Holiday Hoops Tourney Turns 10

WASILLA - Around Christmastime, you can see some of the best basketball played anywhere in the state of Alaska in the Wasilla High School Gym at the Doc Larson Roundball Classic. Wasilla High School Boys Basketball Head Coach Ryan Engebretsen is not surprised that the tournament that routinely is stacked with high quality competition from outside has lasted this long.

“We wanted to create something that would last,” Engebretsen said. “It’s brought amazing talent out to the Valley.”

The tournament started in 2008 and has seen some excellent early season competition. Engebretsen shoots for a fourteen team bracket with half of that coming from out of state. This year, Marshfield High School from Coos Bay, Oregon is the only team from outside after other teams scheduled to travel up to the Last Frontier got an opportunity to play on nationally televised games and had to drop out. Joining Marshfield is Dimond, West Anchorage, Bethel, and Colony on the boys side. Wasilla, West Anchorage, Ketchikan, and West Valley are in the tournament on the girls side.

Engebretsen’s Warriors lost a rematch of last year’s state title game to Dimond 52-49 on Friday night. While the Warriors took home the title last year, they returned only 36 of the 160 minutes played on their varsity roster with four-year standout Daniel Headdings and junior Luke Devine. Engebretsen describes his team not as the defending state champs, but as the reigning state champs. With the Warriors being only four games into the season, Engebretsen likes what he sees so far.

“I’ve been pleasantly surprised and looking forward to this group because they flat out have proven to me in their first three games so far that we’ll come out and compete,” Engebretsen said. “We’ve got a lot of grit, a lot of toughness, just that extra sense of, that willingness to compete nonstop.”

Engebretsen described a play that Headdings made during their split with Ketchikan in Ketchikan. Headdings battled for an offensive rebound and tipped it out to Andrew Devine, Luke’s younger brother by one year, who made the basket. Headdings could have given up on the play, but persevered to allow one of his teammates to benefit.

“It’s those kind of plays where I found out what this group is really made up of,” Engebretsen said.

Dimond dominated early, with a massive advantage in the front court. The Warriors heated up late and Luke Devine hit a deep three-pointer and stole the ball for a breakaway layup late to bring the game within one score. Dimond features only one sophomore and five seniors on their lineup. Headdings led Wasilla with 14 points and Luke Devine had 13.

The girls squad in Wasilla faces a similar conundrum. Wasilla lost to West Anchorage 50-43 on Friday. Senior guard Olivia Davies scored 21 points. Wasilla returns only Davies and Cheyenne Green with varsity experience. Head Coach Jeannie Hebert-Truax said that she likes to play tough teams like West early in the season.

“You learn to get better by seeing adversity and being able to work through it,” Hebert-Truax said.

Hebert-Truax said that Davies will set the pace offensively. Against West, she rushed the ball up the court on the fast break, showed off her polish on a variety of inside moves, and nailed outside jumpshots when not closely defended.

Teams are going to center on her, her teammates being aware of that and being able to take advantage offensively. She can just bring so much to the game,” Hebert-Truax said of Davies.

Hebert-Truax said that due to lost time from the earthquake on November 30, she still has not installed all of her offenses and the team is about five days behind schedule.

“The kids know how to play the basketball it’s just putting the strategy with it,” Hebert-Truax said.

Engebretsen and Hebert-Truax are happy to bring such a high level of competition to the Doc Larson Roundball Classic. Teams from outside are treated to authentic Alaskan experiences like dog mushing and ice fishing. Engebretsen wants his team to compete against the best, and would prefer to bring the talent to Wasilla rather than traveling out of state. Following the earthquake, every team lost practice time. Engebretsen said that it definitely had an impact, but he isn’t going to let it slow the team down.

“The kids are just ready to hoop anyway,” Engebretsen said.

Colony High does not have use of it’s gym and has had to scramble for available space.

“Schools from all over the Valley have really helped each other out to maximize what we can do with it,” Engebretsen said.