Knights fall to Dimond in Arizona tourney title game

PALMER — The Colony Knights scored a win over the Dimond Lynx Dec. 22 in the Doc Larson Roundball Classic championship game at Wasilla High. A week later, the Knights met the Lynx in another tournament title game. But this time it was in Phoenix, Arizona.

Dimond used a 56-52 win over the Knights to score championship in the Cactus Jam holiday tournament in Phoenix.

“We traveled a long way to play a good team,” Colony head coach Tom Berg said earlier this week.

Berg and his Knights have made multiple trips to compete in the Cactus Jam in recent years, but didn’t expect to see a Southcentral Conference rival in an Arizona tournament. But as the Knights prepare for their Northern Lights Conference slate, Berg said the goal is to find quality opponents to play.

“We want to play a good team,” Berg said.

Colony was placed in the Cactus Jam’s top bracket, which included programs from California, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington and Alaska.

“All the way down in Arizona, at the end of the day it came down to two teams from Alaska,” Berg said. “That’s a good thing.”

Colony opened its tournament with a 50-40 win over Oregon City, a ranked 6A team in Oregon. Colony beat Prarie, Washington, 60-48 in the semifinals.

“We felt good about it. I thought the quality was good,” Berg said of the tournament.

Berg said this is among the best finishes for the Knights during his time as a coach with the Colony program. Earlier in his tenure as head coach Colony finished second in the second division of the Cactus Jam. This year, Berg said, the Knights wanted to be part of the event’s top division.

“We asked to be in the top division. We want to put ourselves in position to be successful,” Berg said.

Berg said when he was an assistant on the staff of former boys head coach Jeff Bowker, the Knights finished second in the Surf And Slam, a popular holiday tournament in California.

The Knights started their third holiday tournament in as many weeks Thursday, the Mt. McKinley Holiday Classic at Monroe Catholic in Fairbanks. Both the Colony boys and girls opened with Lathrop on Thursday and close the tournament against Monroe Catholic Saturday. The Colony boys play Thunder Mountain Friday, and the girls face Valdez.

Colony girls third in California

Colony used a 35-34 win over Puyallup, Washington, to finish third in the Slam Division of the Surf and Slam tournament last week in San Diego, California.

Colony opened with a 55-43 win over Overlake, Washington, and suffered a 50-24 loss to Semiahmoo, British Columbia, in the semifinals.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman managing editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.