Golden Bears run away from Crimson Bears
Bartlett's defensive pressure too much for young Juneau boys team in opener
The Juneau-Douglas High School boys basketball team would like the license plate number of that Mack truck.
The Crimson Bears were run over by the two-time defending Class 4A state champion Bartlett Golden Bears 89-41 in their season-opener Wednesday at Bartlett High School in a game that was only close in the first minute or two.
Led by the guard tandem of 6-foot-3 junior Mario Chalmers and 5-8 senior Doug Hardy - both first-team all-state players last year - the Golden Bears used a pressure defense that left the young Juneau players feeling as if they'd just run into a buzz saw.
"A little deer-in-the-headlights syndrome, that's an apt description," Juneau coach George Houston said. "After the first five minutes I could see that was a possibility."
After Juneau opened the game's scoring with a 3-pointer by senior forward Adam Nelson, Bartlett turned several Crimson Bear turnovers into a 10-0 run and the Golden Bears never looked back. By the end of the first quarter, Bartlett's lead was 25-7.
Juneau, which graduated six seniors for the second straight year, settled down in the second quarter. But there were a few lapses that Bartlett turned into quick six- or eight-point runs and the Golden Bears had their lead up to 28 points, 48-20, at halftime.
The second half was more of the same, with Bartlett taking a 45-point lead, 75-30, at the end of the third quarter and holding close to that margin through the fourth quarter.
"I hope they're taking it pretty hard, because we got thumped pretty good," Houston said of his team. "Their guards, especially Chalmers and Hardy, their quickness we can't replicate in practice. Until you experience this type of pressure you really don't know how to handle it."
Chalmers, a point guard who was an honorable mention all-American in Street & Smith's college/high school preview magazine and the 33rd-best junior nationally in High School Hoops magazine, led the Golden Bears with 20 points. Hardy scored 17 points for Bartlett (1-0), while Josh Mitchell chipped in 11. Bartlett returns seven seniors from its state championship team last year.
Nelson scored 14 points to lead Juneau, which took third place in last year's Class 4A state tournament. Josh Monagle, a sophomore forward, added 10 points for the Crimson Bears (0-1) and senior guard Alex Heumann scored nine.
"I didn't think the kids quit, we were trying," Houston said. "Adam did some nice things early on, and Josh missed a lot of bunnies, but he drew three charges and he did some nice things rebounding. We knew that might happen going in, but we play Bartlett again in a month in the first round of the East tournament. You never know, things might be different if we concentrate."
Bartlett also won the junior varsity game, claiming a 72-46 victory over Juneau. Game details were not available.
The Crimson Bear varsity will play in the Service Cougar Tip-Off Classic the rest of the weekend, while the JV team plays in a tournament at Dimond High School.
Juneau's varisty team plays Class 3A power Barrow at 6:45 p.m. tonight to open the Service tournament. All three of Juneau's games in the Service tournament will be broadcast locally on KINY radio, 800-AM.
Depending on tonight's result, the Crimson Bears will play either the winner or loser of tonight's game between Service and Point Hope-Tikigaq on Friday. If Juneau wins today, the Friday game is at 8:30 p.m. If Juneau loses, Friday's game is at 5 p.m. Saturday's championship game is at 8:30 p.m. The other teams in the tournament are East Anchorage, Wasilla, Heritage Christian Schools and West Hills, which is from a San Diego suburb.
"We'll find out a lot more about our guys tomorrow night," Houston said. "We've got to get ready for Barrow. It's not that we got kicked tonight, but how we respond. Barrow's a good 3A team, they're pretty well put together. We better be able to go to work tomorrow."
GOLDEN BEARS 89, CRIMSON BEARS 41
Wednesday's boys game from Bartlett High School
JUNEAU-DOUGLAS (41) - Larry Cooper 1 0-0 2, Norman Zura 0 0-0 0, Scott Lesh 0 0-0 0, Tom Derbesy 2 0-0 4, Tres Saldivar 0 0-0 0, Luke Miller 0 0-1 0, Clae Baker 0 0-0 0, Alex Heumann 3 2-4 9, Rob Carte 0 0-0 0, Mychal Hutcherson 0 2-6 2, Josh Monagle 3 4-4 10, Kyle Huntsman 0 0-0 0, David Jones 0 0-0 0, Andrew Capacci 0 0-0 0, Adam Nelson 6 1-5 14. Totals: 15 9-20 41.
BARTLETT (89) - Tony James 2 3-3 7, Doug Hardy 5 7-8 17, Antoine Jordan 2 2-3 6, Mario Chalmers 8 2-2 20, Andre Jones 3 2-2 9, Josh Mitchell 5 1-3 11, Marty Stokes 2 2-3 7, Benjamin Cooper 2 0-0 4, Bryan Leiser 1 0-0 3, Avery Jackson 1 0-0 2, Damon Ingram 1 1-2 3. Totals: 32 20-26 89.
JUNEAU-DOUGLAS 7 13 10 11 - 41
BARTLETT 25 23 27 14 - 89
3-point goals - Juneau-Douglas 2 (Heumann 1, Nelson 1), Bartlett 5 (Chalmers 2, A. Jones 1, Stokes 1, Leiser 1). Fouled out - Juneau-Douglas 0, Bartlett 1 (Jordan). Technical fouls - None. Total fouls - Juneau-Douglas 18, Bartlett 23.