Days after making history, Warriors settle for fifth

ANCHORAGE — Two days after pulling off the biggest upset in class 4A boys tournament history, the Wasilla Warriors found themselves wondering what might have been following a 64-55 loss to Bartlett in the third place game Saturday morning at Sullivan Arena.

“We just accomplished so much,” Wasilla coach Ryan Engebretsen said. “I’m really proud of them. It’s a little disheartening, but we made history in that we were the first eight seed to beat a one.”

Bartlett got 16 points from Courtney May and 14 each from Malik King and Damon Sherman-Newsome, who also grabbed 13 rebounds to lead all players in that category.

Senior guard Adrese LaVern led Wasilla in scoring with 20 points, while sophomore Cole Schierman had 10 and freshman Braydon Kuiper added six on a pair of three-pointers.

The loss came just 13 hours after the Warriors saw their state title hopes dashed at the hands of fellow upstart Soldotna on Friday night.

But while the Warriors came tantalizingly close to reaching its first state championship game since winning it all in 2007, Engebretsen said this year’s tournament experience will be something Wasilla — which will graduate just three seniors — can build on in future years.

“I think it was huge having so many young kids experience it,” he said. Wasilla failed to reach state last season after suffering a dramatic meltdown in last year’s Northern Lights Conference tournament that left the team searching for an identity. The Warriors found that identity over the final weeks of this season, using gritty defense and timely shooting to take the NLC title with a win over SoHi before shocking most observers with the win over West.

Junior center John Knowles, who had 12 points and eight rebounds against Bartlett, said the difference between last year’s team and this year’s became evident late in the season.

“I was very pleased because our team stayed a team the whole year,” he said. “Last year we went to regions and things went pretty poorly.”

Knowles credited Wasilla’s seniors — LaVern, Tillerman Kroon and Tim Orr — for helping the squad stick together.

“They didn’t just talk, they also did what they said they’d do and followed their own example,” Knowles said.

Knowles said getting to play three games at state — despite the two losses — was a tremendously positive experience for Wasilla’s returning players.

“It was good to get out there and just see the atmosphere,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. It was worth it.”

Bartlett doubled up the Warriors in the early going Saturday, taking a 20-10 lead as King heated up from outside, knocking down a trio of three-pointers in the opening period as the Golden Bears held a 37-25 advantage at the half. Three point shooting was the difference in the first, as Bartlett went 6-of-13 from behind the arc in the half compared to 3-of-8 for the Warriors.

Wasilla fought back hard in the second half, trimming Bartlett’s lead to five at the end of the third quarter on the strength of three-point plays by Knowles and LaVern.

The Warriors continued to put up a valiant fight in the fourth quarter, rallying to pull within a single point on a LaVern free throw with 5:20 left in the contest. But that was as close as they’d get to claiming third place as Bartlett — much like Soldotna one night before — was able to knock down free throws during crunch time to pull away. Bartlett was just 13-for-20 from the stripe in the game, but went 11-for-14 down the stretch.

Knowles said he’s confident that the experience gained by his young team this year will help Wasilla continue to improve next season.

“I think we’re just going to build off this year,” he said. “We have a family going.”

BARTLETT 64, WASILLA 55

ASAA 4A third-place game

Saturday, Sullivan Arena

Bartlett 20 17 7 20 — 64

Wasilla 12 13 14 16 — 55

BARTLETT (64) – May 6 2-2 16, Blount-O’Connor 2 1-2 6, Garret-Queen 2 1-2

6, King 4 3-4 14, Sherman-Newsome 6 2-2 14, Winbush 1 1-4 3, Johnson 1 3-4

5. Totals – 22 13-20 64.

WASILLA (55) – Schierman 4 1-2 10, Kuiper 2 0-0 6, LaVern 7 5-8 20, Orr 1

0-0 3, Pfeifer 1 0-0 2, Mock 1 0-0 2, Knowles 4 4-7 12. Totals – 20 10-19

55.

Three-point field goals – Bartlett 7 (King 3, May 2, Blount-O’Connor,

Garret-Queen), Wasilla 5 (Kuiper 2, Schierman, LaVern, Orr). Total fouls –

Bartlett 14, Wasilla 18. Fouled out – Knowles, Winbush.