Hawks fly into state tourney as a top seed

After flying through the regular season undefeated with a 22-0 record, Houston is the top seed in the ASAA/First National Bank 3A Boys State Championships, which start Wednesday at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

It marks Houston’s first trip to the state tournament since 2014 and third since 2000. But the Hawks are not content with just being there. The Hawks want to accomplish something that has not been done in decades.

It’s been more than 30 years since the Houston Hawks had a chance to hang a boys basketball banner on the gymnasium wall. That will be part of the Hawks motivation this weekend.

“Our banners are up in the gym when I played,” Houston head coach Ted Van Dussen said.

Van Dussen is 1991 graduate of Houston High, and helped the Hawks earn state basketball championships in 1990 and 1991.

“As the end of the season got closer and closer and we were seeing the potential, we talked before the region tournament, (and said) you guys have an opportunity to put a banner on the wall, something that hasn’t been done for 30 years,” Van Dussen said.

Van Dussen is part of a handful of connections between the two eras of Houston boys basketball. Van Dussen’s dad, Robert, was an assistant coach in the program when he was a player. Van Dussen’s son, Deegan, is a freshman on the team this year. Houston standout guard Cole Taylor is the son of Rick Taylor, another member of Houston’s state championship teams in 1990 and 1991.

“We talked about legacy and being able to take your kids back to the school and say, hey, I did this,” Van Dussen said. “The kids really responded to that. It’s been awesome to be a part of that, winning the state title out here, winning region championships as well. And now as a coach getting to do the same thing with the kids that I coach.”

Earlier this month, the Hawks won the Eastern Conference title after finishing 3-0 in the region tournament. Now the Hawks start their state tournament against a familiar foe. Houston opens state play against Mount Edgecumbe Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. This will be the seventh meeting of the season. The two teams played four times during the regular season and twice during the double-elimination conference tournament.

Van Dussen said the Houston coaches saw potential in this group.

“We thought we were going to be pretty good,” Van Dussen said. “A lot of teams that were good (last year) had a high number of seniors. We kind of had a feeling we were going to be good, and we returned all of our starters. We had a pretty good idea we were going to be good. Not sure if we were going to be 22-0 good.”

Van Dussen said coming together as a team has been as big a part of the success as anything.

“When we took over this group three years ago, this group was really fractured,” Van Dussen said. “It’s been a process over the last three years of getting them all on the same page. We’re finally to the point where they’re all friends, they all hang out. Building that core relationship where they all trust each other and get along with each other, that’s been the most amazing thing for me over the course of the last three years.”

On the floor, Van Dussen said Houston’s play on defense has led to a large part of the success.

“Intensity on defense,” Van Dussen said. “We are running a pretty fast-paced game. We press pretty much all game long, and keep the pace of the game fast. The intensity on defense is what’s been the standout for us all season.”

That defensive play sparks the offense.

“We transition from defense to offense,” Van Dussen said. “A lot of teams, they’re scoring a basket, and when they turn around we’ll already be scoring a basket on the other side.”

Van Dussen said Houston assistant coach Tim Cork has played an instrumental role in helping the Hawks fine-tune their press defense.

“The press, the kids adjusted to it really well and are starting to make reads much better than they did early in the season, and that’s what leads to all of our offense.”

On the offensive side, the Hawks have boasted a well-rounded attack.

“We are definitely blessed with good shooters all the way around,” Van Dussen said. “Typically all four of our guards can shoot the ball really well. Our big guy can shoot the ball outside as well. We’ve been blessed all season long with having one or two kids who are always on. Typically we have one or two kids who always step up. If somebody is struggling, somebody takes over.”

Houston is one of six Mat-Su teams in the 3A and 4A state tournaments. Redington is the No. 6 seed on the 3A girls bracket and will face third-seeded Barrow Wednesday at 4:45 p.m. Redington finished second in the Eastern Conference.

Wasilla, the Northern Lights Conference runner-up, is the No. 2 seed on the 4A girls bracket. The Warriors play seventh-seeded Bartlett Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. The Colony girls earned an at-large bid and is the No. 4 seed. The Knights play fifth-seeded Ketchikan Wednesday at 4:45 p.m.

Colony, the NLC boys runner-up, is the No. 5 seed, and meets fourth-seeded West Valley Wednesday at 6:15 p.m. The Palmer boys also earned an at-large bid, and are the No. 7 seed. The Moose play second-seeded Dimond Wednesday at 7:45 p.m.

Contact Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at editor@frontiersman.com.