kodiak High School.

The Crimson Bears rolled to a 75-54 win over host Kodiak, meaning three teams finished the tourney with one loss. JDHS thought a 20-point win would earn it the tournament crown, but that turned out not to be the case.

“We were under the impression that if we won by 20 we would win the tiebreaker,” JDHS coach Steve Potter said. “However, they reinterpreted the rule for the point differential and so we got second. But either way, we went into the game with a goal to try and get that differential and we got it.”

JDHS ran to a 15-8 lead in the first quarter but led by just four, 34-30, at the half.

“We had a shaky end to the first half,” Potter said. “They went on a 6-0 run and we lost our focus a little bit. But we got back together, got down to business and really started looking inside again. That softened things up and we got a little bit more movement out of our wings, which created some more opportunities.”

A 20-10 run through the third quarter blew the game open, and the Crimson Bears outscored the Bears 21-14 in the fourth.

Potter said it was an up-and-down game throughout.

“It was really our first chance to play in a game where there were a lot of shot opportunities,” he said. “There were a lot of possessions and we were much better about going inside. We weren’t perfect, but we were much better. I think we’ve grown a little bit each game, but we’re still not a finished product. But I think we’re starting to understand that sometimes, the best thing you can do is make a hard cut or quickly pass the ball.

“You don’t have to make great plays all the time. Make basketball plays first, and then great things will happen.”

Junior guard Tony Yadao hit five 3-pointers en route to a game-high 27 points. Senior big man Ryan Baldwin added 20 points for Juneau-Douglas.

JDHS knocked off West Valley for the second time of the season on Friday, 56-51, this time on the second day of the tournament.

The Crimson Bears led 11-6 after the first quarter and 40-30 after the third. West Valley’s fourth-quarter rally came up short as JDHS held on behind 14 points from sophomore point guard Lance Ibesate, and 10 from senior forward De’Andre “Jazz” King.

Luke Carson, who did not play when Juneau-Douglas defeated West Valley in the Capital City Classic championship game, made three 3-pointers and totalled 17 points for the Wolfpack.

Juneau-Douglas held a big advantage at the free throw line, making 19 of 27 compared to just 6 of 9 for West Valley.

The Crimson Bears (5-1) host Sitka on Thursday before opening Southeast Conference play Friday at Thunder Mountain.

Sunday January 09, 2011
J.V. Bears finish 2-1 at Don Hather Tournament in Skagway
     In a tournament that pitted Alaskan teams against Canadian teams (Whitehorse, YT, Ca) the Junior Varsity recovered from a first game defeat against Porter Creek to win their next two games. Following a half-time tie with Vanier, the Bears used a 3rd quarter run to put the game out of reach for the Crusaders. In the final game against F.H. Collins the Bears needed overtime to secure victory.

Jeffrey Pusich won the tournament's freethrow contest by defeating his teammate, Trevor Clauder in a shoot-off. Jackson Lehnhart and Jesse Miller represented the Crimson Bears on the All-Tourney team.

Saturday January 08, 2011
Bears notch win against West Valley, face host Kodiak at 6 pm
     The Juneau Douglas Crimson Bears men's basketball team defeated West Valley by a score of 56 to 51 at the Joe Floyd Tourney in Kodak Friday.

The Bears play Kodak tonight.

The game can be heard live on KINY beginning at 6 p.m.