Jenkins nails game-winner

JEREMIAH BARTZ/ Sports Editor

PALMER - Palmer head coach Greg Fullmer told Kenny Jenkins, "Don't be afraid to score."

The Palmer senior and former Matanuska Christian standout scored only nine points in a 35-34 Moose victory over Kodiak on Saturday, but three points of his total could be the biggest of the season thus far for the Moose.

Jenkins hit a three-pointer with just 2.6 seconds left in regulation to give the Moose a one-point win over their division rivals.

"I know I can shoot the ball, it takes a little faith," Jenkins said. "I have faith and just put it in."

Trailing by two points, Cole Jacobson grabbed an offensive rebound for Palmer, shifted the ball to guard Jeremy Weber and Weber found an open Jenkins just beyond the arc.

"Our focus with him is not his offense. We know he can score - he scored 30 points or more a game in 2A," Fullmer said. "We told him in the last couple of minutes when he ran down the floor, don't be afraid to score."

To set up the Jenkins trey, Trent Berberich grabbed a rebound of at the defensive end and David Doerr ran the ball across the court, through traffic, avoiding the intense Kodiak defensive pressure.

"He's a Doerr, they're just tough," Fullmer said. "His brother was like that. Maybe it's a Palmer tradition. Some of those point guards are just tough."

Doerr's ability to maintain possession of the ball, despite the defense, allowed the Moose to have a shot in the paint and the Jacobson rebound gave Jenkins the opportunity to post the game-winner.

After being held to just 14 in the first three quarters, Palmer scored 21 of its 35 points in the fourth-quarter comeback. The Moose used a 7-0 run midway though the fourth to leap back into the game, and held Kodiak scoreless for the final 3 minutes and 14 seconds of the contest.

"We just need to keep that intensity we had in the fourth quarter, up the whole game," Jenkins said.

The Palmer defense consistently created turnovers, but shots simply weren't falling for the Moose throughout the game.

"We had some nice steals, nice turnovers, but we couldn't come out and convert," Fullmer said. "We scored 35 points and won a game. That's unbelievable."

Even in the fourth quarter, prior to the Jenkins three-pointer, Palmer made it look as if someone pulled a sheet of plastic over the top of the basket.

Willie Ratcliff, who normally has a knack for finding the twine in the paint, had a shot roll completely around the rim and another hit the back of the rim in the fourth quarter. In the first three quarters, Palmer saw much of the same - opportunities, but no conversion.

"It was frustrating, we couldn't run our offense," Jenkins said. "It was all us - we're going to work on that."

Defensively Palmer's priority was to stop Kodiak forward Zach Keplinger, who burned the Moose for 23 points in a 50-48 Kodiak win on Friday.

Using the guard duo of Weber and Tanner Fullmer, the Moose were able to silence Kodiak's big man. Despite each giving up at least two inches and possibly 40 pounds, Weber and Fullmer held Keplinger to just seven points and only a single basket in each half.

Palmer improved to 4-5 overall and 1-2 in Region III play. With Kodiak, Colony and Wasilla all fielding tough teams this season, Saturday's contest was seen as a must-win for Palmer.

"We need to start winning, we need to win now," Jenkins said. "If we play hard and don't give up we can do a lot of

damage."

Kodiak 50, Palmer 48

Keplinger hit nine of his team's 18 shots from the field, scored 23 points and led the Bears to a 50-48 win over the Moose on

Friday.

Ratcliff scored a team-high 21 points for Palmer. Doerr added 11.