Juneau boys 65, Colony 52 (FINAL)

ANCHORAGE — Juneau-Douglas got 24 points from Cody Grussendorf to lead the Crimson Bears to a 65-52 win in the consolation round of the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska class 4A boys state basketball tournament at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

The loss eliminated the Knights from the tournament, while Juneau moved on to the fourth place game at 2 p.m. at UAA.

Chris Scott scored 16 points to lead Colony, while John Palmer added 12, Bryce Jacobson had 10, Tim Gray added eight, Jared Turner scored five and Hayden Summers added a free throw.

FIRST QUARTER

Juneau's Sean Bavard scored five points in five seconds near the end of the first quarter to help the Crimson Bears take a 18-14 lead after one quarter of play. Scott led Colony with six points, while Jacobson added three. hit a running floater as time expired in the quarter to cut Juneau's lead to four.

SECOND QUARTER:

The Crimson Bears ended the half with a patient final posession that ended with a Grussendorf bomb — his third of the half — to put Juneau up 38-26 at the half. Grussendorf led all scorers at the half with 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field for the Crimson Bears, which shot 50 percent from the field in the opening half.

Jacobson led the Knights with 10 points in the first half, while Gray had six points, three rebounds, two steals and an assist.

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The teams traded baskets early in the second before Grussendorf nailed a long three for Juneau to put the Crimson Bears in front 28-21 midway through the quarter.

Another Grussendorf three put Juneau up 31-22 with under three remaining.

Gray answered with a lay-in to cut the lead to seven before Grussendorf again got into the scoring column, this time with a pair of free throws.

Palmer followed with his first two points of the game on a drive in the lane, which Juneau countered with a folloow-up lay-in by Juneau's Colin Goselski.

Colony shot 53 percent from the field, but had eight turnovers and trailed 14-12 in the rebounding column through one half of play.

Scorers at the half: COLONY: Gray 6, Palmer 2, Scott 10, Jacobson 7, Summers 1. JUNEAU: Gozelski 4, Bavard 5, Grussendorf 18, Gross 8, DeRocher 3.

THIRD QUARTER:

Juneau scored twice on lay-ups early in the quarter which were answered by Jacobson, who scored once inside and hit a free throw to cut the lead to 42-29.

Palmer got Colony back to within 12 with a pair of free throws for the Knights, and Gray cut it to 43-33 with another runner in the lane. Another Palmer jumper got the Knights back to within single digits at the under-four media timeout.

Jacobson made a key hustle play late in the quarter, diving out of bounds and knocking the ball off Juneaeu's Eric Gross, a play that was quickly followed by a three from freshman Jared Turner to cut the Juneau lead to six.

The teams then traded baskets as the quarter came to a close.

FOURTH QUARTER:

Colony continued to chip away at the lead, as Palmer opened the fourth by drawing contact and finishing a tough lay-up. Palmer made the ensuing free-throw to cut Juneau's lead to 46-43.

The Knights twice cut the lead to three points early in the quarter, the second time on a baby hook by Scott.

Juneau pushed its lead to seven before Palmer nailed a three in transition to cut the lead to 52-48 with 4:45 left in the game.

Juneau then used four consecutive free throws from Cody Mahar to go back in front 56-48 with four minutes left.

An Alex Fagerstrom three pushed the Juneau lead back to double digits at 59-48 with less than three minutes to play, but Scott answered with a lay-in off a nice feed from Coliln Murphy to make it 59-50 with 2:50 left.

Murphy then fouled out of the game at the 2:06 mark as the Knights tried to prolong the game.

Mahar made the ensuing free throws to give Juneau a 61-50 lead.

Colony coach Jeff Bowker then pulled his seniors from the game, as Gray, Palmer, Jacobson, Murphy and Connor Larson left the floor for the final time as Knights.

Juneau hit four more free throws down the stretch to provide the final margin of victory.