Late in Tuesday’s 4A Boys Region V basketball tournament first round game, Thunder Mountain High School’s Noah Reishus-O’Brien drove baseline and sent a high-arching floater over Juneau-Douglas’ Erik Kelly’s outstretched arm.
Bucket. Foul. Fist pump.
The basket put Thunder Mountain up 18 points and the Falcons would go on to beat JDHS 56-40 Tuesday night.
Reishus O’Brien scored 16 points to go along with Chase Saviers’ 14 and Garth Tupou’s 8 points. Crimson Bear Kolby Hoover scored 12 points in the losing effort.
It was just the second game played in the Region V basketball tournament that continues all week and features teams from nine different Southeast Alaska communities.
The Falcons face off against Ketchikan Wednesday night at 8:15 p.m. in the second round while JDHS awaits Wednesday’s loser on Thursday.
“They’ve been tested all season with very little days off and practice time,” TMHS head coach John Blasco said. “So I felt like that we’re ready — even though last weekend was tough on us — I felt like they were ready bounce back today and they executed our game plan just how we asked them to.”
The Falcons dropped both games against JDHS over the weekend. The Crimson Bears defeated the Falcons 46-40 Friday and 58-40 Saturday.
The Falcons led by three points after the first quarter before going on a 10-0 run to start the second quarter.
A thunderous steal-and-slam by Kelly around the 2:30 mark would be the final basket in the half as neither team could improve on an 18-10 score.
The Crimson Bears shot under 25 percent from the field in the first half compared to THMS’s 50 percent.
Both teams traded buckets in third quarter and Thunder Mountain led 29-20 to start the fourth.
The Falcons opened the fourth quarter on an 11-0 run as JDHS continued to miss from inside and outside. Reishus-O’Brien went 3-3 from the free throw line and hit a bank shot over two defenders in transition. Two possessions later, Saviers found his senior teammate underneath the basket with a no-look pass for an easy layup, stetching Falcons’ lead to 20 with 4:30 remaining.
The Crimson Bears continued to execute a full-court press throughout the fourth quarter, despite Thunder Mountain’s willingness to break it.
Reishus O’Brien would score his final points of the game two minutes later on the hoop-and-harm.
“Last weekend we never had a lead, we never had a cushion, and it’s harder to play from behind,” said Blasco.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Thunder Mountain senior Noah Reishus-O’Brien (15) shoots the ball Tuesday during the Falcons 56-40 win against Juneau-Douglas during the first round of the Region V 4A tournament in the Juneau-Douglas gym in Juneau.(Taylor Balkom | Ketchikan Daily News)
Juneau-Douglas junior Erik Kelly (24) dunks the ball Tuesday during the Crimson Bears’ 56-40 loss to Thunder Mountain during the first round of the Region V 4A tournament in the Juneau-Douglas gym in Juneau.(Taylor Balkom | Ketchikan Daily News)
