Hawks cap Elks Showdown with victory

PALMER — After jumping out to a quick 11-0 lead, the Houston Hawks comfortably cradled its double-digit lead for more than three quarters.

But late in the game, all of the sudden, it was gone.

Houston overcame a late Soldotna push to edge the Stars 41-40 during the final day of the Palmer Elks Showdown Saturday afternoon at Palmer High School. The Hawks survived Soldotna’s 24-point four quarter and a pair of Stars three-pointers during the final 15 seconds of play to improve to 1-2 in the four-team round-robin tournament. The Stars also finished 1-2 in the tourney with the loss.

“For three quarters we were fantastic, but we kind of ran out of gas a little bit at the end,” Houston head coach Steve Henderson said after the victory.

Soldotna’s Caleb Spence hit a three-pointer from the corner with about 15 seconds left to cut Houston’s lead to 41-37. After Houston turned the ball over on the ensuing inbound pass, Kyle Marcuson buried another three during the final seconds, but that would be the final possession of the game for the Stars.

Houston’s Kendell Ruta hit a key three-pointer earlier in the quarter and Kade Taylor was 3 for 4 from the free throw line during the final 1:13 to help the Hawks hang on to the win.

“Obviously you don’t want to win a game that way, but the fact we pulled it out, we can use that. It teaches us a lot,” Henderson said.

After going without a three-pointer for the first three quarters of the game, Soldotna hit five shots from beyond the arc during the fourth. Marcuson hit a pair of late three-pointers. Eli Sheridan and Brandon Crowder also had threes in the fourth. That came after Houston held Soldotna to a combined 16 points during the first three quarters. Soldotna scored four in the first, six in the second and six in the third.

Soldotna was also held scoreless for nearly the first half of the first quarter. The Stars were kept off the scoreboard until Spence found the basket with 4:35 remaining in the opening quarter.

“It was exactly like I told them. Get out and contest, and the three shouldn’t be any issue,” Henderson said of his team’s defense against Soldotna. “For three quarters it wasn’t.”

Taylor hit an early three-pointer for Houston to spark the early 11-0 run. Taylor finished with seven of his 15 points in the first quarter. Ben Bitler added five of his 15.

“We were taking care of the ball,” Henderson said of the Hawks early work on offense.

Houston’s win over Soldotna marked the third straight game against a 4A opponent during Palmer High’s annual round-robin tournament. Henderson said it’s important for his 3A Hawks to see large-schools teams.

“All it’s doing is preparing us for later down the road,” Henderson said.

Houston boys 41, Soldotna 40

Palmer Elks Showdown

Saturday, Palmer High

Soldotna 4-6-6-24—40

Houston 14-7-9-11—41

Soldotna (40) — Trammell 1 0-1 2, Spense 5 2-4 13, Sheridan 1 0-0 3, Crowder 3 0-3 7, Tuisaula 1 0-2 2, McElroy 2 3-5 7, Marcuson 2 0-0 6; Totals: 15 5-15 40.

Houston (41) — Ka. Taylor 4 4-7 15, Ko. Taylor 1 1-2 3, Ruta 2 1-4 6, Ross 1 2-4 4, Bitler 5 3-6 13; Totals: 13 11-23 41.