The Thunder Mountain High School boy’s basketball team has taken control of the Southeast Conference with a 5-1 record (12-6 overall) after running over Ketchikan (2-4) 57-38 on Saturday at Kayhi. The Falcons won on Friday 69-64.
On Saturday the Falcons jumped out to 13-4 lead in the first quarter as Sam Jahn hit six of his game-high 17 points in the key to establish dominance on the glass.
Ty Grussendorf continued his deep threat shooting from the Friday’s win by hitting a three and Vili Tupou added another as TMHS opened a 25-13 halftime lead.
Jahn got six more points in the third period as the Falcons opened a 34-25 advantage starting the final stanza.
TMHS hit 14 free throws in the fourth quarter to offset the pressure of the Ketchikan press. Vili Tupou hit six in a row and Josh Tupou four and Grussendorf hit his second triple to carry the win.
“It was another great night by Sam,” TMHS coach John Blasco said. “And the Tupou brothers and Ty are really providing the solid guard play we need. I can’t say enough about the team’s performance this weekend.”
V. Tupou added 13 points, Ben Jahn eight, Grussendorf seven, J. Tupou six, Jacob Calloway four, and Travis Johnson two.
The Falcons hit 14-24 at the charity stripe, Ketchikan went 8-18.
Kable Lervick led the Kings with 13 points including shooting all 18 of Kayhi’s free throws, Erwin Malabanan eight, Alex Phil six, Brien Auger three, Isaiah Navales, Malik Almenzor, Colton Paulsen, and Melvin Gurthrie two each.
On Friday the Falcons used a solid team effort to beat Ketchikan 69-64 at the first city’s home.
S. Jahn scored 19 points to lead the Falcons and Grussendorf was nearly flawless from beyond the arch, hitting four-of-eight for 12 points.
“Ty had a nice game,” TMHS coach John Blasco said. “We were able to get inside which opened up the outside a bit and Ty was on. It was definitely good for us.”
S. Jahn’s three buckets to in the first quarter opened up space for Grussendorf, senior V. Tupou and sophomore J. Calloway to find scores.
Still playing without senior Matt Seymour the Falcons are finding a maturity level.
“That comes with the comfort and experience with each other,” Blasco said. “Unfortunately not having Matt does give us he opportunity to find a seventh or eighth guy to go too as Matt works his way back in. You have to have those guys on the bench with confidence who you can go too.”
Ketchikan (2-3) got 15 points apiece from Lervick and Almenzer, Auger added 12, Malabanan and Pihl 10 apiece, and Paulsen two.
TMHS was just 7-18 at the free throw line, Kayhi went 22-30 including 11-14 in the fourth quarter.
“That is something we definitely need to work on,” Blasco said. “We can not continue to put people on the free throw line that often.”
Ben Jahn added 11 points for the Falcons and V. Tupou nine.
Avery Stewart scored six of his eight game-points in a crucial run in the third period that allowed the Falcons to keep momentum and a 46-40 advantage starting the final stanza.
“Avery was a key contributor for us,” Blasco said. “It was nice to have kids step up.
Kayhi scored 24 points in the fourth quarter and TMHS 23.
“I think both teams decided to shoot and not play defense,” Blasco said. “Both teams shot very well and Ketchikan definitely attacked the basket.”
Calloway scored eight points in the game, and Josh Tupou two.
The Falcons begin a four-game road trip to Fairbanks starting Wednesday.
Comments (14)
Add commentGood job! Anytime a Juneau
Good job! Anytime a Juneau team puts the boots to a team from Ketchikan it is something to cheer about. You guys really made 'em cry that second game.
Falcons Are Ranked
Congrats on ranking.
Don't know why this shows up 3 times. How do you delete a comment?
Glad to hear
Glad to see that someone else has seen the disparity in the job of scheduling that the AD ( activities director) is doing. You didn't mention the 3 weeks that the boys team had off before the first match up between JD and TM.
If you look at the scheduling of other TM sports you see many of these types of anomalies. It is hard to believe that someone that has coached at a school for as long as she has can not have a bias for that school. There probably no one else in the school district that puts in more hours and she deserves recognition of that, but I personally don't believe she is a fair person when it comes to TM. I also don't believe that the two schools should share one AD, why don't they share principles? Because it doesn't make sense right? TM deserves someone who is looking out for its activities.
Oh another thing, wasn't it a requirement for her to get the district AD job that she not coach? Something to check on
AD is a COACH?
I guess I did miss something here Lubber 911. You said that the AD is a coach for JDHS? What is she the girls team coach or something? Please clarify this for me and any other readers. And thanks for the mention of the the three week break before that big epic game where Thunder Mountain established itself as a major force to be reckoned with. I didn't know about that. It surely just adds to the Falcon's incredible tenacity and talent displayed in those two games though!
No doubt the scheduling thing is a tedious thing to figure out, but the bias does seem to be glaring. Perhaps, without a TMHS Activities Director, at least there should be an Advocate for Thunder Mountain when the scheduling occurs so that our current AD doesn't bend in the direction of JDHS. Hopefully, this discussion gets looked at by those who make decisions.
Yeah, no
There is absolutely no way Ms. Wagner would intentionally do anything to favor JDHS. I've know Sandy for a long time and she is the most fair person you will ever meet. If you don't like the budget then you shouldn't have voted for the new school. It is what it is now and this just proves... sports bring out the best in people and unfortunately the worst in it's fans as well. Maybe that's why she forbids poor sportsmanship in the JDHS gym.
Not officially
The AD is not on the books as a coach. My niece is on one of the high school teams and she has been attending their "open gyms" (that sound more like practice) and Ms. Wagner is conducting these "open gyms". If there is no bias, why is there not these same "open gyms" at TM? It seems like another of the rules are being interpreted by the person who enforces those rules.
AD info
Ms. Wagner had to quit her volleyball coaching position at JD with her new position.
TM boys basketball has a great record and the fans are complaining. Hate to see comments if they had a losing record.
Cross-town rivalry is perpetuated by fan negativity.
I'm sure the one player is tired after playing 7 quarters (C,JV,V) - Interesting.
To rrinak
Just a clear as glass observation rrinak, that's all. And don't worry about that kid who played one quarter too many. TMHS had to forfeit that game because of it, giving KTN one more win because of it.
And so, I am glad to learn that the AD is not a coach. Glad to get that cleared up. Thanks rrinak! Cheers everybody! :-)
Try Looking at JDHS' schedule!
@John Algernon and lubber911
Did either of you even glance at JDHS' boys basketball schedule before making your comments?!?! Here's a run-down of their January schedule, of which ALL GAMES WERE ON THE ROAD:
Jan 1 - Fly to Anchorage, so they can take the Jan. 2nd flight to Kodiak
Jan 2 - Kodiak flight cancelled due to weather
Jan 3 - fly to Kodiak, play that same day against the strong West Anchorage team, lost by 30
Jan 4 - played North Pole
Jan 5 - played Kodiak
Jan 6 and 7- return to Juneau, two days of flights from Kodiak
Jan 15 - Fly out to play Colony and in the Dimond tournament
Jan 16 - played Colony
Jan 17 - played Dimond
Jan 18 - played Chugiak
Jan 19 - played Palmer
Jan 20 - fly back to Juneau
Jan 24 - ferry to Ketchikan
Jan 25 - played Ketchikan
Jan 26 - played Ketchikan
Jan 27 - ferry back to Juneau
Jan 28 (Monday) - finally arrive back in Juneau at 7:30am, must attend school this day
Then finally, AFTER BEING ON THE ROAD FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH, they face TMHS (and probably the biggest games of their season, thus far) after basically only being back for three days, after an overnight ferry ride and going to school that day. Meanwhile, as was mentioned, TMHS had three weeks off before the games against the Bears, to which they could've and probably did game plan exclusively against Juneau.
So stop it, just stop it! If you want to whine about the TMHS schedule and basically libel or defame Sandy, who is overworked and does a fantastic job, then do some research first! JDHS' schedule is just as tough, if not tougher, than TMHS' schedule!
As far as the refs, don't even get me started there! The 4th quarter of the Friday game was basically eight people (TMHS + refs) versus five (JDHS), leading to the one-point victory. That gave them momentum to play even better on Saturday night. But that's in the past, and we shouldn't (have to) be concerned about the refs, as coach Casperson put it, "“You can not worry about how the game is called."
Finally, there have been other posters to other articles who have called the Bears students classless during the games. You want to know what is classless, certain chants that the TMHS students did, I won't remention them here. Also, fans from the visiting team storming the home court's gym floor is very classless...they're lucky there was only some water bottles thrown at them. Try that at a college gym and see what happens!
The Juneau fans have been quiet and respectful on these Empire boards, while the Falcon fans have been whining about scheduling and disrespect AFTER WINNING THEIR GAMES. Enough is enough!
Great article
Thanks for the etiquette lesson. It didn't say anything about storming the court after losing. I couldn't find an article about that.
An Excerpt from that article"
"Much like dieting or enjoying an adult beverage, the single most important rule to keep in mind when celebrating athletic victory is to always practice moderation. A responsible fan must understand that not every game is extraordinary and, therefore, sports moments worthy of a full-fledged on-court ruckus are few and far between.
While the students of Notre Dame may have been merited in their decision to flood the floor last night, smaller, less justified court "stormings" occur far too regularly, taking away from the allure of the tradition".
And because TMHS, the "new kids in town" (as far as a new school goes), I personally think that their excitement over that win was justified. And, I don't believe it was "planned" at all! The Falcons were behind during the entire game up until the last six seconds, and I for one could hardly believe that they pulled it off! Those Crimson Bears boys played exceptionally well, dropping three bombs left and right, and had an incredibly tenacious defense happening through out.. Oh yeah, JDHS had it goin on to be sure! And I for one didn't think that Thunder was going to pull it off. Matt Seymour seemed to have been "cowed into submission" and his numerous three point efforts had amounted to nothing. Ought, nought, nil, zero, goose egg, zilch! But in the last six minutes, they fought back from a very deep deficit, and they pulled it off! And so, what do you expect from the Thunder Mountain crowd? It was spontaneous and one of those times where I do believe that storming the court was acceptable. And the second game on Saturday night, after a concise victory in which they led the whole game, they did not "storm the court", but rather, left the home court to the JDHS Crimson Bears, for their dominance was already established. And, btw, many of those CB fans on the floor were flipping off the Falcons fans still in the stands, but, hey, that doesn't really bother me either. Shoot, that's a sporting event!
All in all, it's been some great basketball! And it's good to have an in town rivalry like this! And I have great respect for the JDHS players and their coach. But, I live in the Valley, so the Falcons are my team! I come from back East where the high school I went to had a total of 2,400 students, and the nearest rival high school was only 1,5 miles from my HS, and they had over 1,800 students as well, and I have seen some pretty intense rivalries there also.
Oh well, I am done here. But I want to say one last thing to Bigtall. You are right about the tough schedule that JDHS had before the Big Game(s). And so, I apologize to you for that. And maybe I am wrong about Ms. Wagner's scheduling. But if there is anything to it, then I am glad to have brought this up so that it can be scrutinized a little closer. As far as "court storming" goes? Fuggedaboudit. It's what happens after a huge Victory, and that's what that Friday night Game was. A huge Victory.
But I have to go now. The Thunder Mountain Boys JV are playing Yakutat in 15 minutes and I surely don't want to miss that one! Go Falcons!
P.S.
An addendum. Thunder Mountain JV wins it in overtime by about 8 points. The Yakutat kids were awesome and have some great shooters. #14 was particularly good. But they only had six team members. Tight game. GO THUNDER!!!!
Great Rivalry for Years to Come!
Let me start off by saying that I’m looking forward to watching the JD/TM cross-town rivalry for many years to come.
I wasn’t going to post my first comment at all until:
#1 – There was a lot of talk about how tough the TMHS schedule is and how it may be unfair. Still, I probably would not have posted, until that talk started turning into...
#2 – the questioning of the Athletic Director’s integrity. This, I couldn’t let go and had to say something.
Hopefully, my listing of the JDHS schedule for January shows that the Bears have already had a very trying schedule. It seems as though the Bears and Falcons have the 2013 parts of their schedules flipped – January at home for the Falcons and on the road for the Bears, February at home for the Bears and on the road for the Falcons. This could actually have been done on purpose, to give those of us who enjoy going to the high school games a chance to attend both JD and TM games, instead of deciding which one to go to.
I hope you do realize that going into those first JD/TM games a couple of weeks ago, that JD was very road-weary and had only three days to game plan for TM…..while TM was very rested and had basically three weeks to game plan for JD. But the final score is what matters, and TM won them both!
Although the players and coaches can’t/won’t/shouldn’t say it, I, as a fan and supporter, have every right to say that the Friday night game was stolen from Juneau by horrible officiating. I honestly believe that the last four minutes of that game the referees swallowed their whistles, and the game became eight versus five. Now having said that, I don’t want to take anything away from the HARD-FOUGHT COMEBACK that the TM boys had…..it was not the refs that hit a CLUTCH three-pointer with six seconds left, it wasn’t the refs that played with no quit, lots of heart, and lots of tenacity to come back for the win…..so the TM boys deserve all the credit they deserve; they didn’t give up when down late and battled back! As far as Saturday night goes, TM was the better team; doesn’t matter if it was carry-over from Friday or not, TM was clearly the better team on Saturday.
Once again, let me say that I’m looking forward to watching the JD/TM cross-town rivalry for many years to come! This year, because of both experience and talent, I do think TM is the better team. If I’m not mistaken, they have nine seniors on the team. But as far as JD is concerned, I’m really looking forward to the next two years. Currently, JD has only 3 seniors, only 2 juniors, but LOTS of sophomores (which get a lot of playing time). So, if the current sophomore Bears stay together, I’m really excited to see how they do in the future, especially two years from now when all of those sophomores are all seniors. But with changing of schools by some student-athletes, who knows how the rosters will look in two years.
Finally, I must address the court storming issue. If Juneau won, I expected the students to storm the court. When TM won, I was very surprised to see the TM students storm the court…but after thinking about it for a second, I kinda shrugged my shoulders and said, “Yeah, it’s probably the biggest win in their program’s history, and it happened in dramatic fashion, so I definitely understand them storming the court.” It wasn’t until after some JD parents told me how disrespectful they thought it was, that I started to think about it some more. I STILL didn’t think it was that disrespectful…like I said, it was probably the biggest win ever for their program.
But here’s the problem with using the article that you linked to or using the current court-storming phase that’s going on as saying that the TM court-storming was justified, and which neither of you has mentioned, and that is that the TM students stormed the court of the HOSTING team…not their home court, not a neutral court, but the court of their hosts. Every single court-storming is done on either a HOME court or a NEUTRAL court, not a visiting court. The instances in your linked article and any other time that it happens, it happens at home or at a neutral site. That is why I said that they are lucky to only have water bottles thrown at them, and try that at a college gym and see what happens. NO WAY was I advocating the water bottle throwing, justifying it, or saying it was OK…I was just saying that it was expected. So until visiting fans storm the court of their hosts on a regular basis without getting pelted by easily-thrown objects, I stand by my comments about the court-storming.
Finally, on a totally different subject, I still think that the Thunder Mountain nickname should be the Avalanche! I mean, in my opinion, that just sounds better and is more fitting than Falcons. Thunder Mountain Avalanche! It’s fitting…it’s how Thunder Mountain got its name to begin with! Thunder Mountain Avalanche!
As far as cheering and support goes, I will and do cheer for Thunder Mountain to win every single game that they are in, except when they play Juneau (or my HS alma mater from the Eastern US). I will finally end by saying what I’ve already mentioned twice, I’m looking forward to watching the JD/TM cross-town rivalry for many years to come!
Coffee break over, time for me to get back to work. I definitely see that you are passionate about the Falcons…I love it!!! I believe with supporters like us, who are excited to go and watch the games and are truly happy when they win and a little down when they lose, both programs will stay strong!
Good luck to TM tonight against Delta Junction and this weekend against North Pole and West Valley! Good luck to Juneau this weekend against Mount Edgecumbe and Ketchikan!
Rumble!!!
So when is the rumble in the graveyard?!
My Bad
My apologies to all who comment on any sports stories... I often don't read the comment section enough and I do enjoy your feed back and thoughts.
I also have an open door policy here at the Empire that invites anyone to give me a call or an email with story ideas, thoughts, and concerns.
I am a bit concerned about the comments about AD Sandi Wagner. One of the easiest ways to answer your concerns is to call those in the school district that you perceive she has wronged. I have. Better yet, call northern schools and ask about her work.
Unfortunately, most of the TMHS schedule was already in the books when Sandi was hired to AD both schools, it was a carry over from the prior year... Basically, all the Region V AD's work the YEAR before on scheduling, they are currently trying to hash out next year.
Budget cuts, budget cuts, budget cuts and more budget cuts started the road to this TMHS schedule. If you want to have a head spinning experience attend a Juneau School District budget meeting.
I know I would like to see both teams play at home, I like to watch both schools play.
Also, I am currently working on a large selection of photos for the TMHS kids to enjoy while they are on that road trip... I posted one for JD and for the Lathrop kids so they could remember our Capital City but I could not get to Thunder's in time before I received another attack on my bias against one school over the other... sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...