Kings end Falcon boys', girls' seasons

There won't be an all-Juneau battle for a state tournament bid. Not this year, at least.

The Ketchikan boys rallied from an early 10-point hole to knock off Thunder Mountain 77-67 on the third day of the Southeast Conference region tournament Thursday, ending the Falcons' first season of play at Mt. Edgecumbe High School.

The Falcons, especially senior Cody Grussendorf, were hot early, jumping to a 10-point lead, which the Kings cut down to two, only to see TMHS push it back out to eight.

Grussendorf had 22 points in the first half but ran out of gas late, scoring just one in the fourth quarter before finishing with 31.

The Falcons led 38-33 at the half and 55-52 heading into the fourth after closing on a 5-0 spurt to end the third.

A Tyler Elliot steal and lay-up cut the deficit to one, 59-58, and the a Jeff Whicker 3-pointer gave the Kings a 62-59 lead with five minutes left in the fourth, a lead they never relinquished as they pulled away late at the free throw line.

Falcon girls fall, 58-19

The Falcon girls' season came to an end at the hands of the Kings, 58-19.

It was a season of growing pains and lessons learned for the young Thunder Mountain squad and its first-year coach, Tanya Nizich.

The Falcons had perhaps the youngest team in the state with a lineup filled with freshman, sophomores and no seniors.

"They came out ready to go from the get-go, and we played 11 of the 12 we brought except for Kylie (Ibias), who was injured," Nizich said. "They gave it all they had every time they stepped on the court and were bummed out whenever I gave them a rest because they wanted to keep playing.

"That was fun to see. After 23 games now, to be able to still carry that attitude of wanting to compete despite the score is pretty amazing."

JDHS-Ketchikan boys, girls

Today, the Juneau-Douglas girls take on Ketchikan at 3 p.m., and the boys take on the Kings at 4:45 p.m. in what is an elimination game for both KayHi squads. You can view a Web cast of the games at www.mehs.us.

The girls split the regular season matchups, with JDHS winning their second-day tournament game with the Kings, 61-57.

Juneau-Douglas senior Alex DeRocher provided the heroics late Wednesday night, burying a baseline jumper with eight seconds to go for the win after the Kings had rallied from 19 down to take a late lead.

It was the first time all season JDHS had beaten the Kings, who finished the regular season 17-5 and 7-1 in the conference.

Both Kings teams now have to win two straight against the JDHS boys and girls to qualify for state.