Knights finish regular season perfect in NLC

WASILLA — Colony put on a first-half clinic against the defending state champion Wasilla Warriors, then cruised to a 65-52 win in the final regular season game for both teams Saturday night at Wasilla High School.

The Knights stared the game on a 9-0 run to open the first quarter, then held the Warriors to a single field goal in the second to take a 41-16 lead into the locker room.

Colony shot a blistering 61 percent from the field in the first half while holding the Warriors to 27 percent and forcing 13 Wasilla turnovers. On the game, Colony shot 58 percent from the floor to just 38 percent for the Warriors.

The win finished off a perfect Northern Lights Conference season for the Knights, which finished 10-0 and earned a No. 1 seed in next week’s conference tournament. Wasilla finished 8-2 in the NLC, with both losses coming at the hands of the Knights, which have lost just one game to an Alaska opponent this season.

Colony guard Jaron Murphy finished with 17 points to lead all scorers, while Matt Stearman added 10 for a typically-balanced Colony attack. John Palmer and Josh Moseley each had eight points for Colony, Grant Niver and Doug Gray had seven each, Cody Huggins added four and Antone Zagars and Chris Scott each chipped-in two.

Dexter Pearce had 12 points to lead Wasilla, Shane Green scored 11, Adrese LaVern had 10 points (and a team-high nine rebounds), Tyler Johannes finished with nine points, Jimmy Sliwa and Tillerman Kroon had four apiece and Tim Gray scored two.

Colony led by as many as 30 points before Wasilla rallied late in the game to make the score respectable. Half of Wasilla’s 52 points came during a flawless fourth quarter for the Warriors that saw the team go without committing a turnover while forcing eight by a sloppy Knights team that coasted down the stretch.

The Warriors outscored the Knights by 19 points over the final 12 minutes of the game, but it was not nearly enough against a team likely to remain No. 1 in the statewide WPI standings, which are used to seed teams in the state tournament.

KNIGHTS 65, WARRIORS 59

Saturday, Wasilla High School

Wasilla 11 5 10 26 — 52

Colony 19 22 9 15 — 65

WASILLA (52) — Gray 0 2-2 2, Kroon 2 0-0 4, Sliwa 1 1-2 4, LaVern 3 3-6 10, Pearce 5 1-2 12, Johannes 3 3-3 9, Green 4 1-4 11. Totals: 18 11-19 52.

COLONY (65) — Zagars 1 0-1 2, Huggins 1 2-2 4, J. Murphy 6 4-5 17, Palmer 3 2-2 8, Scott 1 0-0 2, Niver 3 0-0 7, Gray 3 0-0 7, Moseley 4 0-0 8, Stearman 5 0-0 10. Totals: 27 8-10 65.

Three-point field goals — Colony 3 (J. Murphy, Niver, Gray), Wasilla 5 (Green 2, LaVern, Pearce, Sliwa). Total fouls — Colony 19, Wasilla 14. Fouled out — Niver, Johannes.