Colony boys, girls rebound, net 3rd

ANCHORAGE — The Colony Knights didn’t walk into the Sullivan Arena this weekend with third place on their minds.

But after a tough loss to East Anchorage in the semifinals, Colony head coach Tom Berg had a message for his team as they made their way to their hotel late Friday night.

“It’s hard. We don’t practice for the third-place game, we don’t practice for the fourth place game,” said Berg, who watched his team fall just short in a 62-61 loss to third-seeded East Friday. “It’s really hard when you play at 8:45 (p.m.), get back to the hotel room at 12:30 (a.m.), and are supposed to play at 10:40 (a.m.) the next day.

“The first thing you have to do is ask your kids. Have a team meeting, tell me whether or not you want to play. I understand if you don’t; if your heart’s not in it. But these guys like basketball too much. We’re hoopers. You get one more chance to hoop with this team, finish off the season,” he said.

Berg said about 1 a.m., they came to him and said they wanted to play.

And the Knights, led by their six seniors, took advantage of another chance to hit the hardwood, rebounding with a 50-40 win over the West Anchorage Eagles during the final day of the ASAA/First National Bank State Championships at the Sullivan Arena Saturday morning.

Both the Colony boys and girls capped their season with wins in third-place games. The Colony girls, also coming off a tough semifinal loss, started the morning with a 47-32 win over Lathrop.

Wasilla knocked Colony into the third-place game with a semifinal win Friday evening.

The Colony girls — led by seniors Mary Klapperich, Audrey Michaelson and Sadie Willardson — shot 44 percent from the field and outrebounded the Malemutes 33-22 in the third-place game.

Klapperich, a four-year starter for the Knights, capped her stellar Colony career with 14 points and seven rebounds. Michaelson added eight points, seven rebounds and three steals. Willardson chipped in two points and two boards.

Izzy Tweed sparked the Knights early with a three-pointer, and Colony started the game on a 7-2 run. Willardson found the basket during the final minute of the first to give Colony a double-digit lead.

Colony led by as many as a dozen in the second quarter and 14 in the third.

Faith Farris added nine points and seven assists in the victory.

After suffering the one-point loss to East, the second-seeded Colony boys used a 15-6 fourth-quarter run to ice the win over the Eagles.

“We were just able to find a way,” Berg said.

Joe Gray, Damien Fulp and Hunter Eisenhower all hit big shots during the fourth for the Knights, who were also 4 for 5 from the free throw line down the stretch.

Colony’s late surge, which included 29 second-half points, helped the Knights separate after a back-and-forth first half.

“It was a grind early,” Berg said. “West is a good basketball team, (with) young talent. They’re going to be around a little bit.”

Eisenhower led the Knights with 18 points on 6 of 11 shooting. Gray added 11 points and Fulp chipped in eight.

Antonio Bush was dominant on the boards once again. A night after pulling down 16 rebounds against East, Bush finished with a dozen against West.

East Anchorage three-pointers fell throughout the night Friday, and Colony fell just short in its bid for the program’s first trip to the 4A state title game since 2007. The Thunderbirds drained 11 three-pointers en route to a 62-61 win over the Knights.

Despite East’s continuous success from behind the arc and a double-digit lead in the third quarter, Colony was within reach of its fourth state title game appearance in school history.

Eisenhower scored six of his game-high 26 points during the final two minutes of regulation. The second-team all-state guard drove the baseline to the basket to cut East’s lead to 62-61 with eight seconds left in the fourth. After a missed Thunderbird free throw and a Bush rebound with six seconds left, Colony had a final chance for the go-ahead shot. But a late, long, three-point attempt fell short of the rim.

“We talked about it the whole fourth quarter; if we could just get it to one stop. Two minutes to go, it was one stop,” Berg said. “I felt bad we didn’t get a great look. But as a coach, somebody’s blessed who gets to coach guys like that, it’s still nice to look back and say they did all the things to put themselves in the position to be successful.”

Eisenhower scored 13 points in the fourth and senior Gray added five during the final period as the Knights shaved the 10-point advantage East took into the final quarter.

The T-Birds built and kept their lead with the three-point shot. East nailed at least three attempts from beyond the arc during each of the first three quarters, hitting 10 of 17 heading into the fourth quarter.

Xavier Johnson finished with a trio of three-pointers and led the T-Birds with a team-high 15 points. Desmond Johnson, Jarred Laws and Travon Brackett had two three-pointers each.

Desmond Johnson added 14 points, and Brackett added 11.

East shot 55 percent from behind the arc, and 48 percent from the field in the win.

Colony also shot the ball well, hitting seven three-pointers and shooting 47 from the field. The Knights outrebounded the T-Birds nearly 2-to-1 in the loss. Bush, a Colony junior, was outstanding on the boards, finishing with 16 rebounds in the loss. Bush had as many rebounds as the T-Birds, nine, through the first half.

Colony boys 50, West 40

ASAA 4A third-place game

Saturday, Sullivan Arena

West 8-13-13-6—40

Colony 9-12-14-15—50

West (40) — Zamora 1 0-2 2, Nidoy 0 4-6 4, Oghide 6 0-0 12, Wilson 3 0-0 6, McMOrris 1 0-0 2, Geart 1 0-0 3, Ailey 5 0-4 10, Cordero 0 1-2 1; Totals: 17 5-14 40.

Colony (50) — Compton 1 1-2 3, West 1 0-0 2, Gray 5 0-0 11, Fulp 4 0-0 8, Umbarger 0 2-3 2, Bush 3 0-0 6, Eisenhower 6 3-4 18; Totals: 20 6-10 50.

Three-point field goals: West 1 (Geary 1), Colony 4 (Eisenhower 3); Total fouls: West 12, Colony 11.

East boys 62, Colony 61

ASAA 4A state semifinals

Friday, Sullivan Arena

East 16-21-16-9—62

Colony 13-18-12-18—61

East (62) — D. Johnson 3 6-9 14, X. Johnson 6 0-0 15, Laws 3 0-0 8, Brackett 3 3-3 11, Gomez 1 0-0 3, Hardwick 1 1-2 3, Huss 3 1-3 8; Totals: 20 11-17 62.

Colony (61) — West 1 0-0 2, Gray 4 0-0 10, Fulp 3 0-1 9, Menard 1 0-0 2, Umbarger 4 0-0 8, Bush 2 0-0 4, Eisenhower 9 6-6 26; Totals: 24 6-7 61.

Three-point field goals: East 11 (X. Johnson 3), Colony 7 (Fulp 3); Total fouls: East 16, Colony 14.

Colony girls 47,

Lathrop 32

ASAA 4A third-place game

Saturday, Sullivan Arena

Lathrop 6-5-13-8—32

Colony 14-8-12-13—47

Lathrop (32) — Shaw 1 0-0 2, White 5 2-5 13, Hebard 8 1-3 17; Totals: 14 3-8 32.

Colony (47) — Klapperich 5 3-3 14, Farris 4 1-3 9, Tweed 2 0-0 6, Turcotte 1 0-0 2, Willardson 1 0-0 2, Michaelson 4 0-0 8, Solano 2 0-0 4, Bonn 0 2-2 2; Totals: 19 6-8 47.

Three-point field goals: Lathrop 1 (White 1), Colony 3 (Tweed 2); Total fouls: Lathrop 12, Colony 11.

Wasilla girls 48,

Colony 23

4A state semifinals

Friday, Sullivan Arena

Colony 2-4-8-9—23

Wasilla 10-13-14-11—48

Colony (23) — Klapperich 0 1-6 1, Farris 3 2-3 8, Tweed 2 0-0 6, Michaelson 1 2-3 4, Solano 2 0-0 4; Totals: 8 5-12 23.

Wasilla (48) — Ford 1 1-2 3, Imoe 5 3-4 13, Devine 3 0-2 6, Toews 0 1-2 1, Hutchins 1 0-1 2, Dinkel 5 4-4 17, Burke 2 2-2 6; Totals: 18 11-17 48.

Three-point field goals: Colony 2 (Tweed 2), Wasilla 1 (Dinkel 1); Total fouls: Colony 13, Wasilla 12.