Juneau-Douglas closes road trip with a win over East

The Juneau-Douglas High School boys basketball team ended a difficult trip in Anchorage on a positive note Saturday.

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After dropping their first three games against Dimond, West Anchorage and Heritage Christian in Anchorage, the Crimson Bears gutted out a 66-65 victory over East Anchorage in the Alaska Airlines Classic tournament at West Anchorage High School. The win snapped a four-game losing skid that started Dec. 29.

"There's a bit of weight off their shoulders," JDHS coach Steve Potter said of his team.

All four games, played on four successive days, had one thing in common - pressure defense.

The Bears faced relentless pressure defense all week long. While East didn't play as much pressure as the previous three teams, according to Potter, battling four teams in four days exacted a toll from JDHS.

"I think mechanically we're understanding what to do against pressure," Potter said. "The thing about pressure is it just wears on you because you have to concentrate for so long. Four games in four days - we were definitely tired. There were times we had three guys get the rebound and we knocked it away from each other because we were tired."

Despite the fatigue, however, JDHS (6-6) managed to upend the Thunderbirds.

Juneau led 32-30 at halftime and 45-42 after three quarters. East had a shot to win the game at the buzzer, but Juneau-Douglas held on for the win.

"We were able to execute a little better," Potter said.

Dominique Brinson led JDHS with 19 points, including three 3-pointers.

Faifo Levale had 13 points while Eric Gross added 11 points. Ryan "Bubba" Larson scored nine while Cody Grussendorf, Geoff Craig and Shawn Ibesate had four points each.

The team also made 11 of 14 free throws.

For East, Derrick Moore led all players with 25 points while Stephen Johnson had 15 points.

On Friday, Juneau-Douglas lost to perennial Class 3A power Heritage Christian 67-54 at West Anchorage High School.

Heritage outscored JDHS 27-14 in the final eight minutes to ice the win.

"(Heritage Christian's) kids are physically strong," Potter said. "It was a very physical game and they didn't call a lot of body contact and that took us out of the game. We were also 6 for 16 from the free throw line."

Cameron Ramirez and Steve Hanks scored 20 points each to pace Heritage Christian.

For JDHS, Shawn Ibesate had a team-high 13 points while Levale scored 12 points.

Brinson and Gross had eight points each in defeat.

Up next for Juneau-Douglas will be a two-game home series against Colony on Jan. 25-26. It will be a rematch of last year's state quarterfinal game, won by the Knights 54-51.

SATURDAY'S GAME

Juneau-Douglas 66, East Anchorage 65

JDHS 14 18 13 21 - 66

East 15 15 12 23 - 65

JDHS (66) - Brinson 19, Waters 2, Grussendorf 4, Craig 4, Ibesate 4, Larson 9, Gross 11, Levale 13. FT 11-14

East (65) - Harris 4, Banks 3, Chapman 3, Moore 25, Johnson 15, Abello 2, Spencer 13.

FRIDAY'S GAME

Heritage Christian 67, Juneau-Douglas 54

JDHS 18 12 10 14 - 54

Heritage 20 7 13 27 - 67

JDHS (54) - Brinson 8, Grussendorf 6, Craig 2, Ibesate 13, Larson 5, Gross 8, Levale 12.

Heritage (67) - M. Millar 7, J. Millar 4, Cassel 1, Ramirez 20, Miessner 15, Hanks 20.

• Contact sports editor Tim Nichols at 523-2228 or sports@juneauempire.com.