A 'W' with 'D'

AANCHORAGE — Defense was the difference as the Colony Knights won their 20th straight game and earned a second consecutive trip to the ASAA First National Bank 4A State Basketball Championships semifinals with a 49-38 win over Palmer in the opening round of the tournament at West Anchorage High School Thursday.

“You can have bad shooting nights, but the one constant you can always have is defense,” Colony coach Jeff Bowker said after his team won despite shooting just 33 percent from the floor.

Colony forced 25 Palmer turnovers in the game and never trailed despite having to fend off several charges from the Moose, the tourney's No. 8 seed.

Colony forward Josh Mosley said Bowker preaches defense endlessly in practice, and all of the Knights' hard work paid off big Thursday.

“Defense controls games,” Moseley said. “As long as you play good defense, you have a chance.”

Though the West High scoreboard was blinking on and off near the end of the first half, it wasn't from overuse.

The two Valley rivals combined for just 40 points in a sloppy first half that saw Colony take a 22-18 lead into the locker room despite missing their final eight shots from the field.

Colony opened the game hot, taking a 16-8 lead after one quarter on a late three-pointer by John Palmer. But the teams cooled down quickly in the second, with the Moose outscoring the Northern Lights Conference champion Knights 8-6 over a slow, ugly eight minutes of play.

Colony's uncharacteristic poor shooting enabled Palmer to keep the game close, with the Moose ending the half on a 6-0 run.

Palmer found success early on by getting the ball inside against Colony's smaller front line, finishing the half with consecutive inside buckets from forwards Bryce Jacobson, Shaq Odom and Justin Draughon. But the Moose were hampered by the Knights' pressure defense, which forced Palmer to turn the ball over 14 times in the first half.

Palmer cut the lead to 22-20 when Odom opened the third quarter with a midrange jumper, but Colony immediately answered with a 9-2 run highlighted by two big baskets from Josh Moseley inside.

Again the Moose buckled but didn't break, finishing the third on a 6-2 run of their own to stay within striking distance heading into the fourth, with the Knights clinging to a 33-28 lead.

But Colony made 10 free throws in the fourth quarter to ice the game.

Moseley finished the game with a team-high 14 points to lead the Knights. Grant Niver had 12 points for Colony, while Palmer added 10. Matt Stearman led Colony with six rebounds, while Moseley and Palmer had four steals each.

T.J. Fullmer led Palmer with 12 points, though he was held to just five field goal attempts by Colony's stingy defense. Fullmer also had 10 turnovers in the game as the senior point guard struggled with Colony's trapping defense.

“We just had a ton of turnovers,” Greg Fullmer said.

Justin Draughon had eight points for the Moose, Bryce Jacobson had seven and Jake Hillis had a game-high 10 rebounds.

The loss dropped Palmer into the consolation round, where they'll face Juneau-Douglas at 9:40 a.m. today.

Fullmer said the loss was tough to take for a Palmer team that entered the state tournament riding a wave of confidence after placing third at the NLC tourney two weekends ago.

“These guys have played their best basketball of the season the last two weeks,” Fullmer said.

Colony, meanwhile, advances to play South Anchorage at 8:30 p.m. today with a trip to the state title game on the line.

“We just wanted to advance,” Bowker said. “Playing at Sullivan with something on the line is what you always hope for.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com

KNIGHTS 49, MOOSE 38

4A state quarterfinals

Thursday, West Anchorage High School

Colony 16 6 11 16 — 49

Palmer 8 10 10 10 — 38

COLONY (49) — Zagars 1 0-0 2, J. Murphy 1 5-8 7, Palmer 3 3-5 10, Scott 0 0-2 0, Niver 3 6-7 12, Gray 1 2-2 4, Moseley 6 1-2 14. Totals: 15 17-26 49.

PALMER (38) — Draughon 3 1-4 8, Gatto 1 0-0 2, Fullmer 3 5-5 12, Hillis 0 2-2 2, Swetzof 1 0-0 2, Bergeron 0 1-2 1, Odom 2 0-0 4, Jacobson 3 1-3 7. Totals: 13 10-16 38.

Three-point field goals: Colony 2 (Palmer, Moseley), Palmer 2 (Draughon, Fullmer). Total fouls: Colony 16, Palmer 23. Fouled out: none.