Knight boys place fifth

The Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears defeated the Colony Knights 75-61 during the final round of the 4A boys state basketball tournament at the Sullivan Arena on Saturday.

With the win the Bears finished third in the tourney and the Knights finished fifth.

Senior Landon Swank capped off his Knight career with a team-high 24 points. Fellow senior Joe Reza added 12 points and eight rebounds.

Sterling Henderson led a group of four Bears to reach double digits in scoring. Henderson scored 17 points. Bryan Hamey scored 14 points for Juneau, while Bryon Wild added 13 points.

Juneau was deadly from the field in the contest, hitting 65 percent of their shots. The Bears were 7 of 10 from beyond the arc. Colony shot just 36 percent from the field.

The Bears jumped out to an early lead in the contest. Juneau led 18-9 after the first quater and 31-27 at the half. Colony held a 39-38 advantage in the second half to remain in the contest.

Colony reached the contest after a thrilling triple overtime victory over Chugiak in the opening round and a loss to Bartlett, the eventual state champs, in the semifinals.

Juneau went 2-1 in the tourney with wins over Colony and East and a loss to second-place Wasilla.

East 49 Colony 23

The Colony girls season came to an end with a 49-23 loss to the East Thunderbirds.

Kristina Klapperich led the Knights with 11 points. Klapperich was the lone Colony athlete to hit double digits in scoring.

Ashley Mickens led the T-Birds with 20 points and 12 rebounds.

Colony finished the tourney 0-2, registering losses to Chugiak and East.

The tournament marks the 10th consecutive year the Knights have advanced to the state tourney.