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ANCHORAGE — The three-ball took down the three-seed.
Sixth-seeded West Anchorage used nine three-pointers to upset third-seeded Colony 62-56 during the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Basketball Championships 4A boys quarterfinals Thursday morning at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
Late in the game, right after Colony was able to cut the West lead to a pair, West’s Jamari Lawrence nailed his second three-pointer of the game to push the Eagles advantage back to a pair of possessions. It wasn’t the first time in the game that East knocked down big shots at the end of the half. During the final minute of the second quarter, Colony led by five, but West used a pair of three-pointers to take a 33-32 halftime lead. West finished the game 9 of 14 from beyond the arc. Dalon Johnson was 3 of 3 from three for the Eagles.
West was able to take an early lead, 20-16 after the first eight minutes, but Colony stormed back with 16 second-quarter points.
With the loss, Colony is forced backward in the bracket and will face East Anchorage Friday at 9:30 a.m. in an elimination game.
Junior Sullivan Menard led the Knights with a game-high 24 points. He also contributed six steals and six assists. Menard drove to the basket to cut West’s lead to 54-52 with less than two minutes to play. Jon Pomrenke added 14 points and five rebounds. Will Freeman chipped in a dozen.
Luka Wall led West with 23.
West moves forward and will play second-seeded Wasilla Friday at 3:30 p.m. in the semifinals.
Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.
West Anchorage 62, Colony 56
4A boys quarterfinals
Thursday, Anchorage
West 20-13-17-12—62
Colony 16-16-13-11—56
West (62) — Lawrence 2 1-2 7, McMorris 1 1-2 4, Jackson 1 0-0 3, King 2 0-0 5, Wal 10 2-4 23, Johnson 3 2-2 11, Mong 0 3-7 3, Coleman 2 0-0 4, Snow 1 0-0 2; Totals: 22 9-20 62.
Colony (56) — Pomrenke 7 0-0 14, McMahon 3 0-0 6, Freeman 4 2-2 12, Menard 7 9-10 24; Totals: 21 11-15 56.
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