The Ketchikan Kings provide a tournament’s worth of fire power in one night as they defeated the fourth-seeded Dimond Lynx 52-48 in their opening game at the 2025 ASAA March Madness Alaska 4A Basketball State Championships on Wednesday in Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center.

“It was a man’s game,” Ketchikan coach Eric Stockhausen said. “I thought both teams played as physical as they possibly could. I was impressed with our shooting, which is something I said at the beginning of the year, I thought that we were going to be a pretty good shooting team. Just the confidence and the growth of Gage (Massin) and both the Dela’s (Jozaiah and Edward Dela Cruz) and the confidence to get shots up.”

Kayhi leading scorer Marcus Stockhausen was drawing a double- or triple-team each time he touched the ball, so the Kayhi team responded with a bullseye mentality by hitting 13 of 23 shots past the arc.

“We adjusted a little bit, ran a few sets, I got us some good looks,” coach Stockhausen said. “I’m just real proud of the toughness of our kids. There were no jitters. We have confidence in ourselves, confidence in the guy next to us. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a team that has loved each other as much as these guys do. And as tough as that game was, they were still smiling and laughing and talking while they were playing…any place of employment where the coworkers like each other, it’s always going to be a pretty good day.”

Ketchikan started their pretty good day with first-quarter scores past the arc by both Dela Cruz brothers and held a 13-9 lead after eight minutes.

E. Dela Cruz opened the second stanza with a shot past the arc and J. Dela Cruz followed with one from similar distance.

Dimond would keep pace with baskets by Callan Castro and Marek Hajdukovich, but Kayhi senior Gage Massin joined the shooting contest with his own long-range bomb as Kayhi held a 22-18 lead.

M. Stockhausen hit a free throw and J. Dela Cruz from past the arc for a 26-21 lead at the half.

M. Stockhausen finally was free from distance to open the third quarter and Massin added two more deep shots as Kayhi continued to answer Dimond’s scores for a 37-35 lead at the half.

Dimond’s Castro hit a three to give the Lynx a 38-37 lead opening the final stanza, but J. Dela Cruz took it back from distance for a 40-38 Kayhi advantage.

Dimond’s Hajdukovich tied the game on a pair of free throws and Stockhausen untied the game for Kayhi on a scoring drive followed by J. Dela Cruz’ final shot past the arc for a 45-40 lead.

Dimond tied the game again on baskets by Castro and Hajdukovich but Kayhi’s Stockhausen hit his second shot past the arc for a 48-45 lead with two minutes left to play.

J. Dela Cruz would hit a free throw with 50 seconds left and Massin would score of an inbounds play set up in a timeout for 51-45 with 15 seconds remaining.

Hajdukovich put Dimond’s last basket in from distance and with 10 seconds left to play. J. Dela Cruz hit a free throw for the final margin.

Massin led Ketchikan with 16 points, J. Dela Cruz 13, M. Stockhausen 11, E. Dela Cruz nine and Jonathan Scoblic three. Stockhausen had six rebounds, Massin four, J. Dela Cruz three, Scoblic two and E. Dela Cruz one.

The Kings hit 5-9 at the free throw line, the Lynx 9-11. Kayhi had 16 total rebounds, seven steals, six fouls and nine turnovers. Dimond had 13 rebounds, four steals, 17 fouls and 13 turnovers.

Hajdukovich and Castro led the Lynx with 16 points apiece, Pius Hajdukovich seven, Amelo Ambrosio five and Samuel Odia four.

“So even if we had been on the wrong side of that score, watching those kids compete against bigger, stronger Anchorage kids, couldn’t be more proud of them,” Kayhi coach Stockhausen said. “I think the two things that are going to give us a shot in any game are how we play team defense…Gage (Massin) is a beast defensively, Merek (Dimond’s Hajdukovich) is a great player and Gage stuck with him for 32 minutes…but we pass the ball very well. I think when they made that little run and took the lead in the second half we were hesitant, and we adjusted quickly…These guys fixed it in real time which is fantastic.”

Coach Stockhausen said winning the first game, “Absolutely releases the pressure… I thought we took away what they had been successfully doing in their highly successful stretch, that shows high basketball I.Q. and total buy-in by my kids and I appreciate that.”

Ketchikan advances to a 7:45 p.m. semifinal Friday against Grace Christian, a 51-46 winner over West Anchorage. Dimond plays West in an elimination game Friday.

East defeated Palmer 52-35 on the other half of the bracket and Wasilla played Monroe.

SITKA BOYS 61, HOMER 26

The Sitka Wolves boys basketball team started their 3A state tournament with an 18-2 run over the Homer Mariners in the first four minutes of play and never looked back in their 61-26 win.

Seniors Bryce Compagno-Calhoun and Trey Demmert, and juniors Brett Ross, Shane Tincher and Trey Johnson all had their paws involved in the opening barrage as the Wolves led 23-5 after eight minutes of action. Sitka would lead 34-10 at the half and 53-15 after three quarters.

Johnson led Sitka with 20 points, Compagno-Calhoun and Demmert 11 apiece, sophomore Colton McGraw and Tincher five apiece, Ross three, sophomores Shan Carlos and Kenneth Helem and senior Rowan Olney-Miller two each. Johnson also led with 13 rebounds, Tincher and Demmert led with three assists apiece and McGraw led with two steals.

Sitka hit 1-3 from the free throw line, Homer 2-8. The Wolves had 28 team rebounds, 14 steals, nine fouls and eight turnovers. The Mariners had 22 rebounds, five steals, four fouls and 27 turnovers.

Senior Spencer Dye led Homer with nine points, senior Einar Pederson six, senior Henry Wedvik five, sophomore Justus Grimes three, senior Preston Stanislaw two and sophomore Benjamin Engebretsen one.

Sitka advances to face Eastern Conference rival Mt. Edgecumbe in a 6:15 p.m. semifinal on Thursday.

MT. EDGECUMBE BOYS 69, KENAI 45

The three-seed Mt. Edgecumbe boys ran into a game six-seed Kenai Kardinals squad, and battled to a 13-13 first-quarter tie behind scores from Kaden Herrmann, Donovan Stephan-Standifer, Xavier Gundersen and Richard Didrickson Jr.

Kenai took a brief lead in the second quarter before Mt. Edgecumbe rebounded for a 29-23 lead at the half, closed out by a Didrickson score past the arc and a rebound by Stephan-Standifer who fed Herrmann for a score.

The Braves would lead 51-33 starting the final stanza.

Herrmann and Didrickson Jr led Mt. Edgecumbe with 19 points apiece, Xavier Gundersen 14, Stephan-Standifer 11, Brent Sun, Raymond Monk and Rashawn Stone two each. Stephan-Standifer led with 15 rebounds and Didrickson Jr 12, Didrickson Jr led with four assists.

The Braves hi 10-12 at the free throw line, the Kardinals 8-13. Mt. Edgecumbe had 39 team rebounds, six steals, 12 fouls and 15 turnovers. Kenai had 20 rebounds, 12 steals, nine fouls and 16 turnovers.

Miles Metteer led Kenai with 20 points, Caleb Like 13, Mason Tunseth seven, Garrett McCanna and Reid Titus two apiece, Eli Smith one.

Mt. Edgecumbe and Sitka play at Thursday semifinal at 6:15 p.m. On the other half of the bracket Barrow defeated Valdez 59-52 and Nome topped Hutchison 67-19.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.