Knights open NLC season with sweep

PALMER — During Colony’s 54-37 win over the Kodiak Bears on Friday, it was almost like John Palmer couldn’t miss.

The Knights’ senior captain hit 11 shots from the floor and drained a pair of three-pointers. He scored 10 of Colony’s 15 during the first quarter and 15 of the Knights’ 25 points of the first half.

But on Saturday, after he was tagged with a pair of early fouls, Palmer spent much of the first 16 minutes watching from the bench, looking to see who will step up in his absence.

And it was Scott Herman who helped fill the void.

Herman scored a game-high 20 points to lead the Knights to a 60-40 Northern Lights Conference win over the Bears at Colony High School Saturday afternoon.

“I was really happy with the guys,” Colony head coach Jeff Bowker said after the win. “John hardly played in the first half. It’s kind of hard doing it without him. We run through John, but they did a good job.”

Herman hit a pair of early three-pointers to spark an 11-2 run, and finished with 10 points in the quarter.

Herman, who played his first three seasons of high school basketball at Houston before making the move to Colony during the summer, said his teammates did a good job of giving him opportunities to shoot the ball.

“We’re really stressing spacing, moving without the ball, so we can get some open looks for each other,” Herman said.

Bowker said it was certainly key to have Herman pick up the scoring with his all-conference captain on the bench.

“You have to have that,” Bowker said. “You look at the good teams. They’ve got more than one guy who can score. Hayden (Summers) had a good night too.”

Summers added 12 points to help the Knights improve to 4-2 overall and 2-0 in NLC play.

Raphael Mataatia led the Bears with a team-high 10. Zach Watkins added nine and Mikel Garner chipped in six.

Colony built an early double-digit lead, but Kodiak was able to chip away at the advantage during the second half.

Kodiak captain Austin Cowley hit a three-pointer midway through the second quarter to cut Colony’s lead to 23-20, but another Knights run pushed Colony’s advantage back to double digits before the end of the half.

Bowker said the play of Mike Lanners was a reason why Colony was able to make the defensive stops and build a lead on the offensive end.

“Mike Lanners was terrific,” Bowker said. “He did a lot of the little things that go under the radar. The intensity, the reads and rebounds, a bunch of good things.”

On Friday, Colony and Kodiak hit halftime tied at 25. But Colony opened the second half with an 11-point run and outscored the Bears 19-6 in the third.

“We got a couple stops early, got some buckets in transition and carried the momentum from there,” Herman said. “We got the momentum swing and pushed it from there.”

Herman added 13 points to Palmer’s game-high 27. Cowley led the Bears with 11.

Colony returns to the hardwood Tuesday to face Palmer at 7:45 p.m. at Palmer High School.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Colony 60, Kodiak 40

Saturday, Colony High School

Kodiak 11-11-11-7—40

Palmer 19-14-17-10—60

Kodiak (40) — Fangolino 3 0-1 6, Watkins 3 3-5 9, Tamarra 2 1-2 5, Cowley 1 0-0 3, Tacata 0 1-2 1, Mataatia 4 2-5 10, Garner 2 1-2 6; Totals: 15 8-17 40.

Colony (60) — Lanners 1 1-2 3, Turner 2 0-0 4, McCann 3 0-0 6, Palmer 3 0-0 6, Herman 7 4-6 20, Niver 1 0-1 2, Wiehs 1 0-0 2, DePriest 2 1-2 5, Ray 0 0-2 0, Summers 5 2-3 12; Totals: 25 8-16 60.

3-point field goals: Kodiak 2 (Cowley, Garner 1); Colony 2 (Herman 2); Total fouls: Kodiak 17, Colony 19; Fouled out: none.

Colony 54, Kodiak 37

Friday, Colony High School

Kodiak 16-9-6-6—37

Colony 15-10-19-10—54

Kodiak (37) — Fangonilo 3 2-3 10, Watkins 3 0-3 6, Tamarra 1 0-0 2, Cowley 5 0-0 11, Mataatia 3 0-0 6; Bezona 1 0-0 2; Totals: 16 2-6 37.

Colony (54) — Eisenhower 1 0-0 3, Lanners 1 0-0 3, Turner 0 2-2 2, McCann 1 0-0 2, Palmer 11 3-7 27, Herman 3 5-6 13, Summers 2 0-0 4; Totals: 19 10-15 54.

3-point field goals: Kodiak 2 (Fangolino 2), Colony 6 (Palmer, Herman 2), Total fouls: Kodiak 15, Colony 15.

Girls basketball

Knights force split with Bears

KODIAK — Junior Kristina Klapperich scored 15 points to lead Colony to a 46-33 NLC win over Kodiak at Kodiak High School on Saturday.

Alyssa Hutchins and Tess Forstner added 10 points each to help the Knights force the two-game series split.

On Friday, Kodiak held on for a 46-41 win, despite allowing 27 Colony points during the fourth quarter.

Hutchins scored all 16 of her points during the final two quarters to help Colony rally from a 23-7 deficit.

Kodiak held the Knights to just a single point in the first quarter, and seven points in the first half.

Forstner added 11 points for the Knights.

Colony returns to the Valley to face rival Palmer Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Palmer High School.

Kodiak 46, Colony 41

Friday, Kodiak High School

Colony 1-6-7-27—41

Kodiak 5-14-8-18—46

Colony (41) — Klapperich 1, Hutchins 16, Bowker, Stefanski 2, Forstner 11, Booth 2.

Kodiak (46) — Garcia 9, Tusitino 7, Yamat 6, Gregory 9, Gronn 2, Grupp 6, Taan 5, Lampl, Juble 2.