Lynx use late run to seal first-round win over Colony boys

ANCHORAGE —The Colony Knights were within reach, but couldn’t grab the upset.

Dimond used a nine-point run late in the third quarter to turn a one-possession game into a double-digit advantage, and scored a 63-45 win over the Colony Knights during the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Basketball Championships at the Sullivan Arena on Thursday.

Junior captain John Palmer hit a deep three-pointer to cut Dimond’s lead to 34-32 midway through the third, but Dimond closed the period on a 9-0 run.

“It was a huge deal. We did play pretty good up to that point, but we had some guys who were in foul trouble. We were tired. We had guys playing a ton of minutes,” Colony head coach Jeff Bowker said after the loss.

Dimond moves on to face Bartlett in the semifinals this evening, while Colony is pushed back to the consolation rounds and will face Juneau-Douglas at 11:30 a.m. today at the Sullivan.

Dimond nailed a trio of early three-pointers to start the game on an 11-4 run, but Colony senior Bryce Jacobson scored six of his game-high 17 points in the first to keep the Knights in the game.

Colony, the tourney’s seventh seed, never led against the second-seeded Lynx, but did cut Dimond’s advantage to a single possession a handful of times during the loss.

Senior guard Tim Gray buried a three with 50 seconds left in the first to cut Dimond’s lead to 19-17 at the end of the first quarter.

Jacobson drove the baseline to cut the score to 27-25 with 2:22 left in the first half.

And Jacobson opened the third with a rebound a put-back to cut Dimond’s advantage to 30-27.

But each time Colony hit a shot, Dimond answered.

“Dimond made the shots when they needed to and we couldn’t get a stop,” Bowker said.

That was exactly the case during Dimond’s late third-quarter run.

Dimond senior Chris Plooy scored five of his team-high 14 points during the run, and the Knights were held without a point for the final four minutes of the third.

“They’ve got all the pieces,” Bowker said of the Lynx. “They can handle the ball, they can rebound, shoot the ball really well, they’re athletic and they’ve all been together. This is the same team we’ve been playing for the last three years.”

Jacobson was the lone Knight to hit double-digits in scoring. Palmer added eight points in the loss, and Summers led the Knights with five rebounds.

“I’m proud of my guys. They’ve worked hard this year,” Bowker said. “But none of them are satisfied.”

The task now for the Knights is shedding the disappointment from the first-round loss and looking toward its match up with Juneau-Douglas, a team the Knights beat during the regular season.

“They were missing a few guys who now they have back,” Bowker said of the Bears. “I thought they played terrific today.”

Bartlett needed a pair of overtimes to edge Juneau 65-62 earlier in the day.

Juneau’s Cody Grussendorf hit a pair of free throws with 13 seconds left in the first overtime to give the Bears the 54-51 lead, but Bartlett’s Courtney May hit a deep three-pointer with four seconds left to tie the score at 54-54 and force a second overtime.

May used a soft floater through the lane during the final minute of the second overtime to help Bartlett move forward.

Colony, the No. 3 seed from the Northern Lights Conference, has been a regular on the winner’s side of the 4A bracket during recent years. Colony advanced to the title game in 2005 and 2007, finishing as the runner-up in both years. The Knights were third last season.

This year, Colony has to now turn its attention to a spot in Saturday’s fourth-place game.

“The message now is the seniors have to decide what they want to do with the rest (of the tournament),” Bowker said.

The Knights have five seniors on the squad.

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

Dimond 63, Colony 45

ASAA 4A quarterfinals

Thursday, Sullivan Arena

Colony 17-8-7-13—45

Dimond 19-11-13-20—63

Colony (45) -— Gray 1 0-0 2, Lanners 1 2-2 5, Turner 0 0-1 1, Larson 1 0-0 2, Palmer 2 2-2 8, Scott 1 0-0 2, Jacobson 7 3-4 17, Murphy 1 3-4 5, Summers 1 1-1 3; Totals: 15 12-15 45.

Dimond (63) — Thompson 4 1-3 11, Romo 0 0-1 1, DuPree 2 0-0 6, Hanley 3 6-6 13, Plooy 5 4-8 14, C. Lauwers 1 2-2 4, Bennett 3 0-0 6, Nixon 2 4-4 8; Totals: 20 4-14 63.

Three-point field goals: Colony 3 (Palmer 2), Dimond 4 (DuPree 2); Rebounds: Colony 26 (Summers 5), Dimond 33 (Bennett 7); Total fouls: Colony 20, Dimond 14; Fouled out: Dimond- C. Lauwers, Colony- Scott.