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Abbreviations: ADN = Anchorage Daily News (Anchorage); F=The Frontiersman (Mat-Su Valley) PC=The Peninsula Clarion (Kenai Peninsula); JE=Juneau Empire; FNM=Fairbanks News Miner;
Wasilla, Colony boys fall short of tournament
glory
Wasilla's Ray Schafer slams for two points in the second
quarter of Saturday's third place game against Dimond.
Photo by TIM BRODT/Frontiersman.
By TIM BRODT-Frontiersman sports editor 3/26/02
ANCHORAGE -- Coming into the boys' state basketball tournament
held at the Sullivan Arena, both Colony and Wasilla had hopes of reaching
the final game and a chance at the 4A state championship.
The chance for a championship was squashed by the hand
of second-seeded Juneau-Douglas, as the Crimson Bears eliminated Colony
and then Wasilla from championship contention on consecutive days.
"From a win-loss perspective, we are disappointed in
the outcome," said Wasilla coach Chuck Martin. "We won the region championship
this year, but we all
wanted more."
Fresh off its Region III championship last week, Wasilla
took double overtime to defeat Lathrop 71-62 in the opening round Thursday,
then lost an overtime thriller 59-56 against Juneau Friday to knock the
Warriors to the third-place game.
Devastated from the Juneau loss and exhausted from playing
back-to-back overtime games, the Warriors came out flat against Dimond
in the third-place game Saturday and suffered a 52-37 loss, forcing Wasilla
to settle for fifth place.
"We had expended so much energy in the previous games
were not emotionally able to get up for Dimond," Martin said. "We were
disappointed at having to play the third-place game and Dimond deserved
to win."
The Warriors came into the tournament as the third seed
and looked poised to make a run at the championship.
Lathrop's upset attempt in Thursday's opening round of
the tournament demonstrated the parity in the boys' tournament this year.
Top-seeded and eventual champion Bartlett narrowly averted an upset against
eighth-seeded Kenai in the opening round, but escaped with a 71-70 win.
The third meeting of the season between Wasilla and Juneau
decided which team advanced to the championship game against Bartlett.
Both teams pulled out all the stops in a barn burner that let neither team
gain the advantage until the final buzzer sounded in overtime to give Juneau
the win and send Wasilla to the third-place game.
"I have never had a group of kids that I've enjoyed more,"
Martin said. "I thought we were the best team there."
Wasilla will lose valuable senior leadership to graduation,
but is optimistic about next year.
"We have some good young kids coming up next year," Martin
said. "We expect to be good and in contention next year."
Next year will actually start next month for Wasilla
and Martin with spring leagues and basketball camps that will go on through
the summer.
The Wasilla team was honored as the academic all-tournament
team with a 3.51 grade-point average.
Ray Schafer was named to the all-tournament team.
Colony had the unenviable task of facing Juneau to open
its tournament play Thursday, falling to the Crimson Bears 51-38.
The Knights were defeated 56-40 at the hands of Lathrop
Friday to end Colony's basketball season.
The Knights will return four starters to next year's
squad.
Valdez held off Craig 59-57 to take the 3A boys' championship.
Thursday's boys' results
WASILLA 71, LATHROP 62, 2OT
LATHROP (62) -- Bourne 6 7-10 19, Fuller 0 0-0 0, Shaver
2 0-0 5, Kalberg 4 1-2 11, Titus 0 1-2 1, Reeves 2 0-0 4, Brown 1 0-0 2,
Dominique 0 0-0 0, Robinson 3 1-2 8, Snowden 4 4-4 12. Totals 22 14-21
62.
WASILLA (71) -- Scheirman 1 0-0 3, McCaul 0 0-0 0, Faeo
2 5-7 10, Webb 1 1-2 3, Fitt-Chappell 7 8-8 27, Collins 1 0-0 3, L. Schafer
1 0-0 2, Heibel 2 1-1 5, R. Schafer 5 8-13 18. Totals 20 23-31 71.
Total fouls -- Lathrop 24, Wasilla 16. Fouled out --
Kalberg, Snowden. Three-point goals -- Kalberg 2, Shaver, Robinson, Fitt-Chappell
5, Collins, Faeo, Scheirman.
Lathrop 12 15 16 8 4 7 -- 62
Wasilla 13 12 8 18 4 16 -- 71
Friday's boys results
JUNEAU 59, WASILLA 56 (OT)
JUNEAU-DOUGLAS (59) -- Cumlat 4 1-2 11, Ayers 1 0-2 2,
Monagal 3 1-2 7, Henderson 0 0-0 0, Hamey 4 2-2 14, Kitka 0 0-0 0, Lane
3 1-3 10, Wild 4 1-4 9, Miller 2 2-2 6. Totals 21 8-17 59.
WASILLA (56) -- Scheirman 1 1-2 4, McCaul 3 0-0 9, Faeo
0 4-4 4, Webb 3 2-4 8, Fitt-Chappell 5 1-2 12, Collins 0 0-0 0, L. Schafer
0 0-0 0, Heibel 0 0-0 0, R. Schafer 6 7-8 19. Totals 18 15-20 56.
Totals fouls -- Juneau-Douglas 16, Wasilla 22. Fouled
out -- Collins. Three-point goals -- Cumlat 2, Hamey 4, Lane 3, Scheirman,
McCaul 3, Fitt-Chappell.
Saturday's boys' third-place game
DIMOND 52, WASILLA 37
WASILLA (37) -- Scheirman 0 0-0 0, McCaul 0 0-0 0, Roth
2 0-0 6, Faeo 0 0-0 0, Webb 2 0-2 4, Fitt-Chappell 3 2-2 9, Collins 0 0-0
0, Heibel 1 0-0 2, R. Schafer 6 4-6 16. Totals 14 6-10 37.
DIMOND (52) -- A. Murphy 2 0-0 4, Chirhart 10 5-6 31,
Joseph 3 0-0 6, Stovall 0 0-1 0, S. Murphy 1 0-0 3, Flakes 0 0-0 0, Simmons
1 0-0 3, Jemin 1 0-0 2, Hodges 1 1-1 3, Clapper 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 6-8
52.
Total fouls -- Wasilla 10, Dimond 19. Fouled out -- Hodges.
Three-point goals -- Roth 2, Fitt-Chappell, Chirhart 6, S. Murphy, Simmons
Back to top
Wasilla or Waikiki?
Published in the Anchorage Daily News, 3/25/02
Wasilla High basketball fans came to the state tournament
and cheered their teams as well as anyone. But many of them looked better
prepared for a luau or limbo contest. In a fashion statement made by folks
from the 49th state, with warm thoughts of the 50th state in mind, about
100 Wasilla fans wore red Hawaiian-print shirts throughout the three-day
tournament. The shirts featured white floral prints outlined in gold and
were distributed by Dan and Sue Larson. Dan is an assistant coach for the
boys team. "I guess we wanted to start something different, maybe create
a little more excitement," Wasilla athletic director Doug Bean said. "A
little Warrior wear." The coaching staff of the Wasilla girls team even
rode the fashion wave, sporting the shirts during Saturday's championship
game. Bean said the Larsons ordered 100 of the shirts from Hawaii and then
sold them to other fans at last week's Region III tournament. Any chance
the fetching Hawaiian look could extend to a new batch of Wasilla uniforms?
"I think we might have to do that," Bean said with a hearty laugh. "If
ASAA will let us."
All-tournament teams
The four championship squads weren't done winning when
the final buzzer rang Saturday as each team was represented well in its
respective division's all-tournament teams. The 4A girls champion East
Thunderbirds and runner-up Wasilla Warriors each placed three players on
the all-tournament team. East sent seniors Natalie Jones and Tenecia Macon
along with junior Ashley Mickens while Wasilla placed seniors Brittney
Kroon and Tonya James and junior Marsha Schirack. The champion Nikiski
Bulldogs also placed a trio in the 3A girls all-tourney team, with seniors
Glaze and April Lofstedt teamming with junior Karen Rabung. The 4A boys
champs, Bartlett Golden Bears, gathered two all-tourney nods in seniors
Marcus Watts and Andrew Smith. The 3A boys champion Valdez Buccaneers also
placed two players, sophomore Carl Arts and senior Jeremy Casillas.
2002 ASAA/First National Bank
State Basketball Championships
All-tournament teams
4A Boys
Troy Gray, Chugiak; Joe Chirhart, Dimond; Ray Schafer,
Wasilla; Ivan Snowden, Lathrop; Marcus Webster, Kenai; Marcus Watts, Bartlett;
Andrew Smith, Bartlett; Julius Cumlat, Juneau-Douglas; Ryan Monagle, Juneau-Douglas;
Justin Bourne, Lathop.
Team sportsmanship award -- Kenai Kardinals. Team
academic award -- Wasilla Warriors, 3.51 GPA.
4A Girls
Marcia Schirack, Wasilla; Karli Knudsen, Kenai; Kelly
Quinn, Colony; Elyse Hartman, Chugiak; Erica Putnam, Chugiak; Natalie Jones,
East; Ashley Mickens, East; Brittney Kroon, Wasilla; Tenecia Macon, East;
Tonya James, Wasilla.
Team sportsmanship award -- Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears.
Team academic award -- Colony Knights, 3.51 GPA.
Back to top
Lynx nail third
Anchorage Daily News Staff 3/24/02
Dimond senior Joe Chirhart scored 21 of his game-high
31 points in the first half Saturday as the fourth-ranked Lynx grabbed
control and rolled to a 52-37 win over third-ranked Wasilla for third place
in the Class 4A boys state basketball championships. Chirhart finished
10 for 20 from the field and hit six three-pointers as Dimond finished
21-8. Ray Schafer, a 6-foot-11 junior, scored 16 points, pulled down a
game-high nine rebounds and blocked three shots for Wasilla (22-7). Lathrop
grabbed fourth place in fitting fashion, scoring all three of its overtime
baskets on offensive rebounds while downing fifth-ranked Chugiak 55-53.
Lathrop senior Ivan Snowden, who pulled down a tournament-high 41 rebounds
in three games and scored the game-winner on a put-back just before the
buzzer. Justin Bourne and Ryan Shaver finished with 13 points each, and
Snowden added 12 points and 17 rebounds for the Malemutes (20-5). Chugiak
(21-7), which scored the final seven points of the fourth quarter to force
overtime, got 16 points from senior Troy Gray and 14 from junior Chris
Devine.
ASAA/First National Bank
Class 4A Boys State Basketball Championships at Sullivan
Arena
Third-place game
DIMOND 52, WASILLA 37
WASILLA (37) -- Scheirman 0 0-0 0, McCaul 0 0-0 0, Roth
2 0-0 6, Faeo 0 0-0 0, Webb 2 0-2 4, Fitt-Chappell 3 2-2 9, Collins 0 0-0
0, Heibel 1 0-0 2, R. Schafer 6 4-6 16. Totals 14 6-10 37.
DIMOND (52) -- A. Murphy 2 0-0 4, Chirhart 10 5-6 31,
Joseph 3 0-0 6, Stovall 0 0-1 0, S. Murphy 1 0-0 3, Flakes 0 0-0 0, Simmons
1 0-0 3, Jemin 1 0-0 2, Hodges 1 1-1 3, Clapper 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 6-8
52.
Total fouls -- Wasilla 10, Dimond 19. Fouled out -- Hodges.
Three-point goals -- Roth 2, Fitt-Chappell, Chirhart 6, S. Murphy, Simmons.
Fourth-place game
LATHROP 55, CHUGIAK 53 (OT)
LATHROP (55) -- Bourne 3 7-9 13, Fuller 0 0-0 0, Shaver
5 0-0 13, Kalberg 0 0-0 0, Titus 0 0-0 0, Reeves 4 1-1 10, Brown 2 1-2
5, Dominique 0 0-0 0, Robinson 1 0-0 2, Broker 0 0-0 0, Snowden 5 2-5 12.
Totals 20 11-17 55.
CHUGIAK (53) -- Devine 7 0-0 14, Veldhuis 1 0-0 2, Gray
6 3-5 16, John 2 0-0 5, Daley 0 0-0 0, Erickson 1 2-4 4, Loges 2 0-0 5,
Worrell 2 3-3 7, Burchell 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 8-12 53.
Total fouls -- Lathrop 11, Chugiak 16. Fouled out --
None. Three-point goals -- Shaver 3, Reeves, Gray, John, Loges.
Back to top
Juneau boys make it the state finals
By Jeff Kasper
The Juneau Empire
ANCHORAGE -- Shooters keep shooting.
Friday's boys 4A semifinals
Juneau 59, Wasilla 56 Juneau's Curtis Lane went into
the locker room at halftime of the state semifinal game with no points.
He was a big donut -- 0-for-5 shooting from the field and 0-for-4 from
three-point range -- against Wasilla on Friday night. But coach George
Houston never lost confidence in his prized shooter. Lane didn't let his
coach down. He sparked Juneau's late-game rally with a pair of 3-pointers
to lead the Bears to a absolutely amazing 59-56 win over the Warriors.
Lane hit another shot from long range in the overtime period and Bryan
Hamey added a pair of 3s of his own as the Juneau shooters stunned the
crowd at Sullivan Arena. "I forced a lot of shots in the beginning," Lane
said. "But everyone came through at the end when it counted." "If he (Lane)
starts hitting I'm a great coach," Houston said. "If not, then I'm playing
in the early game. But he started hitting and Bryan Hamey hit some big
shots again." The game was a rubber match between the two teams. Juneau
won the first meeting, a 66-59 win at the T-Bird Classic on Jan. 24. Wasilla
won the second game 50-47 in an Alaska School Activities Association endowment
fund game, which did not count towards the teams' official records. The
Warriors had a giant height advantage, mainly due to their starting center
Ray Schafer, who stands 6-foot-11. They also had one of the state's best
all-around players in 6-foot-4 Adam Fitt-Chappell. But Juneau's constant
pressure had its toll on Wasilla late. Jake Miller, who stands 6-4, and
6-5 Byron Wild had the difficult task of guarding Schafer, but they held
him in check for much of the game. "Jake guarded him and we'd switch off,"
Wild said. "Basically, we didn't let him get it when we wanted to get it.
As soon as he got the ball, our guards tried to get the ball for us. He
had 19 points, but he didn't hurt us." "Give the Juneau kids credit, they
made plays and made shots and that's what it comes down to." Wasilla head
coach Chuck Martin said. "They don't have any superstars, but they can
all play and they can all shoot. And because of their quickness they create
so many mismatches, especially for a team like us that isn't that athletic."
The key moment of the game came with 4:19 to go when Fitt-Chappell went
to the foul line for two shots. He made the first one to give Wasilla a
44-37 lead, but missed the second. Juneau's Jake Miller pulled in the rebound
and handed it to Cumlat. Cumlat then threw it to Lane, who sank the first
of his long-range bombs and Juneau trailed by just 44-40. "That was a big
sequence," Martin said. "We were up 44-37 and if Adam makes both those
free throws, it's 45-37 and we have an eight-point lead with 3 minutes
to go." Lane hit his second 3-pointer to bring it to 44-43, then Cumlat
picked up a steal and sank a trey of his own to give Juneau its first lead
since early in the game at 46-44. In overtime, it was the Bears' 3-point
shooting and some fortunate offensive rebounds off free throws that kept
Wasilla coach Chuck Martin winless against Juneau and coach Houston in
the state tournament. "I don't know what it is," Martin said. "We win the
regular-season games and he wins the big ones at the state tournament."
Wasilla scored first in overtime on a tip-in by Schafer, but Lane drained
his third 3-pointer to give the Bears a 51-50 lead. The Warriors made four-straight
free throws on a couple quick Juneau fouls, giving them a 54-51 lead. Then
Hamey hit his first 3-pointer to tie it at 54. After two more free throws
by Schafer, Hamey hit his second clutch shot to give the Bears a 57-56
lead with 1:46 to go. "They left me open because they were focusing on
Curtis," Hamey said. "Our confidence is definitely up. If we play together
as a team, we can beat anybody." After a turnover by Wasilla with under
a minute to go, Juneau tried to run out the clock and the Warriors resorted
to fouling to get the ball back. Lane went to the line first and missed
the front end of a one-and-one, but the rebound resulted in a jump ball
that went Juneau's direction. Byron Wild was fouled on the in-bounds pass
and made the first of his one-and-one to make it 58-56, but he too missed
the second attempt. The rebound fell into Ryan Monagle's hands who passed
it to Wild, who was immediately fouled again. Wild missed both attempts,
but the rebound was tipped back to Lane who was fouled. Lane made his first
attempt to make it 59-56, but missed the second. This time Wasilla got
the rebound but had no timeouts remaining and was forced to push the ball
up the court. Fitt-Chappell had one last shot for a tie at the buzzer,
with Hamey right in his face. But it fell short, preserving the win for
the Bears. Hamey led the Bears in scoring with 14 points and Junior Cumlat
scored 11 to go along with four steals. Lane finished with 10 points. Wasilla
was led by Schafer's 19 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots, while
Fitt-Chappell scored 12 points and Clayton McCaul scored nine points off
the bench. "It was just a hell of a ballgame," Houston said. "Chuck (Martin)
gets his team to play really hard and we've been just fortunate. I can't
explain it any other way. It's just one of those things."
Back to top
Bartlett pressures Dimond out of tourney
51-33 WINNER: Golden Bears will face Juneau.
By J.R. Rardon
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: March 23, 2002)
Whoever came up with the expression "no pain, no gain"
must have had the Bartlett and Juneau-Douglas basketball teams in mind.
With one team sporting a player who suffered a broken
jaw in Thursday's opening round and the other sporting a player who had
his shooting hand slammed in a car door Thursday night, the state's top-ranked
teams still managed to set up a championship showdown tonight at Sullivan
Arena. Second-ranked Bartlett (24-2) earned its championship berth by racing
to a 51-33 win over fifth-ranked Dimond in the first of Friday's two Class
4A boys state semifinals. They were led by the 13 points of senior forward
Andrew Smith, who played with a wire holding together a jaw broken on the
final play of Thursday's win over Kenai. And top-ranked Juneau-Douglas
(23-1) gained the final by unleashing a three-point flurry that erased
a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter and led to a 59-56 overtime
win over third-ranked Wasilla. Right in the middle of the barrage was senior
point guard Julius Junior Cumlat, who made a trip to the emergency room
earlier in the day to have fluid drained from a finger smashed in a car
door after Thursday's win over Colony. "It's the state tournament," said
Smith, a 6-foot-7 forward bound for UAF in the fall. "This is no time to
be a crybaby." There were certainly tears in the locker rooms of Dimond
and Wasilla, which both saw their run of postseason disappointment continue.
Dimond, which lost to East in the championship game two years ago and suffered
a semifinal loss last year, dropped into today's third-place game after
committing 21 turnovers and shooting just 22.7 percent while losing to
Bartlett for the fourth time in as many meetings. "It was a nightmare,"
Dimond coach Jeff Jones said. "(Bartlett) put on pressure, but we did a
lot of it to ourselves. We missed open shots and threw the ball away."
Juneau's Curtis Lane missed his share of shots -- including his first seven
three-point tries -- before burying consecutive long balls late in the
fourth quarter and adding a third to start the overtime. Cumlat, who had
three of his four steals in the fourth quarter and overtime, added a three-pointer
to give the Crimson Bears their first lead since early in the second quarter.
Junior Bryan Hamey added back-to-back treys before Juneau put the game
away by claiming four straight offensive rebounds after missed free throws.
"It was a hell of a ballgame, and the kids got it done," Juneau coach George
Houston said. Wasilla (22-6) had one final shot to tie it, but Adam Fitt-Chappell's
three-point attempt with three seconds left was just off the mark and time
ran out before Wasilla could chase down the ball. Until Friday, Bartlett
had taken a come-from-behind route through the postseason. In last week's
Region IV tournament, the Golden Bears had to rally in their first-round
win over Service, then overcome a nine-point, second-half deficit against
Dimond to win the region title. Then, in Thursday's game, they trailed
unranked Kenai 65-60 in the fourth quarter before rallying for a 71-70
win. "Kenai came ready for us," Bartlett senior Marcus Watts said. "Today,
we came ready for Dimond." The Lynx (20-8) never did appear ready for this
one. Dimond's only lead was at 5-2 on a three-pointer by senior Joe Chirhart
midway through the first quarter. The Lynx trailed 11-7 at the end of the
period, even though Bartlett shot just 4 for 15 from the floor. And while
Bartlett eventually found the range, shooting better than 50 percent over
the final three quarters, Dimond never did. The Lynx committed 21 turnovers
against the Bartlett press. And breaking the press didn't help much as
Dimond shot just 22.7 percent. Chirhart topped the Lynx with 12 points.
Watts, a 6-7 senior who has signed to play at Division I McNeese State
University next season, added 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Chalmers, the mercurial freshman point guard, finished with 11 points and
rose to the occasion during a decisive 9-0 run that pretty much sealed
the win in the third quarter. With Bartlett leading 29-24 and 5:52 left
in the period, Chalmers took a cross-court pass from Smith and drilled
a three-pointer. Just over a minute later, he fed senior post Andre Moss
for a point-blank basket, then drove for a layup on the next possession.
By the time Moss converted a feed from sophomore Daniel Brown, Bartlett
was up 38-24, and it was clear no late heroics would be needed this time.
"This is like what you dream of when you're a little kid," said Watts.
"It's such a great feeling, but it isn't complete yet." In consolation
play Friday, Chugiak and Lathrop posted victories to advance to the fourth-place
game. Chugiak downed Kenai, the tournament's surprise team, 64-61 in overtime,
and Lathrop romped to a 56-40 win over Colony. Reporter J.R. Rardon can
be reached at jrardon@adn.com.
Class 4A Boys State Basketball at Sullivan Arena
CHUGIAK 64, KENAI 61 (OT)
CHUGIAK (64) -- Devine 6 1-2 13, Veldhuis 0 0-0 0, Gray
4 5-8 13, John 2 2-2 8, Knox 1 0-0 2, Daley 0 0-0 0, Clarke 0 2-2 2, D.
Erickson 3 4-4 12, Loges 3 0-0 7, Worrell 3 1-1 7. Totals 22 15-19 64.
KENAI (61) -- Foley 4 1-1 13, Webster 6 5-9 19, Steiner
4 0-0 11, Schooley 0 3-4 3, Barnes 0 0-0 0, Dunn 4 7-8 15, Myers 0 0-0
0. Totals 18 16-22 61.
Total fouls -- Chugiak 18, Kenai 16. Fouled out -- Erickson,
Dunn. Three-point goals -- Erickson 2, John 2, Loges, Foley 4, Steiner
3, Webster 2.
LATHROP 56, COLONY 40
COLONY (40) -- Swank 2 1-1 5, Reza 1 6-10 8, Manasco
0 0-0 0, Hotchkiss 2 0-0 6, Hooser 0 0-0 0, S. Erickson 0 2-2 2, Coffman
0 0-0 0, Rose 1 0-0 3, Spencer 5 0-0 11, Christensen 1 0-0 2, Hyslip 1
1-2 3, McBride 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 10-15 40.
LATHROP (56) -- Graziadei 0 0-0 0, Bourne 5 1-3 12, Fuller
0 0-1 0, Shaver 3 3-3 10, Kalberg 1 0-0 3, Titus 0 1-2 1, Reeves 2 1-2
5, Brown 3 1-2 7, Dominique 0 0-0 0, Robinson 2 0-0 5, Broker 1 0-0 2,
Snowden 3 5-6 11. Totals 20 12-19 56.
Total fouls -- Colony 17, Lathrop 15. Fouled out -- None.
Three-point goals -- Hotchkiss 2, Rose, Spencer, Bourne, Robinson, Shaver,
Kalberg.
BARTLETT 51, DIMOND 33
DIMOND (33) -- A. Murphy 0 0-0 0, Chirhart 4 2-2 12,
Joseph 2 1-2 5, Stovall 2 2-3 7, S. Murphy 0 0-0 0, Flakes 0 3-4 3, Simmons
0 0-0 0, Jemin 1 0-0 2, Hodges 1 2-2 4, Clapper 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 10-13
33.
BARTLETT (51) -- Hardy 2 0-0 4, Showers 0 0-0 0, Chalmers
5 0-1 11, Bowman 1 0-0 2, Moss 2 0-0 4, Brown 0 6-8 6, Smith 4 5-5 13,
Watts 5 1-2 11. Totals 19 12-16 51.
Total fouls -- Dimond 16, Bartlett 15. Fouled out --
None. Three-point goals -- Chirhart 2, Stovall, Chalmers.
JUNEAU-DOUGLAS 59, WASILLA 56 (OT)
JUNEAU-DOUGLAS (59) -- Cumlat 4 1-2 11, Ayers 1 0-2 2,
Monagal 3 1-2 7, Henderson 0 0-0 0, Hamey 4 2-2 14, Kitka 0 0-0 0, Lane
3 1-3 10, Wild 4 1-4 9, Miller 2 2-2 6. Totals 21 8-17 59.
WASILLA (56) -- Scheirman 1 1-2 4, McCaul 3 0-0 9, Faeo
0 4-4 4, Webb 3 2-4 8, Fitt-Chappell 5 1-2 12, Collins 0 0-0 0, L. Schafer
0 0-0 0, Heibel 0 0-0 0, R. Schafer 6 7-8 19. Totals 18 15-20 56.
Totals fouls -- Juneau-Douglas 16, Wasilla 22. Fouled
out -- Collins. Three-point goals -- Cumlat 2, Hamey 4, Lane 3, Scheirman,
McCaul 3, Fitt-Chappell.
Back to top
Friday, March 22, 2002 - 4:58:26 AM MST
Lathrop boys fall in 2OT
By ERIC GOOLD Staff Writer
ANCHORAGE--March Madness is a time of extreme elation
and heartbreaking sorrow.
Both emotions were thick in Sullivan Arena Thursday evening
when the Wasilla Warriors defeated the Lathrop Malemutes 71-62 in double-overtime
and won a wild boys basketball game in the third contest of opening-day
play in the 4A state tournament.
"I was proud of our physical effort, but not our mental
effort," said Malemutes coach Milo Griffin after the loss. "When you get
to this level, it all comes down to mental toughness, and we just didn't
have it."
Warriors coach Chuck Martin said that Wasilla was lucky
to come away with the win.
"This was not a typical 6-3 matchup," he said, referring
to the seeds of the teams--Lathrop sixth and Wasilla third. "We had no
illusions; we knew Lathrop would be ready to play.
"They outplayed us, and we were in desperate straits
there," Martin added. "But this was a character win for us; neither team
deserved to lose."
Lathrop was down 13-12 after a physical first quarter,
but the Malemutes started to pull away in the second and third sessions.
Taking care of the basketball and being patient, the Malemutes had a 27-25
lead at halftime and a 43-33 point advantage after three quarters.
Senior Justin Bourne was magnificent for the Malemutes,
scoring 19 points in the contest to lead all Lathrop scorers. Ivan Snowden
was a force on both ends of the floor, scoring 12 points and holding the
Warriors' big man--Ray Schafer--under wraps long enough to keep Lathrop
in the game.
"They did a great job on Ray," Martin said.
Schafer finished with 18 points in the game.
It was senior Adam Fitt-Chappell who was the Malemute
killer, scoring a game-high 27 points including five 3-point bombs, each
one coming at a terrible time for the Malemutes.
The mental errors that Griffin spoke of plagued the Malemutes
in the fourth quarter when Wasilla outscored Lathrop 18-8 to force overtime.
After watching its 10-point lead evaporate, it would have been easy for
Lathrop to quit, but the Malemutes kept fighting.
"We fought back really well. I was proud of the guys,"
Griffin said. "We just made too many mistakes."
Both teams managed only four points in the first overtime.
Another session was forced when Lathrop's Kinsey Reeves stuffed Schafer's
layup attempt, keeping the game tied at 55.
The block was just one play out of many in the game that
had the fans in Sullivan Arena gasping. Finally, Lathrop just got tired
and frustrated, getting outscored 16-7 in the second overtime after both
Kalberg and Snowden fouled out.
In the hallway outside Lathrop's locker room after the
heartbreaking loss, a clearly worn-out Griffin spoke ominously of the future.
Despite a magnificent coaching career covering well over 300 wins for Lathrop,
Griffin is hesitant to speak about next year.
Asked if the loss will help Lathrop's younger players
come back even better next year, Griffin responded quietly and thoughtfully.
"We've been saying that for three years," he said. "Every
year we've had a tough loss here and talked about being better next year.
"I don't know if there's an opening there," he said.
"I just don't know if I'm getting the job done in big games."
Lathrop drops into the consolation bracket where the
Malemutes will face Colony at 1:15 p.m. today.
Back to top
Warriors triumph in double OT
By J.R. Rardon
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: March 22, 2002)
The Wasilla bench erupts after a field goal in
the final minute of regulation led to what would be a double-overtime victory
over Lathrop in the boys Class 4A championships. (Photo by Marc Lester
/ Anchorage Daily News)
Wasilla senior Scott Faeo waited two long years for a
chance to redeem the Warriors' first-round exit from the Class 4A boys
state basketball tournament.
On Thursday, he had to wait a little longer.
Third-ranked Wasilla battled back from a 10-point deficit
in the fourth quarter, then needed two overtime periods before pulling
out a 71-62 win over unranked Lathrop in the first round of the state championships
at Sullivan Arena.
"Last time, it seemed like everyone was just happy to
be the region champs, plus we looked past the first round," said Faeo,
the starting point guard as a sophomore when Wasilla was ambushed by Juneau-Douglas
in the opening round of the 2000 tournament. "We sure didn't overlook Lathrop."
Smart thinking.
The opening day of the 2002 tournament saw top-ranked
Juneau-Douglas, second-ranked Bartlett and fourth-ranked Dimond all needing
fourth-quarter rallies to move into today's semifinals.
Bartlett needed a free throw by Mario Chalmers with two
seconds remaining to overcome a torrid shooting effort by Kenai and notch
a 71-70 win over the unranked Kardinals.
The Golden Bears will play in today's 7:15 p.m. semifinal
against Dimond, which blew a 10-point fourth quarter lead before recovering
for a 51-45 win over fifth-ranked Chugiak.
Juneau-Douglas trailed unranked Colony entering the fourth
quarter before blitzing the Knights 19-5 to pull away for a 51-38 win that
lifted the Crimson Bears into the 9 p.m. semifinal against Wasilla.
The Warriors (22-5) prevailed in a physical, defensive
battle in which both teams were held below 40 percent shooting. And they
won even though Lathrop (18-5) won the rebounding battle 47-33 and turned
its 18 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points.
The end did not come until after Lathrop's Kinzey Reeves
and Ivan Snowden went gasping to the bench after fouling out and Faeo's
legs began to cramp from the 40 minutes of frenzied activity.
"I had a feeling this was going to be a knock-down, drag-out
game," Wasilla coach Chuck Martin said.
And nobody felt more knocked down than Lathrop coach
Milo Griffin, whose club lost to Chugiak in the first round of last year's
tournament on a tip-in with two seconds remaining.
"I'm jinxed," said Griffin. "They might as well get another
coach, because I'm hurting my team by being here."
The Malemutes seemed ready to break that jinx behind
the inside play of 6-foot-6 senior Justin Bourne (19 points, 9 rebounds)
and 6-3 senior Ivan Snowden (12 points, 9 rebounds).
But Wasilla senior Adam Fitt-Chappell, who hit a three-point
shot with 17 seconds remaining to force overtime and buried another to
open the second extra period, finished with a game-high 27 points. And
6-foot-11 sophomore Ray Schafer provided perhaps the play of the game when,
with Wasilla leading 65-60 in the second overtime, he blocked a shot by
Lathrop's Paul Robinson, corraled the ball and rumbled the length of the
floor for a layup that turned into a three-point play when he was fouled
on the shot.
And even though he was a home-schooled eighth-grader
back when Faeo and his teammates suffered their opening-round loss in 2000,
Schafer said he's not going to make the mistake that team made in being
satisfied with qualifying for state.
"This means nothing," he said. "This is just get one
done and move on."
Bartlett (23-2) moved on despite a blistering shooting
display by Kenai. The Kardinals (17-9) made 11 of their first 13 three-point
shots and finished 14 of 15 at the free-throw line to build a 65-60 lead
midway through the fourth quarter.
Ian Foley (23 points, 7-for-9 on three-pointers) and
Marcus Webster (20 points) led the charge, which the Golden Bears finally
blunted by turning to twin towers Andrew Smith and Marcus Watts.
Smith (18 points) and Watts (15 points), both 6-7 seniors,
combined for eight points as Bartlett rallied to go up 70-68 with a minute
to go. After Kenai's Joel Dunn put back an offensive rebound to tie it,
Bartlett put the ball in the hands of Chalmers, who was fouled while driving
and made the first of two free throws with two seconds left before missing
the second on purpose.
After calling time out, Kenai attempted a desperation,
length-of-the-court pass that was knocked away as the last second ticked
off.
Juneau-Douglas (22-1) needed no such heroics, holding
Colony to five points in the fourth quarter to break open a tight game.
Curtis Lane led a balanced scoring effort with 12 points, while Colony
(15-11) got 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds from Brandon Hyslip.
Dimond (20-7) defeated Chugiak for the fourth time in
five meetings this season, despite letting a 40-30 lead evaporate in the
fourth quarter.
Chugiak's Troy Gray scored five points and Dan Erickson
drilled a three-pointer in a run that let the Mustangs (20-6) force a 42-42
tie with 4:10 left. Dimond senior Joe Chirhart (game-high 23 points) hit
four straight free throws, Kris Hodges had a key steal in the lane, and
Chris Stovall drove for a layup that restored Dimond's lead at 48-42 with
1:59 to go.
Reporter J.R. Rardon can be reached at jrardon@adn.com.
ASAA/First National Bank
Class 4A Boys State Basketball
At Sullivan Arena
Thursday's first-round results
BARTLETT 71, KENAI 70
KENAI (70) -- Foley 8 0-0 23, Webster 7 4-5 20, Steiner
3 2-2 11, Schooley 1 0-0 2, Barnes 0 2-2 2, Dunn 3 6-6 12, Myers 0 0-0
0. Totals 22 14-15 70.
BARTLETT (71) -- Hardy 3 0-0 6, Showers 0 0-0 0, Chalmers
6 3-4 17, Bowman 0 0-0 0, Blewett 0 0-0 0, Moss 3 0-0 6, Moore 0 0-0 0,
Brown 4 0-0 9, Smith 7 4-4 18, Watts 7 1-3 15. Totals 30 8-11 71.
Total fouls -- Kenai 12, Bartlett 14. Fouled out -- None.
Three-point goals -- Foley 7, Steiner 3, Webster 2, Chalmers 2, Brown.
Kenai 14 24 18 14 -- 70
Bartlett 19 21 14 17 -- 71
JUNEAU-DOUGLAS 51, COLONY 38
JUNEAU-DOUGLAS (51) -- Cumlat 2 1-2 5, Ayers 2 0-2 4,
Monagle 3 1-3 7, Henderson 1 0-0 3, Hamey 2 3-4 9, Kitka 0 2-2 2, Lane
4 2-3 12, Wild 2 5-6 9, Miller 0 0-0 0, Zimmer 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 14-22
51.
COLONY (38) -- Swank 1 0-0 2, Reza 1 1-2 3, Manasco 0
0-0 0, Hotchkiss 4 0-0 10, Coffman 0 2-2 2, Rose 0 0-0 0, Spencer 3 0-1
7, Christensen 2 0-1 4, Hyslip 5 0-0 10. Totals 16 3-6 38.
Total fouls -- Juneau-Douglas 12, Colony 16. Fouled out
-- None. Three-point goals -- Hamey 2, Lane 2, Henderson, Hotchkiss 2,
Spencer.
Juneau-Douglas 15 6 11 19 -- 70
Colony 9 10 14 5 -- 38
WASILLA 71, LATHROP 62, 2OT
LATHROP (62) -- Bourne 6 7-10 19, Fuller 0 0-0 0, Shaver
2 0-0 5, Kalberg 4 1-2 11, Titus 0 1-2 1, Reeves 2 0-0 4, Brown 1 0-0 2,
Dominique 0 0-0 0, Robinson 3 1-2 8, Snowden 4 4-4 12. Totals 22 14-21
62.
WASILLA (71) -- Scheirman 1 0-0 3, McCaul 0 0-0 0, Faeo
2 5-7 10, Webb 1 1-2 3, Fitt-Chappell 7 8-8 27, Collins 1 0-0 3, L. Schafer
1 0-0 2, Heibel 2 1-1 5, R. Schafer 5 8-13 18. Totals 20 23-31 71.
Total fouls -- Lathrop 24, Wasilla 16. Fouled out --
Kalberg, Snowden. Three-point goals -- Kalberg 2, Shaver, Robinson, Fitt-Chappell
5, Collins, Faeo, Scheirman.
Lathrop 12 15 16 8 4 7 -- 62
Wasilla 13 12 8 18 4 16 -- 71
DIMOND 51, CHUGIAK 45
CHUGIAK (45) -- Devine 4 2-2 10, Veldhuis 3 0-0 9, Gray
2 3-5 8, John 1 2-2 4, Daley 0 0-0 0, Erickson 2 0-0 6, Loges 2 0-0 6,
Worrell 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 7-9 45.
DIMOND (51) -- A. Murphy 1 0-0 2, Chirhart 7 5-6 23,
Joseph 3 2-4 8, Stovall 2 0-1 5, Flakes 1 0-0 3, Simmons 3 0-1 7, Jemin
1 1-1 3, Hodges 0 0-0 0, Clapper 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 8-13 51.
Total fouls -- Chugiak 16, Dimond 13. Fouled out -- John.
Three-point goals -- Veldhuis 3, Loges 2, Erickson 2, Gray, Chirhart 4,
Stovall, Flakes, Simmons.
Chugiak 7 13 10 15 -- 45
Dimond 15 12 13 11 -- 51
Back to top
Good luck picking a favorite this year
BALANCE: All eight 4A boys teams have a shot at winning it all.
By J.R. Rardon
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: March 21, 2002)
The most wide-open Class 4A boys basketball tournament
in recent memory kicks off at Sullivan Arena today with imposing front
lines, sharpshooting three-point specialists, show-stopping guard tandems
and wall-to-wall pressure defenses.
Notably missing are the coaches' ritual pre-tournament
scramble for videotape on first-round opponents, the possibility of two
Anchorage teams meeting for the championship Saturday, and East High, which
is absent for the first time since 1988.
The Alaska School Activities Association began using
the Winning Percentage Index to bracket the Class 4A tournament in 2000,
eliminating the annual first-round rotation that put the No. 1 and No.
2 teams from the same region in opposite sides of the bracket.
But this year's tournament is the first to place three
teams from the same region in the same half of the bracket -- Bartlett,
Dimond and Chugiak, all of Region IV.
That means at 5:30 p.m. today, Dimond will face Chugiak
-- for the fifth time this season.
"In the past, I've scrambled around trying to find tape
to get any
idea that'll make things easier," Dimond head coach Jeff
Jones said. "I've got plenty of tape this time."
Jones, appearing for the fourth straight year with Dimond,
and Chugiak coach Kevin Fullmer, whose team is making its fifth straight
appearance, were matter-of-fact about the bracketing, which will place
the winners of today's games head-to-head in Friday's semifinals.
"In order for me to win a championship, I've got to deal
with eight good teams," said Fullmer. "There are good teams in our conference
we're gonna have to beat to win state, but there's good teams in the other
bracket too."
Second-year Bartlett coach Ronnie Chalmers, making his
first state appearance, can't fathom why the ASAA seeding committee put
all of the Region IV teams together.
"That caught me off-guard," said Chalmers. "When you
go on to the state level, you're looking to play teams from around the
state, not the same teams you've been playing already."
On the other hand, there are few strangers in this year's
tournament.
Chugiak and Dimond are only the most familiar of the
first-round opponents. Today's other games -- Bartlett vs. Kenai, Wasilla
vs. Lathrop and Colony vs. Juneau-Douglas -- are all rematches of games
played during the regular season.
"Everyone will have tape to draw on," Wasilla head coach
Chuck Martin said. "And they won't have to go far to find it."
What to do with it is another matter.
With perennial power East failing to make the tournament
for the first time in 14 years, and defending champion Kodiak left behind
at last week's Region III tournament, the new Class 4A champion will come
from among eight teams that have a mixed set of results in games already
played.
"It's as wide-open a field as I can remember," said George
Houston, the Juneau-Douglas coach with more than a decade of experience
in the event. "There's been years where there's been one or two teams a
notch above the others, but not the top-to-bottom depth of this one."
And if you thought filling out your NCAA bracket was
tough, consider this season's results between the 4A contenders. Lathrop's
three Alaska losses came at the hands of Dimond, Juneau and Wasilla. Bartlett,
which swept Dimond and beat Kenai in the teams' only meeting, split pairs
of games with Wasilla and Chugiak, with both losses coming in overtime.
Juneau-Douglas beat Dimond, Wasilla and Lathrop, losing only to Bartlett
in official games. And there was Wasilla's narrow win over Juneau in a
benefit game for the Alaska Endowment for Youth Activities that didn't
count toward the standings.
But, as Martin said, "I can assure you that when those
kids were on the floor, that wasn't any endowment game."
There. Everything clear?
"You've got so many different styles and makeups of teams,
it's going to be intriguing to see how it plays out," Houston said. "When
they toss (the ball) up, that seeding is out the window."
Back to top
Thursday, March 21, 2002 - 4:59:02 AM MST
Malemutes face familiar opponent in Wasilla
By ERIC GOOLD, Staff Writer
ANCHORAGE--The Lathrop Malemutes quest for the state
title begins today at 3:45 p.m.
That is the scheduled tip-off time for the game between
Lathrop and Wasilla in the boys 4A state basketball tournament.
The Malemutes rolled to a 18-4 regular-season record,
including a convincing 87-50 over West Valley to claim the regional title
and a current seven-game win streak.
In regional play, the Malemutes were the uncontested
favorites, compiling an undefeated mark and rarely even playing close games.
However, against top-ranked competition, Lathrop faltered.
The Malemutes fell to top-ranked Juneau-Douglas on Feb.
8 and also lost to the same Warriors team they will be playing today.
"They beat us pretty bad last time," said Malemutes coach
Milo Griffin after Lathrop had a shoot-around at Sullivan Arena on Wednesday
afternoon. "But we made a lot of improvements since then. Now we will see
if we can make the adjustments we need to win."
Lathrop is the sixth seed, playing the third-seeded Warriors.
Malemutes assistant coach Joe Tremarello talked about
the matchup. "Wasilla is a very talented team," he said. "They have good
size and a couple of very solid players."
Tremarello added that Wasilla won the early contest this
year when Malemutes big man Ivan Snowden was out of the lineup.
"Ivan's presence is going to be a key," said Griffin.
"If he can stay calm and handle the pressure of the big crowd, he is really
going to help us."
The two things Griffin is concerned with the most are
the pressure of the big Sullivan Arena crowd and handling the basketball.
"For us to get a couple of wins we just have to take
care of the basketball," said Griffin. "We're averaging over 30 turnovers
a game and at this level you can't win if you have more than 20.
"And there's no telling how the kids will react under
pressure," he continued. "It's hard to perform out there with everyone
watching."
The Malemutes have a deep team that spreads points through
several players fairly evenly. Snowden, Justin Bourne and Paul Robinson
are three of the seven seniors that dominate Lathrop's roster, and are
also three of Lathrop's top scorers.
"I want the seniors to give us steady play," Griffin
said. "We're expecting a lot from them."
For Tremarello the game will come down to the basics.
"It should be a good game," he said. "We'll have to have
strong rebounding and make our free throws. We know what they will throw
at us; we've played them three times the last three years. If we come out
and relax and play good ball, we'll have a great game."
Back to top
Beware of the Crimson Bears
Juneau boys open state tourney against Colony
By Jeff Kasper
The Juneau Empire
Unbelievers beware of the Crimson Bears.
The team nobody, but themselves, believed could go all
the way this year is making its final charge towards the state title.
The Juneau-Douglas High School boys basketball team begins
the first round of the Class 4A state basketball tournament with a 9:45
a.m. Thursday matchup against the Colony Knights.
"They don't believe in superstars, they believe in themselves,"
Juneau assistant coach Robert Casperson said. "Honesty, I think believing
in ourselves and believing in our teammates will be the thing for us."
Few outside Juneau gave this year's Crimson Bears squad
consideration for the state championship early this season, most likely
due the graduation of some talented seniors and losing last year's region
title game to Sitka. But out of the ashes of that defeat rose a Juneau
team determined not to let the same thing happen again.
And they have been opening eyes ever since.
"We'll find out this weekend what this team's M.O. is,"
George Houston said, who is making his ninth trip to the state tournament
in 10 seasons as head coach of the Crimson Bears. "They're a close knit
group. I think our depth and pressure wears on teams. Whether that can
happen at the state tourney remains to be seen."
"It's pretty much three more games in the rest of the
season," senior guard Junior Cumlat said. "It's what we've been working
for since last summer. We have no off-season. When one season ends, another
begins."
Juneau's high-pressure defensive game relentlessly challenges
their opponents throughout the game. The Crimson Bears have managed to
win more than half their games in blowout fashion and were better than
competitive against the stronger teams in the state.
The Bears are 21-1 this season and 5-1 against teams
in this year's tournament, with their only official blemish coming in a
six-point loss to top-seeded Bartlett Golden Bears early in the season.
They also lost to Wasilla by three points in an Alaska School Activities
Association endowment fund game, but as far as ASAA is concerned, the loss
doesn't count towards the Juneau's record.
"We feel pretty confident," senior guard Curtis Lane
said. "We've played all the teams on our side of the bracket at least once
and beat them at least once too. But we're not overlooking anyone."
Juneau received a second seed in the tournament by finishing
the season second in the state's Winning Percentage Index. The Bears were
in first place heading into the region tournament until Bartlett overcame
Juneau by the smallest of margins in the WPI on the last day.
But the second seed may turn out to be beneficial for
Juneau. First, the Bears get to play a team they know fairly well in seventh-seeded
Colony, which lost twice in Juneau. Second, they get a 9:45 a.m. tip-off,
which may sound a bit early, but top-seeded Bartlett begins Thursday's
action with a bleary-eyed 8 a.m. start against Kenai.
"They've got a lot of good shooters and they give us
some matchup problems." Cumlat said. "They'll come out with a lot more
intensity than earlier this year. We just gotta do what we always do --
attack on offense and attack on defense."
"I'm glad we're No. 2, it's better than No. 1," Lane
said. "It's tough to wake up at 5 a.m. It will help a lot with the early
morning practices."
However, Houston, who has been working out his athletes
before school to get them used to the tournament's early games, cautions
that any team can be dangerous at tournament time.
"I have misgivings. Colony is in the same position we
were two years ago," Houston said, referring to Juneau's first-round victory
over Wasilla after losing twice in the regular season. "We ended up beating
them in a close game. I talked to Chuck Martin (Wasilla's coach) and as
hard as he tried, he couldn't make his kids believe that we were a better
team. We just need to focus on Colony."
If Juneau wins, it plays the winner of Wasilla and Lathrop
at 9 p.m. on Friday. Otherwise the Crimson Bears play the Wasilla-Latrhop
loser at 1:15 p.m. on Friday in the consolation bracket. Thursday's other
boys first-round game is fourth-seeded Chugiak against fifth-seeded Dimond
at 5:30 p.m. The championship game is at 9 p.m. on Saturday.
Back to top
Warriors, Knights compete for top spot
By TIM BRODT-Frontiersman sports editor, 3/22/02
The Wasilla Warriors and Colony Knights boys' basketball
teams began play in the state high school basketball
tournament yesterday at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.
The Wasilla boys' team came into the tournament
as the
third seed after winning the Region III championship
Saturday at Skyview.
Wasilla defeated Kenai 67-37 in the Region III
championship game to complete a sweep of all Region III
teams this year.
Wasilla coach Chuck Martin believes the team is prepared
to take on the state's best teams in tournament play.
"We've played the toughest schedule in the WPI (Winning
Percentage Index)," he said. "The purpose of a tough
schedule is to make you a good team at the end. I don't
think we can be in better shape."
The WPI measures strength of schedule and how a team
does against that schedule. The WPI is used to determine
the seeding process for the state tournament.
Wasilla has played every team in the tournament at least
once this season. The Warriors have played top-ranked
Bartlett and second-ranked Juneau twice each. Wasilla
lost to both teams early in the season but returned
to
defeat them in the rematches.
Martin has been pleased with the progress that the team
has made this year, stating that the defense has played
terrific, holding opponents to 36 percent shooting from
the floor.
"That is a great accomplishment considering the caliber
of
teams that we have played this year," he said.
Martin said that the offense has struggled somewhat this
year, but he says that is due in part to the defense
that
opposing teams play against them.
"Everyone tries to slow us down, which doesn't
allow us
to get into a good rhythm," he said. "We have stars like
Adam Fitt-Chappell and Ray Schafer who get us the
points, but we also have good role players who know
what they are supposed to do."
Martin sums up the strength of the Wasilla squad with
one
word -- team.
"This is truly a team," he said. "There are no selfish
players here. They do what it takes to win."
Martin is happy with where Wasilla is seeded in the state
tournament, but states that it wouldn't matter because
there are no bad teams in this tournament.
"I have been in 13 state tournaments in my career
and
from top to bottom this is the best field of teams I
have
ever seen," he said.
Wasilla opened the tournament against Lathrop yesterday
with results not available by press time. The Warriors
will
play either Colony or Juneau today.
The Colony Knights enter the tournament as the seventh
seed after taking third in the Region III tournament.
Colony coach Phil Engebretsen feels the team is
right on
track coming into the state tournament.
"We are basically a team of juniors who are still
learning
and getting better mentally," he said. "After losing
to
statement by beating a very good Palmer team."
The Knights aren't a big team that can dominate inside,
but Engebretsen says that the combination of Brandon
Hyslip, Joe Reza and Jason Christensen play well inside
to
hold teams to one shot on offense.
Engebretsen believes that the team strength lies in the
defense, specifically defending in the half-court. His
concern on offense is the inconsistent scoring the team
has sometimes displayed that has prevented them from
staying with teams in the second half of games.
Colony played Juneau yesterday and will meet either
Wasilla or Lathrop today. Colony has played every team
in
the tournament except Lathrop.
"We are positioned exactly where we deserve to be in
the
tournament," Engebretsen said of Colony's seeding in
the
tournament. "We must score in the second half of our
games to win."
Back to top
March 19, 2002
Wasilla boys crush Kardinals for Region III basketball championship
By TIM BRODT - Frontiersman sports editor
The Wasilla Warriors boys' basketball team left no doubt
about which team was
the best in the region by destroying the Kenai Kardinals
67-37 to win the Region
III basketball tournament at Skyview High School
Saturday.
Riding a 35-18 score at halftime, the Warriors continued
the push with 32
second-half points to maintain control of the game.
Adam Fitt-Chappell and Ray Schafer led the Warriors
with 22 points each.
Fitt-Chappell was named the most valuable player for
the tournament.
The Warriors advanced to the title game by defeating
Soldotna 51-22 in the
opening round Thursday, then defeating Palmer 47-41 Friday
in the semifinals.
With Colony losing its semifinal game to Kenai 41-39
Friday, it set up a Valley
matchup between Palmer and Colony to see which team would
take third place
and the final bid for the state tournament.
The Knights jumped to a 20-9 first-quarter lead and never
looked back as they
paced to a 59-41 victory over the Moose.
Brandon Hyslip led all Knights with 22 points in
the game with Joe Reza adding
15.
Colony defeated Homer 75-43 Thursday before losing
to Kenai
Friday. Palmer beat Skyview 82-59 Thursday before losing
to the Warriors Friday.
Wasilla, Colony and Kenai all earned 4A state tournament
bids, which starts
Thursday at the Sullivan Arena.
In 3A/District 3 tournament play at Nikiski, the
Houston Hawks earned a
third-place finish by defeating Grace Christian
57-43 Saturday.
Nikiski won the region title with a 69-45 win over Anchorage
Christian Saturday.
Back to top
Fast start leads Colony to victory
(Published:Anchorage Daily News, March 15, 2002)
Landon Swank and Clay Hotchkiss each dropped in five three-pointers
Thursday and the Colony boys rode a fast start to a 75-43 win over Homer
in the opening round of the Region III Tournament at Soldotna High School.
Swank and Hotchkiss each finished with 17 points to share game-high
honors, while Joe Reza added 14 points as the Knights (13-9) advanced to
tonight's semifinals. Homer (5-16) was led by Josh Luebbert's 12 points.
Third-ranked Wasilla, behind Ray Schafer's 14-point performance, surged
past Soldotna 51-22 at Skyview High to move into the semifinals. Eleven
of the 12 Warriors in uniform scored. Wasilla improved to 19-5. Soldotna
fell to 3-20.
Zach Forsyth scored 24 points and Zach Pettit and Adam Nielson each
added 14 points as Palmer breezed past Skyview 82-59. The Moose led 43-28
at the break. Josh Rowell led Skyview with a game-high 26 points and Adam
Cooper chipped in 15 points.
Marcus Webster went off for 25 points, thanks in part to four three-pointers
and seven free throws, as Kenai defeated defending Class 4A state champion
Kodiak 56-50. James Baille's 19 points topped three double-figure scorers;
teammates Nino Pabillore scored 12 points and Chad Mortenson had 11.
In girls play, second-ranked Wasilla placed four players in double
figures and romped into tonight's semifinals with a 68-33 win over Homer.
Brittney Kroon led the way with 19 points for the Warriors (21-1), while
Tonya James added 16, Chandice Cronk scored 11 and Marsha Schirack finished
with 10.
Wasilla will meet Soldotna in the semfinals. Rachel Besse and Hillary
Zobeck combined for 31 points in the Stars' 44-29 win over Kodiak. Besse
led all scorers with 17 points and Soldotna improved to 15-8. Jo Swartout
dropped in nine points for Kodiak (10-13).
Carly Thaggard produced from start to finish for Colony in the Knights'
60-40 opening-round win over Skyview. Thaggard hit all six of her free
throws, fired in four three-pointers and finished with a game-high 22 points.
Colony improved to 13-8. Jenny Carpenter scored 13 points for Skyview
(5-18).
Fifth-ranked Kenai edged Palmer 54-51 desipte missing 11 of 21 free
throws. Toni Cox led the Moose with 18 points and Sara Bergeron chipped
in 11 points. Palmer outscored Kenai 20-14 in the fourth quarter.
Back to top
Wasilla moves into title showdown with
49-30 win
(Published:Anchorage Daily News, March 16, 2002)
The second-ranked Wasilla High girls basketball team continued to control
its Region III foes Friday and earned a state-tournament berth in the process.
Senior Brittney Kroon dumped in a game-high 23 points during the Warriors'
49-30 Region III tournament semifinal win over Soldotna at Skyview High.
Wasilla, which has only lost a nonleague game to top-ranked East this
season, improved to 22-1 and 12-0 against league opponents. The Warriors
will battle Colony, which came from behind in the fourth quarter for a
49-46 win over fifth-ranked Kenai in the other semifinal, for the tournament
title tonight. The top three teams advance to next week's state tournament
at Sullivan Arena.
Soldotna (15-9) was led by Hillary Zobeck's 11 points. The Stars attempted
just three free-throw attempts.
In Colony's win, Kelly Quinn scored nine of her game-high 20 points
in the fourth quarter as the Knights (14-8) erased a 36-30 deficit and
earned a state-tournament berth for the ninth straight year. Jamie Montgomery
led Kenai (19-5) with 14 points.
In consolation action, Kodiak rallied to beat Homer 51-35 and Palmer
defeated Skyview 45-37.
On the boys side, 6-foot-11 junior Ray Schafer scored 11 of his game-high
15 points in the first half as third-ranked Wasilla earned a state-tournament
berth
with a 47-41 semifinal win over Palmer. The Warriors (20-5) will meet Kenai,
which earned its first trip to the state tournament since 1998 with Friday's
41-39 win over Colony, in tonight's championship.
Adam Nielsen (12 points), Zach Pettit (12) and Zac Forsyth (10) all
hit double figures for Palmer (14-10).
Marcus Webster led all scorers in Kenai's win with 13 points. The Kardinals
improved to 17-7.
Joe Reza led Colony (13-10) with 10 points.
In boys consolation play, Kodiak beat Homer 68-26 and Skyview downed
Soldotna 51-29.
Back to top
It's a sweep for Wasilla in Region III
(Published:Anchorage Daily News, March 17, 2002)
With the help of a couple of transfers, both Wasilla High basketball
teams are moving in the right direction as the state tournament approaches.
Senior Adam Fitt-Chappell, who transferred to Wasilla from Chugiak,
and junior Ray Schafer each scored 22 points Saturday to lead the third-ranked
boys to a 67-37 win over Kenai in the Region III tournament championship
at Skyview High.
The second-ranked Wasilla girls, propelled by sophomore transfer Chandice
Cronk's 27 points, mowed down Colony 61-39 in the girls title game.
The Wasilla boys, who finished unbeaten in the region regular season,
take a 21-5 overall record into Thursday's opening round of the state tournament
at Sullivan Arena.
Kenai (17-8) earned the league's second state berth by getting to the
championship game.
In other boys play, Colony's second win of the day was worth a trip
to the state tournament.
Junior Brandon Hyslip pumped in a game-high 22 points as the Knights
upended Palmer 59-41 in the tournament's third-place game. Joe Reza added
15 points for Colony (15-10), which beat Skyview 64-46 in consolation action
earlier Saturday.
Palmer, which got 18 points from Zach Pettit in the loss to Colony,
advanced to the third-place game by beating Kodiak 71-49 in a consolation
game. The Moose (15-11) made sure there won't be a repeat Class 4A state
champion. Kodiak, last year's winner, finished 11-12.
In the Wasilla girls' win, Cronk, who transferred to Wasilla from Class
2A Northway, knocked down a pair of three pointers on her way to a game-high
27 points. Brittney Kroon added 15 points for the Warriors (23-1).
Colony's Kelly Quinn almost matched Cronk's offensive output, leading
the Knights (14-9) with 26 points. Colony will represent the league at
state as the second of three qualifying teams.
Wasilla opened up a 28-15 halftime lead and then put away the game
with a 20-6 run in the third quarter.
Jamie Montgomery scored all of her game-high 12 points in the second
half as the fifth-ranked Kenai girls (21-5) earned their second straight
state bid with a 37-26 win over Soldotna in the tournament's third-place
game.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Region III Championships at Skyview High
Saturday's Boys Results
Championship Game
WASILLA 67, KENAI 37
KENAI (37) -- Pault 0 0-0 0; Alexander 1 0-0 2; Foley 2 1-3 7; Webster
3 4-5 11; Steiner 0 0-0 0; Schooley 1 0-0 2; Barnes 0 0-0 0; Dunn 7 1-2
15; Myers 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 6-10 37.
WASILLA (67) -- Scheirman 1 0-0 2; McCaul 0 0-0 0; Roth 0 0-0 0; Shorey
0 0-0 0; Faeo 1 0-0 3; Webb 5 0-0 10; Fitt-Chappell 7 6-8 22; Furman 0
0-0 0; Collins 0 0-0 0; L. Schafer 3 0-0 6; Heibel 0 2-2 2; R. Schafer
10 2-3 22. Totals 27 10-13 67.
Total fouls -- Kenai 14, Wasilla 8. Fouled out -- None. Three-point
goals -- Foley, Webster, Faeo, Fitt-Chappell 2.
Back to top
Wasilla boys cruise past Kenai for title
By MARCUS K. GARNER
Peninsula Clarion March 17, 2002
The Kenai Kardinals boys basketball team made it as far as the finals
of the Region III/4A tournament before hitting the wall that is the Wasilla
Warriors. In their last stand in the tournament, Kenai was unable to stand
up to the Warriors, losing 67-37 and taking second place in the region.
"They came out on fire," said Kenai head coach Rich Bartolowits of
the Wasilla team. "I watched a team that could've beaten anybody they played
this year."
Joel Dunn, who led the Kardinals with 11 points, began the game with
a steal from Wasilla's Ray Schafer that Kenai's Marcus Webster converted
into the Kardinals' first bucket. The Kardinals would not score again until
after a Wasilla nine-point run.
The Warriors earned at least seven points to every three Kenai made
in the first quarter, ending the period 21-9. Wasilla's Adam Fitt-Chappell
and Schafer both scored eight of their respective 22 points, with Fitt-Chappell
netting two buckets from beyond the 3-point arc.
Kenai repeated its offensive showing on the scoreboard in the second
period, as Webster got back on the board with two foul shots and a 3-pointer.
But the Kardinals, normally stingy with their pressure defense, were unable
to find a solution to Wasilla's giants, Schafer and Fitt-Chappell, who
were able to penetrate for points, rebounds or trips to the foul line.
Schafer had 12 boards for the night and Fitt-Chappell had eight.
"With those guys in the middle, it's hard to match up to Wasilla," Bartolowits
said.
Wasilla coach Chuck Martin said he had his team prepared for Kenai's
massive attack on defense.
"We were just sharp," he said. "We tried to get Adam looks early and
we tried to keep them from getting shots early like they did last night
against Colony."
At the half, the score was 32-18. Although the Kardinals showed minor
flashes of brilliance, snatching passes where they could and lofting treys
as they came open -- Ian Foley hit two 3-pointers back-to-back -- Kenai
could not get many of their shots to fall.
As the region runner-up, the Kardinals will go to the Alaska Schools
Activities Association 4A State Tournament at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage
this Thursday through Saturday. Bartolowits acknowledged that his team
could face opponents as tough as Wasilla, but he indicated that his team
was proud of its accomplishment and was not going to lay down in Anchorage.
"We worked hard to get to this spot," he said. "And we're happy to
be here. Our goal was getting to state. We're not going up there thinking
we're going to lose. We're going to go up there and play hard."
WARRIORS 67, KARDINALS 37
Kenai 9 9 14 6 --37
Wasilla 21 14 22 10 -- 67
KENAI (37) -- Pault 0 0-0 0, Alexander 1 0-0 2, Foley 2 1-3 7, Webster
3 4-5 11, Carreon 0 0-0 0, Steiner 0 0-0 0, Schooley 1 0-0 2, Barnes 0
0-0 0, Dunn 7 1-2 15, Myers 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 6-10 37.
WASILLA (67) -- Scheirman 1 0-0 2, McCaul 0 0-0 0, Roth 0 0-0 0, Shorey
0 0-0 0, Faeo 1 0-0 3, Webb 5 0-0 10, Fitt-Chappell 7 6-8 22, Furman 0
0-0 0, Collins 0 0-0 0, L. Schafer 3 0-0 6, Heibel 0 2-2 2, R. Schafer
10 2-3 22. Totals -- 27 10-13 67.
3-point goals -- Kenai 3 (Foley 2, Webster 1); Wasilla 3 (Fitt-Chappell
2, Faeo 1). Fouls -- Kenai 14, Wasilla 8. Fouled out -- none.
Back to top
Warriors stand tall
Wasilla backs up top billing vs. SoHi
By WILL MORROW
Peninsula Clarion March 15, 2002
The Soldotna High School boys basketball team was able to keep its
collective chin up despite taking one on the chin in the opening round
of the Region III/4A tournament Thursday at Skyview High School.
The Stars got a good look at why the Wasilla boys are one of the top
teams in the state, dropping a 51-22 decision to the Warriors.
The loss knocks the Stars into the consolation bracket, where they
play the Skyview-Palmer loser at 9 a.m. today at Skyview with the hopes
of staying alive to play Saturday. Wasilla will meet the Skyview-Palmer
winner in the 4 p.m. semifinal.
"I don't think there's any question who the best team in this tournament
is,
as far as talent," Soldotna's Ben Histand said. "To play them like we did,
that was good for us."
Ray Schafer led the Warriors with 14 points, all in the first half.
Wasilla led 15-8 after the first quarter, and had a 24-12 lead at the
half.
Histand and Caleb Sizemore each scored six points to lead the Stars.
"We played hard. What more can I say?" said Soldotna coach Bill Withrow.
"We wanted to control the tempo a little bit. We don't have the horses
to run up and down the floor with them. We're playing better."
Withrow said he's seeing the things he's been going over in practice
being implemented in the game, a promising sign with a young team.
"There'll be times when they do it automatic, but the team being young,
there'll be times when they stop doing it and get into a thinking mode,"
Withrow said. "That's when we get into trouble."
Still, Soldotna's effort has translated into improvement from game
to game, and the Stars are optimistic they can find a way to still be playing
on Saturday.
"We played (Wasilla) a little better than last time. I think we've
matured a lot this season," said Soldotna's Adam Kiffmeyer. "We've grown
a lot from the beginning -- we really couldn't play with each other. Now
it's too bad the season's ending, because we really could've done something."
WARRIORS 51, STARS 22
Soldotna 8 4 4 6 -- 22
Wasilla 15 9 10 17 -- 51
SOLDOTNA (22) -- Turnbull 0 0-0 0, Nettles 3 0-1 6, Histand 3 0-1 6,
Kennedy 0 1-2 1, Richman 0 0-0 0, Sizemore 3 0-0 6, Kiffmeyer 1 1-2 3,
Baker 0 0-0 0, Michal 1 0-0 2, Simpson 1 2-2 4. Totals -- 9 4-7 22.
WASILLA (51) -- Scheirman 1 0-0 2, McCaul 1 0-0 3, Roth 1 0-0 3, Shorey
0 2-3 2, Faeo 1 0-0 2, Webb 3 1-2 7, Fitt-Chappell 2 1-1 6, Furman 0 0-0
0, Collins 1 0-0 3, L. Schafer 1 1-2 3, Heibel 3 0-1 6, R. Schafer 7 0-0
14. Totals -- 21 5-9 51.
3-point goals -- Soldotna 0, Wasilla 4 (McCaul, Roth, Fitt-Chappell,
Collins). Total fouls -- Soldotna 11, Wasilla 11. Fouled out -- none.
Back to top
Wasilla boys crush Kardinals for Region III
basketball championship
By TIM BRODT - Frontiersman sports editor March 19, 2002
The Wasilla Warriors boys' basketball team left no doubt about which
team was the best in the region by destroying the Kenai Kardinals 67-37
to win the Region III basketball tournament at Skyview High School Saturday.
Riding a 35-18 score at halftime, the Warriors continued the push with
32 second-half points to maintain control of the game.
Adam Fitt-Chappell and Ray Schafer led the Warriors with 22 points
each.
Fitt-Chappell was named the most valuable player for the tournament.
The Warriors advanced to the title game by defeating Soldotna 51-22
in the opening round Thursday, then defeating Palmer 47-41 Friday in the
semifinals.
With Colony losing its semifinal game to Kenai 41-39 Friday, it set
up a Valley matchup between Palmer and Colony to see which team would take
third place and the final bid for the state tournament.
The Knights jumped to a 20-9 first-quarter lead and never looked back
as they paced to a 59-41 victory over the Moose.
Brandon Hyslip led all Knights with 22 points in the game with Joe
Reza adding 15.
Colony defeated Homer 75-43 Thursday before losing to Kenai
Friday.
Palmer beat Skyview 82-59 Thursday before losing to the Warriors Friday.
Wasilla, Colony and Kenai all earned 4A state tournament bids, which
starts Thursday at the Sullivan Arena.
In 3A/District 3 tournament play at Nikiski, the Houston Hawks earned
a third-place finish by defeating Grace Christian 57-43 Saturday.
Nikiski won the region title with a 69-45 win over Anchorage Christian
Saturday.
Back to top
Webb works for Wasilla
published in the Anchorage Daily News 3/10/02
Fourth-ranked Wasilla relied on a solid defensive effort
-- and the game-high 16 points of senior Traavis Webb -- to notch a 48-40
nonconference win over fifth-ranked Dimond at Wasilla High.
Adam Fitt-Chappell added 12 points and Ray Schafer scored
11 for the Warriors (18-5). Jason Simmons came off the bench for a team-high
12 points for Dimond (17-6) in the final game of the regular season for
both teams.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASILLA 48, DIMOND 40
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DIMOND (40) -- A. Murphy 1 0-0 2, Chirhart 4 0-0 8, Joseph
2 0-0 4, Stovall 1 1-2 4, Flakes 2 5-6 10, Simmons 4 0-0 12, Jemin 0 0-0
0, Clapper 0 0-0 0, Hodges 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 6-8 40.
WASILLA (48) -- Schierman 2 0-0 4, McCaul 0 0-0 0, Faeo
1 0-0 2, Webb 7 2-2 16, Fitt-Chappell 3 4-4 12, Collins 1 0-0 3, L. Schafer
0 0-2 0, R. Schafer 5 1-2 11. Totals 19 7-10 48.
Total fouls -- Dimond 17, Wasilla 10. Fouled out -- None.
Three-point goals -- Simmons 4, Stovall, Flakes, Fitt-Chappell 2, Collins.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dimond 9 5 9 17 -- 40
Wasilla 9 11 14 14 -- 48
Back to top
Warriors D'-light in 63-22 victory
UNDEFEATED: Wasilla locks up top seed for region tournament.
By Ron Wilmot
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: March 10, 2002)
Wasilla's Scott Faeo drives past Colony's Prescott Kelly
during the second quarter of the Warriors' 63-22 victory over the Knights
on Friday. Wasilla completed a 10-0 Region III season and locked up the
top seed entering the region tournament beginning Thursday at Skyview High
in Soldotna. (Photo by Stephen Nowers / Anchorage Daily News)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
With the dearth of offense in Wasilla's 63-22 victory
over Colony on Friday, there were Plenty of stifled -- and some openly
blatant -- yawns from the fans in the near-packed gym at Wasilla High.
Except when Adam Fitt-Chappell had the ball.
The Wasilla guard used a variety of ways to score. Three-point
bombs, pump fakes, shots off of screens, drives to the hoop -- didn't matter,
the Knights couldn't stop him. Fitt-Chappell racked up 19 points and big
man Ray Schafer pumped in 17 as Wasilla completed a 10-0 Region III season
and locked up the top seed entering the region tournament beginning Thursday
at Skyview High in Soldotna.
School officials believed it was the first time a Wasilla
boys team has gone undefeated in region play.
The Warriors have Fitt-Chappell to thank for that. With
the exception of the first quarter, when he went scoreless, the transfer
from Chugiak had a soft touch all game. His three-pointer off a screen
at the third-quarter buzzer gave Wasilla a 39-18 lead.
"Basically, Adam hit the shots we tried to get him in
our offense," said Wasilla coach Chuck Martin. "We ran four blockers out
there for him and let him play."
And play he did, especially in the second quarter, when
he scored nine points as Wasilla outscored Colony 17-5.
Schafer, the Warriors' 6-foot-11 post, said his on-court
chemistry with Fitt-Chappell has improved over the season. And, he added,
Fitt-Chappell's all-around game has improved as well.
"Before, he was so focused on driving he wouldn't dish
off," Schafer said. "Last week, he dished off to me for a drop, step, dunk.
We're really starting to click together."
Martin said Fitt-Chappell is becoming a more complete
player as the season progresses.
"He's one kid where you look across the (statistic) line,
and every line is full," Martin said. "He's a Division I player."
His only criticism was that Fitt-Chappell needed to get
to the free-throw line more. Fitt-Chappell was 2 of 3 from the line.
Wasilla's man-to-man defense also played a big role in
the game. Colony shot 27 percent and was held to its lowest point total
of the season. The Knights were coming off a rousing victory over Palmer
last weekend but managed only five points each in the second and third
quarters and four points in the fourth. Joe Reza and Brandon Hyslip each
scored six points for Colony, which finished 7-3 in region play.
"We let our defense carry the game," Fitt-Chappell said.
"With our defense playing like that, even when we didn't hit shots, it
didn't matter."
After a modest first-half shooting performance of 38
percent, Wasilla lit it up in the second half, hitting 55 percent from
the field.
Fourth-ranked Wasilla will likely meet either Skyview
or Soldotna in the first-round of the the Region III tournament, which
begins Thursday.
"This is a good team. A very unselfish team," Martin
said. "It's got all the parts. This team runs through Adam and Ray, but
they don't care who scores. They just want to win. It's a pleasure when
your superstars are like that."
Fitt-Chappell wore shiny black basketball sneaks with
black socks, so from a distance it appeared as if he were playing in dress
shoes. Fitt-Chappell said he didn't remember what brand they were, but
he chose them for a particular reason.
"I got them because they stand out," he said with a laugh.
Reporter Ron Wilmot can be reached at rwilmot@adn.com.
Back to top
Boys High School Basketball
(Published in the Anchorage Daily News: March 9, 2002)
Wasilla gives Colony fits
Adam Fitt-Chappell scored a game-high 19 points Friday
to lead the No. 4-ranked Wasilla Warriors to a 63-22 home win over Region
III foe Colony.
The Warriors (17-5, 10-0 Region III) turned an 8-8 tie
into a 25-13 lead at halftime. The Knights fell to 12-9, 7-3.
WASILLA 63, COLONY 22
COLONY (22) -- Swank 1 0-0 2, Reza 3 0-2 6, Hotchkiss
1 0-0 3, Coffman 0 0-0 0, Spencer 0 0-1 0, Christensen 1 0-0 3, Rose 1
0-1 2, Hyslip 1 4-7 6, McBride 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 4-11 22.
WASILLA (63) -- Schierman 0 0-0 0, McCaul 2 0-0 6, Roth
0 4-4 4, Shorey 2 0-0 4, Faeo 0 3-4 3, Webb 2 2-4 6, Fitt-Chappell 8 2-3
19, Collins 1 0-0 3, Schafer 0 1-2 1, Heibel 0 0-0 0, Schafer 6 5-8 17.
Totals 21 17-25 63.
Total fouls -- Colony 19, Wasilla 16. Fouled out -- None.
Three-point goals -- McCaul 2, Hotchkiss, Christensen, Fitt-Chappell, Furman.
Colony 8 5 5 4 -- 22
Wasilla 8 17 14 24 -- 63
Back to top
Schafer shakes, bakes Kenai
published in the Anchorage Daily News 3/3/02
Ray Schafer started slow but finished strong, scoring
a game-high 28 points to help lead his No. 4-ranked Wasilla Warriors to
a 62-45 home win over Kenai.
Schafer scored just two points in the first quarter,
but dropped in nine in the second quarter, seven in the third and 10 in
the fourth. Wasilla's Adam Fitt-Chappell pitched in 23.
Wasilla improved to 16-5 overall and a perfect 9-0 in
Region III action. Kenai (13-7, 5-3) were led by Marcus Webster's 16.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASILLA 62, KENAI 45
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
KENAI (45) -- Pault 2 0-0 4, Foley 2 0-0 5, Webster 6
3-3 16, Steiner 1 1-2 4, Schooley 3 0-0 6, Barnes 0 0-0 0, Boyd 0 0-0 0,
Dunn 4 1-2 10. Totals 18 5-7 45.
WASILLA (62) -- Scheirman 1 0-0 2, McCaul 1 0-1 3, Faeo
1 0-0 3, Webb 0 3-4 3, Fitt-Chappell 7 7-8 23, Collins 0 0-0 0, L. Schafer
0 0-0 0, Heibel 0 0-0 0, R. Schafer 13 2-3 28. Totals 23 12-16 62.
Total fouls -- Kenai 15, Wasilla 11. Fouled out -- None.
Three-point goals -- Fitt-Chappell 2, Foley, Webster, Steiner, Dunn, McCaul,
Faeo.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kenai 7 11 11 16 -- 45
Wasilla 12 15 15 20 -- 62
Back to top
Wasilla boys 62, Kenai 45M
published in the Peninsula Clarion 3/3/02
The Kenai boys basketball team fell to high-scoring from
Wasilla's Ray Shafer (28 points) and Adam Fitz-Chappel (23 points). Marcus
Webster and Joel Dunn contributed 16 and 10 points, respectively, in the
Kardinals' losing effort.
WARRIORS 62, KARDINALS 45
Kenai 7 11 11 16 -- 45
Wasilla 12 15 15 20 -- 62
KENAI (45) -- Pault 2 0-0 4, Foley 2 0-0 5, Steiner 1
1-2 4, Webster 6 3-3 16, Schooley 3 0-0 6, Barnes 0 0-0 0, Boyd 0 0-0,
Dunn 4 1-2 10. Totals -- 18 5-7 45.
WASILLA (62) -- Schierman 1 0-0 2, McCaul 1 0-1 3, Faeo
1 0-0 3, Webb 0 3-4 3, Fitz-Chappell 7 7-8 23, Collins 0 0-0 0, L. Schafer
0 0-0 0, Heibel 0 0-0 0, R. Shafer 13 2-3 28. Totals -- 23 12-16 62.
3-point goals -- Kenai 4 (Webster 1, Foley 1, Steiner
1, Dunn 1); Wasilla 4 (Fitz-Chappell 2, McCaul 1, Faeo 1). Total fouls
-- Kenai 14, Wasilla 11. Fouled out -- nnonee.
Back to top
Wasilla surges past Stars
Published in the Anchorage Daily News 3/2/02
Fourth-ranked Wasilla stormed out of the gates and rolled
past Soldotna 69-33 in Region III action at Soldotna.
The Warriors (15-5, 8-0) outscored the Stars 18-4 in
the first quarter and 23-9 in the second. Wasilla's Adam Fitt-Chappell
scored 17 of his game-high 24 points in the first half. Ray Schafer pumped
in 13 points.
Trevor Kennedy scored 16 points for Soldotna (3-16, 1-7).
WASILLA 69, SOLDOTNA 33
WASILLA (69) -- Schierman 4 0-1 8; McCaul 0 0-0 0; Roth
0 0-1 0; Shorey 1 0-0 2; Faeo 1 0-0 2; Webb 2 3-5 7; Fitt-Chappell 8 4-4
24; Furman 0 2-2 2; Collins 1 0-0 3; L. Schafer 0 0-2 0; Heibel 4 0-0 8;
R. Schafer 6 1-2 13. Totals 27 10-17 69.
SOLDOTNA (33) -- Turnball 1 2-3 3; Nettles 0 0-0 0; Histand
1 0-4 2; Kennedy 4 7-9 16; Richman 0 0-0 0; Sizemore 2 1-1 5; Michal 2
0-2 4; Simpson 0 2-2 2. Totals 10 11-20 33.
Total fouls -- Wasilla 20, Soldotna 18. Fouled out --
None. Three-point goals -- Fitt-Chappell 4, Collins, Kennedy.
Back to top
Wasilla girls 63, Soldotna 40
Wasilla boys 69, Soldotna 33
published in the Peninsula Clarion 3/2/02
Soldotna dropped a pair of Region III/4A games at Wasilla.
The Soldotna girls were within five points, 26-21, at
the half, but the Warriors went on a 20-9 run in the third quarter to put
the game away.
Hillary Zobeck led the Stars with 17 points.
Trevor Kennedy led the Soldotna boys with 16 points.
WARRIORS 69, STARS 33
Soldotna 4 9 9 11 --33
Wasilla 18 23 13 15 --69
SOLDOTNA (33) -- Turnbull 1 1-2 3, Nettles 0 0-0 0, Histand
1 0-4 2, Kennedy 4 7-9 16, Richman 0 0-0 0, Sizemore 2 1-1 5, Michal 2
0-2 4, Simpson 0 2-2 2. Totals -- 10 11-20 33.
WASILLA (69) -- Scheirman 4 0-1 8, McCaul 0 0-0 0, Roth
0 0-1 0, Shorey 1 0-0 2, Faeo 1 0-0 2, Webb 2 3-5 7, Fitt-Chappell 8 4-4
24, Furman 0 2-2 2, Collins 1 0-0 3, Schafer 0 0-2 0, Heibel 4 0-0 8, Schafer
6 1-2 13. Totals -- 27 10-17 69.
3-point goals -- Soldotna 1 (Kennedy 1); Wasilla 5 (Fitt-Chappell
4, Collins 1). Total fouls -- Soldotna 18, Wasilla 20. Fouled out -- none.
Back to top
Wasilla boys sink Mariners
published in the Frontiersman 3/1/02
Wasilla visited Homer Saturday and trounced the Mariners 80-12. Ray
Schafer led Warrior scoring with 27 points in the game. Adam Fitt-Chappell
added 20 points and Travis Webb contributed 18.
Back to top
Wasilla wastes Homer
published in the Anchorage Daily News 2/24/02
It's still winter in Homer, but the Homer Mariners got
rained on by fourth-ranked Wasilla to the tune of an ugly 80-12 outcome.
Wasilla's Ray Schafer scored 14 of his game-high 27 in
the second half and teammate Adam Fitt-Chappell scored 11 of his 20 in
the second half as the Warriors improved to 14-5, 7-0 in Region III.
WASILLA 80, HOMER 12
WASILLA (80) -- Scheirman 0 0-0 0, McCaul 0 0-0 0, Roth
1 0-0 3, Shorey 1 0-0 2, Faeo 1 1-1 3, Webb 7 4-5 18, Fitt-Chappell 5 5-6
20, Collins 1 1-2 4, L. Schafer 1 0-0 2, Heibel 0 1-4 1, R. Schafer 11
5-5 27. Totals 28 17-23 80.
HOMER (12) -- Kuhns 1 0-0 2, Matan 0 0-0 0, Todd 1 0-2
2, Luebbert 0 0-0 0, Drake 0 0-0 0, Stead 3 0-0 6, Isenhour 0 0-0 0, Crum
1 0-0 2, Hunting 0 0-0 0, Turner 0 0-0 0. Totals 6 0-2 12.
Total fouls -- Wasilla 4, Homer 15. Fouled out -- None.
Three-point goals -- Fitt-Chappell 3, Collins, Roth.
Wasilla 20 20 21 19 -- 80
Homer 2 2 4 4 -- 12
Back to top
Fitt-Chappell fires away
published in the Anchorage Daily News 2/23/02
Adam Fitt-Chappell scored six of his game-high 22 points
in the fourth quarter to help lead Wasilla past Skyview 87-42.
The No. 4 ranked Warriors (13-5, 6-0 in Region III) rolled
early, outscoring the Panthers 27-7 in the first quarter and never relented.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASILLA 87, SKYVIEW 42
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASILLA (87) -- Scherman 4 0-0 9, McCaul 2 0-0 5, Roth
0 2-2 2, Shorey 0 0-0 0, Faeo 2 2-4 6, Webb 4 2-2 10, Chappell 9 1-1 22,
Furman 0 0-0 0, Collins 0 0-0 0, L. Schafer 3 1-3 7, Heibel 2 4-7 8, R.
Schafer 7 4-5 18.Totals 33 16-24 87.
SKYVIEW (42) -- McGarry 2 2-4 6, Shields 1 0-0 2, Travers
3 0-0 6, Matarrese 0 0-0 0, Malmquist 1 0-0 2, Lewis 0 0-0 0, Geller 2
0-0 6, St. Clair 0 0-0 0, Kosydar 0 2-4 2, Cooper 4 2-5 12. Totals 14 10-18
42.
Total fouls -- Wasilla 20, Skyview 22. Fouled out --
Lewis. Three-point goals -- Fitt-Chappell 3, Geller 2, Scherman, McCaul.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wasilla 27 22 17 21 -- 87
Skyview 7 16 6 13 -- 42
Back to top
Warrior boys outlast Moose
Adam Fitt-Chappell, left, of Wasilla looks for an open
player with Palmer's Zac Forsyth defending in the fourth quarter of Tuesday's
game at Palmer High School. Photo by TIM BRODT/Frontiersman.
By TIM BRODT-Frontiersman sports editor
The Palmer Moose boys' basketball team got a chance Tuesday
to avenge an early-season loss to the Wasilla Warriors, but came up short
in their bid for victory on home court at Palmer High School.
With a balanced scoring attack and solid free-throw shooting
down the stretch, the Warriors sustained a late charge by the Moose to
take a 59-52 victory.
"I'm happy with how the kids played tonight, it was a
good win for us" said Wasilla coach Chuck Martin. "It's always good when
you can come here and get a win."
A matchup of Wasilla's inside muscle and height against
the run-and-gun offense of the Palmer Moose never materialized as Palmer
showed a different offensive strategy in order to compete with the Warriors.
The Moose instead played a much slower tempo, concentrating
on a half-court offense to effectively score points.
"We changed our offensive strategy from the last time
we played them," said Palmer coach Brandon Blake. "We worked on a new offense
this week that shortened the game to half court and tried to get Ray [Schafer]
out of the inside."
The new scheme and a hustling defense worked much better
for the Moose Tuesday, enabling them to stay close, unlike the 82-52 drubbing
Palmer received at the hands of the Warriors Dec. 21 at Wasilla.
Both teams battled for points in the first quarter, spreading
the ball around for a balanced attack. The Moose used their advantage of
speed to cut players inside for points and take a 13-11 lead at the end
of the first quarter.
The Palmer attack cooled in the second quarter as Wasilla
began to adjust to Moose players' cutting to the basket. Meanwhile, the
Warriors charged on offense behind points from Travis Webb and Schafer
under the basket and three pointers from Scott Faeo and Jake Collins. Wasilla
took a 26-20 advantage into halftime.
Both teams looked sluggish offensively in the third quarter,
primarily due to the stellar defense played by both teams in the paint.
Wasilla continued to get stronger inside to deny cutters and Palmer hustled
for steals under the Wasilla basket.
Webb took over for the Warriors in the fourth quarter,
muscling the ball inside to keep Wasilla ahead. The Palmer defense intensified
midway through the quarter, stepping in front of Wasilla pass attempts
inside and breaking down the court for baskets. The Moose were able to
close the gap with three pointers from Zac Forsyth, Charlie Bentti and
Zach Pettit.
"We weren't being patient and taking care of the ball,"
Webb said. "Palmer was able to get back in the game by knocking down their
shots."
Faced with a deficit that was too large to overcome with
the clock running, Palmer was forced to foul in an attempt to stop the
clock and get the ball back.
With strong foul shooting down the stretch, hitting 10
of 12 attempts, the Warriors were able to sustain the Palmer push and win
the game 59-52.
"I feel good about our game tonight," Blake said. "They
played well to come out on top but we were able to get over the hump from
our last game with them and gain some confidence."
Webb led all scorers for Wasilla with 17 points, with
Schafer adding 14 and Adam Fitt-Chappell 11.
Forsyth and Pettit led the Moose with 16 points each,
with Adam Nielson adding 12.
"The best teams slow us down and spread us out," Martin
said. "They load up on Ray [Schafer] and Adam [Fitt-Chappell] -- that's
why teams must have balance."
Before the game, Palmer players honored Dr. Dan Larson,
his wife Susan and Carolyn Brouchard for their community service to high
school athletics in the area.
Back to top
Wasilla outlasts Palmer
(Published in Anchorage Daily News 2/20/02)
Travis Webb scored nine of his game-high 17 points in
the fourth quarter as third-ranked Wasilla defeated host Palmer 59-52 in
a Region III matchup. Ray Schafer scored 14 points and Adam Fitt-Chappell
added 11 for the Warriors (10-5, 5-0 Region III).
Palmer (9-7, 4-3) got 16 points each from Zach Pettit
and Zac Forsyth and 12 points from Adam Nielsen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASILLA 59, PALMER 52
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASILLA (59) -- Scheirman 1 0-0 2, McCaul 0 0-0 0, Faeo
1 4-5 7, Webb 7 3-4 17, Fitt-Chappell 5 1-2 11, Collins 2 0-0 6, L. Schafer
0 0-0 0, Heibel 1 0-0 2, R. Schafer 3 8-9 14. Totals 19 17-21 59.
PALMER (52) -- Johnson 0 0-0 0, Forsyth 5 3-5 16, Hill
0 0-0 0, Bentti 2 0-0 5, Prins 0 0-0 0, Pettit 7 0-0 16, Ratcliff 1 1-2
3, Bryant 0 0-0 0, Nielsen 5 2-3 12. Totals 20 6-10 52.
Total fouls -- Wasilla 12, Palmer 19. Fouled out -- Hill,
Pettit. Three-point goals -- Collins 2, Faeo, Forsyth 3, Pettit 2, Bentti.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wasilla 11 15 10 23 -- 59
Palmer 13 7 8 24 -- 52
Back to top
Wasilla routs West
(Published in Anchorage Daily News: February 16, 2002)
Adam Fitt-Chappell poured in 28 points and five three-pointers
as third-ranked Wasilla defeated West 70-43 Friday night at West High.
Wasilla (11-5) also got 21 points from Ray Schafer. After
trailing 20-19 after the first quarter, the Warriors held West to 23 points.
Simon Wigren of West scored 12 points, thanks to four
threes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASILLA 70, WEST 43
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WASILLA (70) -- Scheirman 0 0-0 0, McCaul 0 3-4 3, Roth
0 0-0 0, Shorey 0 0-0 0, Faeo 1 0-0 2, Webb 3 7-12 13, Fitt-Chappell 11
1-2 28, Furman 0 0-0 0, J. Collins 1 0-0 3, L. Schafer 0 0-3 0, R. Schafer
10 1-1 21, Heibel 0 0-1 0. Totals 26 12-23 70.
WEST (43) -- Wigren 4 0-0 12, Lewis 1 0-0 2, Baptiste
1 3-4 5, Morgan 0 0-0 0, Reid 2 1-2 5, Canady 0 0-0 0, Davis 5 1-2 11,
Newman 0 0-0 0, Collins 1 2-4 4, Yates 2 0-0 4, Maloney 0 0-0 0. Totals
16 7-12 43.
Total fouls -- Wasilla 19, West 19. Fouled out -- None.
Technical fouls -- Wigren, Baptiste. Three-point goals -- Wigren 4, Fitt-Chappell
5, J. Collins.
Wasilla 19 11 19 21 -- 70
West 20 8 7 8 -- 43
Back to top
Did not ... did too ... did not
J.R. Rardon
Sports
(Published: February 14, 2002)
With just 30 miles of smooth driving between the schools,
a rivalry between the Chugiak and Wasilla boys basketball programs should
be a match made in heaven.
So how is it the pair wound up in divorce court?
The disagreement began as a custody battle over a game
originally scheduled for last Saturday, rescheduled and finally played
Friday at Chugiak High.
Both parties agreed the game was set up a year earlier
during the Alaska School Activities Association's annual scheduling meetings.
The Feb. 9 game date and the 6:30 p.m. tipoff were also agreed upon. At
issue was the location of the game. Wasilla athletic director Doug Bean
contended a "clerical error" that placed the game at Chugiak was corrected
by athletic administrators at both schools, and he signed and sent to Chugiak
a resubmitted contract that placed the game at Wasilla. Chugiak officials,
unable to locate the resubmitted contract Bean said he sent, waved a copy
of the original contract in which Wasilla agreed to travel to Chugiak.
Well, Chugiak won that custody battle and the ensuing
game. But, barring a meeting in next month's state tournament, it will
be the last in a series suddenly overcome by irreconcilable differences.
"It's a crying shame," Bean said. "But we're not going
to play people who won't honor an agreement."
Chugiak boys coach Kevin Fullmer could say the same of
Wasilla -- though he has not -- based on the Warriors having canceled a
game they had signed to play.
The case is a study in the difference between shacking
up and signing a marriage contract. Wasilla's argument: the two schools
have played games now for several consecutive years, with the site alternating
each year.
Last season, the Wasilla boys and girls traveled to Chugiak.
Further, Wasilla nearly always plays its boys and girls
games together, whether home or away, in contrast to an Anchorage tradition
of splitting Region IV girls and boys games between sites on the same night.
Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume the games would
both be played this time in Wasilla, where the school gym had been set
aside for a "Super Saturday" of six games -- boys and girls games between
the C, junior varsity and varsity teams.
But a funny thing happened between scheduling and playing
the game. Bean last year signed and returned to Chugiak the original contract,
only to discover two days later the boys game was placed at Chugiak while
the girls game was set for Wasilla.
He says he promptly called and pointed out the mistake
to Dale Normandin and Rhonda Gardner, who at the time were Chugiak's activities
principal and interim athletic director, respectively.
Bean says he then resubmitted a contract with Wasilla
listed as the host site, and sent it back.
Case closed. Until, that is, Chugiak changed its athletic
administration this year, and Bean's "corrected" contract came up missing.
The problem was exacerbated by the fact Anchorage schools rarely return
contracts to schools outside Region IV. So Bean has no counter-signed copy
to prove his point.
"I take responsibility for my name being on that (first)
contract," Bean said. "But I can remember when you could have a verbal
commitment with somebody and it meant something."
It wasn't until the middle of last month that each school
discovered the other still believed it was hosting the game. Chugiak activities
principal Rick Stone promptly found himself between a rock and a hard place,
with Bean maintaining he had an agreement with Stone's predecessor to play
the game at Wasilla while Fullmer had the original contract in hand saying
the game was to be played at Chugiak. At loggerheads, Bean and Stone agreed
to cancel the game, and Wasilla promptly scheduled the Feb. 9 slot for
a home game against Juneau-Douglas.
But Fullmer, armed with the initial contract, insisted
the document be honored and offered Friday night as an alternative date.
"We had plans made," Fullmer said. "We had the band here,
and the Chapparals (dance team). There's lots of things that go into this."
Later, Fullmer mentioned there was also a scout from
Gonzaga University in the house, watching selected players from each team.
As with any breakup, the accusations have flown. Fullmer
maintains Wasilla coach Chuck Martin was reluctant to travel to Chugiak
so as not to take a road loss that would damage his team's winning percentage
index, used to seed the Class 4A state tournament.
That doesn't wash when you consider Martin's track record,
and the fact that when Wasilla canceled the game against fourth-ranked
Chugiak it promptly scheduled a second-ranked Juneau team that had already
beaten Wasilla this season.
On the other hand, folks in Wasilla think the transfer
of former Chugiak standout Adam Fitt-
Chappell to Wasilla for his senior year irked Fullmer
enough that he would take it out on Warriors fans by refusing to travel
to the Valley.
People, people.
If briefs had been filed in an actual court, there would
have been in a bunch.
Should Chugiak have agreed to play in Wasilla, in keeping
with the home-and-away pattern of the series? Probably. Should Wasilla
have bit the bullet and accepted Fullmer's offer to even the slate by playing
the next two years in Wasilla? You bet.
Either would have been better than the current situation,
in which future Warriors and Mustangs will be denied a chance to play a
natural rival because their folks can't get along.
Administrators at both schools should pick up the phone
and settle their differences. If necessary, get it in writing.
After all, the family that stays together plays together.
This column is the opinion of reporter J.R. Rardon. He
can be reached at jrardon@adn.com.
Back to top
Last page update March 27, 2002
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