Bears freeze North Pole to open Classic
After struggling to an uncharacteristic 1-3 record on its season-opening Anchorage road trip, the Juneau-Douglas High School basketball team needed to open the Princess Cruises-Capital City Classic on a strong note.
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On Saturday, the Crimson Bears got exactly what they needed, beating the North Pole Patriots 67-52 in a game Juneau led by 32 points to start the fourth quarter. The Juneau defense forced 27 North Pole turnovers, and the Crimson Bears never were threatened after the mid-point of the first quarter.
"It was definitely a confidence-builder," Juneau sophomore forward Josh Monagle said. "We'd been struggling and it was nice to get our first win against a (Class) 4A team."
"I think it was really important because we didn't play to our potential up in Anchorage," Juneau junior swingman Tom Derbesy added. "It's always good to get a 'W' at home."
In the other boys game Saturday, Newport Harbor of Newport Beach, Calif., knocked off Olympic of Silverdale, Wash., 57-52. The teams will take a tour of Juneau today, and they will have a banquet and a dance tonight. Today's only action open to the public will be the skills contests at 4 p.m.
For Juneau, getting the "W" was key.
The Crimson Bears (2-3 overall) were blown out by two-time defending Class 4A state champion Bartlett to open the season, then suffered close losses to Class 3A power Barrow and Class 4A state runner-up Wasilla in a pair of Service Cougar Tip-Off Classic games where Juneau fell behind early and had to claw back into things. Juneau's only victory was over Class 2A Point Hope-Tikigaq in a game where Point Hope was greatly overmatched.
This time, Juneau didn't let North Pole get on an early run and the Crimson Bears trailed just once in the game, 3-2 early in the first quarter. North Pole closed to within 10-9 with 2 minutes, 29 seconds left in the first quarter, but Juneau scored the last five points of the period then outscored the Patriots 20-2 in the second quarter for a 35-11 halftime lead. Juneau's biggest lead of the game was 34 points, 54-20, late in the third quarter.
"We just got on a run," said senior guard Alex Heumann, who led the Crimson Bears with 20 points and five rebounds. "It was great to finally be able to play at home. It was awesome. We did all right."
"We came out, compared to our games up north, we came out strong," added Juneau senior forward Adam Nelson, who had 10 points, four rebounds and three assists. "We didn't let them get ahead of us. Our defensive intensity stayed up and we worked really hard. It definitely was a step in the correct direction."
North Pole (2-1 overall) was hampered by early foul trouble from senior forward Marlee Currier, who picked up his third foul late in the first quarter and didn't play again until the second half. Currier still wound up leading the Patriots with 15 points and five rebounds, but nine of those points came in the fourth quarter when the game was already decided.
"We weren't executing and we came out flat-footed," said North Pole forward Chris Powell, who finished with six points and five rebounds after being in double-figures in the two previous Patriot games. "They outran us and they got a lot of points off the fast break."
"They were outhustling us," added North Pole guard Jacob Borkovec, who scored nine points.
Monagle added 11 points, five rebounds and two assists for the Crimson Bears, while senior forward David Jones scored eight points and had three rebounds. All 15 Crimson Bears got into the game, with most of the younger players seeing action in the fourth quarter when North Pole closed into Juneau's margin.
"The 'W' feels pretty good, quite frankly," Juneau coach George Houston said. "Even more, getting a win while playing in front of the home folks. We played better, but we didn't play perfect. Those other two teams - Olympic and Newport Harbor - will give us different kinds of challenges"
On Monday, North Pole will take on Newport Harbor at 3 p.m., while the Juneau-Douglas boys host Olympic at 8 p.m. The round-robin tournament concludes on Tuesday with North Pole vs. Olympic at 3 p.m. and the Crimson Bears vs. Newport Harbor at 8 p.m.
Sailors 57, Trojans 52
Newport Harbor closed out the game with an 8-2 run as the Sailors of Newport Beach, Calif., rallied to claim a boys tournament-opening victory over Olympic of Silverdale, Wash.
Jamie Diefenbach, Newport Harbor's 6-foot-8 center, scored 15 points, grabbed nine rebounds (eight in the second half) and blocked three shots to lead the Sailors (8-4 overall). Taylor Young added 11 points and seven rebounds, while Dennis Heenan also scored 11 points for the Tars and Brent Perrine scored eight points.
Chester Thomas scored 14 points and made seven steals to lead the Trojans (3-3), who were outscored 20-11 in the fourth quarter. Brendan Campbell added 11 points and seven rebounds, while Brian Smith had eight points and eight rebounds. Travis Moore added seven rebounds off the bench for Olympic.
Both teams made a lot of turnovers, as the players struggled to maintain possession of the ball. Newport Harbor made all four of its free-throw shots in the fourth quarter and finished 10-for-13 for the game, while Olympic was 1-for-6 from the line in the fourth quarter and 7-for-18 for the game.
• Charles Bingham can be reached at cbingham@juneauempire.com.
CRIMSON BEARS 67, PATRIOTS 52
Saturday's boys game from JDHS
NORTH POLE (52) - Matt Zanazzo 2 0-0 5, Brad Seavey 2 1-2 6, Brett Hollingsworth 1 1-2 3, Nick Holt 3 0-2 6, Chris Powell 3 0-0 6, Jacob Borkovec 3 2-2 9, Marlee Currier 6 3-3 15, Charles Spencer 1 0-0 2, Jason Dahlke 0 0-0 0, Dee Johnson 0 0-2 0. Totals: 21 7-13 52.
JUNEAU-DOUGLAS (67) - Larry Cooper 0 3-5 3, Norman Zura 0 0-0 0, Scott Lesh 1 0-0 2, Tom Derbesy 1 0-0 2, Tres Saldivar 0 0-0 0, Luke Miller 1 1-2 3, Clae Baker 0 0-0 0, Alex Heumann 6 2-2 20, Rob Carte 0 0-0 0, Mychal Hutcherson 3 0-0 6, Josh Monagle 4 3-4 11, Kyle Huntsman 1 2-2 4, David Jones 4 0-0 8, Andrew Capacci 0 0-0 0, Adam Nelson 5 0-1 10. Totals: 26 11-16 67.
NORTH POLE 9 2 13 28 - 52
JUNEAU-DOUGLAS 15 20 21 11 - 67
3-point goals - North Pole 3 (Zanazzo 1, Seavey 1, Borkovec 1), Juneau-Douglas 4 (Heumann 4). Fouled out - None. Technical fouls - North Pole 1 (Zanazzo 1), Juneau-Douglas 0. Total fouls - North Pole 16, Juneau-Douglas 13.
SAILORS 57, TROJANS 52
Saturday's boys game from JDHS
NEWPORT HARBOR (57) - David Allee 0 0-0 0, Rafael Maradyan 3 0-0 6, Tom Jackson 0 0-0 0, Dennis Heenan 5 0-0 11, Taylor Young 3 5-5 11, Sean Eddington 0 0-0 0, Greg Gausewitz 0 0-0 0, Alex Orth 1 0-0 2, Chad Macbeth 1 0-0 2, Jamie Diefenbach 6 3-5 15, Tom Holbrook 0 0-0 0, Robert Hunter 1 0-0 2, Brent Perrine 3 2-3 8, Ted Slater 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 10-13 57.
OLYMPIC (52) - Chester Thomas 7 0-4 14, Mike Fry 1 0-0 2, Reagan Logova 1 0-2 3, Brendan Campbell 4 3-6 11, Josiah Estribor 0 0-0 0, Jeff Shaw 1 2-4 4, Stephen Braun 1 0-0 2, Robert Messing 2 0-0 6, Brian Smith 3 2-2 8, Brad Garrison 0 0-0 0, Josh Jones 0 0-0 0, Travis Moore 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 7-18 52.
NEWPORT HARBOR 9 17 11 20 - 57
OLYMPIC 13 8 20 11 - 52
3-point goals - Newport Harbor 1 (Heenan 1), Olympic 3 (Messing 2, Logova 1). Fouled out - Newport Harbor 0, Olympic 1 (Thomas). Technical fouls - None. Total fouls - Newport Harbor 13, Olympic 15.