Kodiak edges past Colony for boys title

PALMER — Sometimes the rim is simply not your friend.

On the heels of a pair of Colony three-point attempts that went in and out late midway through the fourth quarter, Kodiak turned around and knocked down a pair of big shots from behind the arc. Those buckets keyed an 11-6 run that helped Kodiak score a 56-50 win over the Knights during the Northern Lights Conference Championships boys title game at Colony High School Saturday evening.

Jemuel Mangalus hit a three-pointer to give the Bears a 48-47 lead and Austin Frick drained another to push his team’s lead to four points late, and Kodiak held on to win its first conference title since 2001. The late buckets were key, but Colony head coach Tom Berg said it wasn’t only the late threes that allowed the Bears to earn the win.

“You don’t win it in the first eight minutes, you don’t win in the second eight minutes. You win it over the full 32 minutes,” Berg said after the loss. “Not just down the stretch, but throughout the game, there were moments when the little things, little plays could have been made and we didn’t (make them). When you don’t do the little things right, that’s on me. I take responsibility for my guys for the mistakes we made. We’ve got seven practices left to fix it, and then go to state.”

Kodiak capped the second quarter with a nine-point run that gave the Bears a 28-20 halftime lead. Alec Canete-Hall scored six of his game-high 17 points during that stretch, and Mangalus hit one of his three three-pointers late in the first half.

Colony battled back into the game with 17 third-quarter points, and used a 10-0 run to take a 44-38 lead in the fourth.

“I challenged them at halftime to grind it out, and we got up by six,” Berg said.

Senior Damien Fulp scored 10 of his team-high 12 points during the third quarter, and Anton Chamblee hit a three-pointer late in the third quarter to cut Kodiak’s lead to 48-37. Graham Dinkel put Colony ahead on the Knights’ first possession of the fourth quarter.

But once Colony hit the six-point lead, Kodiak fought back.

“We had a chance to go up by eight (points), nine, 10. We didn’t shoot free throws very well when we could have given us a little bit more of a cushion,” Berg said.

Canete-Hall led all scorers with 17. Frick and Scott Garcia added 13 each for Kodiak.

Fulp and Chamblee led Colony with 12 each. Dinkel added 11.

Kodiak 56, Colony 50

NLC boys final

Saturday, Colony High

Kodiak 13-15-10-18—56

Colony 13-7-17-13—50

Kodiak (56) — Mangalus 3 1-2 10, Frick 5 0-0 13, Bezona 1 1-2 3, Canete-Hall 6 5-6 17, T. Canete-Hall 0 0-2 0, Garcia 5 3-3 13; Totals: 20 10-15 56.

Colony (50) — West 3 0-1 9, Chamblee 4 1-2 12, Fulp 2 7-10 12, Dinkel 5 1-2 11, Sonnenberg 1 0-0 2, Bush 2 0-0 4; Totals: 17 9-15 50.

3-point field goals: Kodiak 6 (Mangalus, Frick 6), Colony 7 (West, Chamblee 3); Total fouls: Kodiak 14, Colony 18.