Colony boys 4th, girls 5th in state tourney

ANCHORAGE — After a tough loss in the quarterfinals, the Colony Knights found themselves on the backside of the 4A boys bracket. But with their second straight win, Colony capped its 2017-18 season with a victory.

The Knights ran past Juneau-Douglas 71-59 during the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Championship fourth-place game Saturday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Center in Anchorage.

“It’s not the game we wanted to be in, in terms of nobody wants to be in the fourth-place game. But I thought we played really well Friday and we played really well Saturday,” Colony head coach Tom Berg said. “If we played close to that on Thursday, we would have probably been in the semifinal.”

Sixth-seeded West Anchorage upset third-seed Colony 62-56 Thursday morning in the first round. The tournament marked the first time at state for everyone on the Colony roster. As Colony established itself as one of the best teams in the state during the regular season, Berg said he didn’t want to dwell on his players’ lack of state tournament experience.

“It certainly crossed my mind. I didn’t focus too much on it, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Berg said.

But it was probably a factor, Berg said.

“I didn’t want it to be a thing, but it probably was,” Berg said. “You look at my guys Thursday, you look at my guys Friday, they looked a lot more comfortable Friday and Saturday.”

Colony powered into the fourth-place game with a 70-57 win over East Anchorage in elimination action Friday morning.

“We proved all year long we’re one of the top teams in the state. To finish fourth, we’re certainly proud of that,” Berg said. “We beat a good East team, good Juneau team.”

Colony jumped out to a 19-9 lead during the win over the Bears, and cemented the victory with 43 second-half points. Freshman Patrick McMahon led the Knights with 19 points, shooting 6 of 7 from the floor and 5 of 6 at the free throw line.

“Patrick, he kind of stepped out of his shell,” Berg said of McMahon’s effort against Juneau.

Junior Sullivan Menard capped his stellar state tournament and superb season with 17 points and six rebounds.

“It’s the best three-game stretch he played all year,” Berg said. “It was really all inclusive. Certainly his points were needed, but he had a good number of assists each game. He rebounded really well, stayed out of foul trouble for the most part.”

Menard, who was named all-tournament, finished with 60 points, 17 rebounds, 11 assists and 8 steals in three games.

Berg said the Knights got big contributions throughout the lineup.

Seniors Will Freeman (14 points) and Jon Pomrenke (10) also scored in double digits against the Bears.

Colony girls finish 5th

Colony earned a big win over fourth-seeded West Valley in the first round Thursday. But that led to consecutive matches against the top two seeds in the 4A tournament.

Following a loss to eventual state champion Dimond Friday in the semifinals, Colony fell to second-seeded East Anchorage 48-38 in the 4A girls’ third-place game Saturday morning at the Alaska Airlines Center.

East used a 17-10 second-quarter run and 15-11 run in the fourth to finish third in the tournament. Colony held a 7-6 advantage after the first.

Senior Amanda Smith, a two-time third-team all-state selection, capped her career with a team-high 15 points. She hit three of Colony’s seven three-pointers.

Senior Alex Carlton, a two-time second-team all-state selection, added seven points. Carlton was also named all-tournament.

The Colony teams also swept the tournament’s academic awards.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.