Monster effort from Wasilla post pushes Warriors to win

Frontiersman

PALMER — The current cast of the Colony Knights have been playing Connor Devine long enough to know what the Wasilla junior is capable of. But just in case, it didn’t take long for the 6-foot-9 post to remind them Tuesday night.

Devine swatted four shots on Colony’s first five possessions of the game, and continued to post a monster performance of 19 points, 17 rebounds and eight blocked shots during Wasilla’s 60-55 Northern Lights Conference win over the Knights at Colony High School.

“Connor played so well inside,” Wasilla head coach Ryan Engebretsen said. “In our eyes, he’s one of the top three or four players in the state.”

With the devine play of the forward on the defensive side and junior Braydon Kuiper supplying eight of his 10 points in the first quarter, Wasilla was able to grab an early lead and hold on to stay undefeated this season in NLC play.

With his eight points and an early three-pointer, Kuiper helped Wasilla get the 14-8 first-quarter lead, and the Warriors pushed that advantage to nine by the half. The Warriors extended its advantage to double-digits in the third, but Colony stormed back in the second half.

Shooting a high percentage from the field, Colony scored as many points in the third (18) as the Knights did during the first two quarters. Senior forward Kenyon DePriest hit a couple baseline jumpers and scored six in the third. Junior Jared Turner knocked down one of his two second-half three pointers in the third. Tim Smith and Greg Michaelson also buried jump shots to pull the Knights back in the game.

The scoring was partly a product of Wasilla’s play inside. With Devine controlling the paint, Colony was taking the jump shots. They were also hitting them.

“Colony shot the ball well in the second (half),” Engebretsen said. “They were taking the shots we wanted them to take, but they were dropping them.”

Devine scored nine of his 19 in the third to help Wasilla weather the Colony run. Senior Joel Quenga also had a pair of key field goals in the quarter, including a steal near midcourt and a drive to the basket.

Colony continued its hot shooting in the fourth, scoring 17 more in the final period. Senior Tanner Enloe hit a turnaround jumper near the midway point of the fourth to cut Wasilla’s lead to a single possession and sophomore Hunter Eisenhower drained a pair of free throws to tie the game at 47.

Senior Payton McCann used a jumper to give Colony its first lead, 49-47, at the 3-minute mark of the fourth. But Kuiper tied the game by going hard to the basket nearly immediately.

Colony would tie the game again, this time at 51, thanks to an Eisenhower turnaround score. But once again, Wasilla nailed a big shot.

Senior Wade Stahle hit one of his three, three-pointers with less than two minutes left to give the Warriors the 54-51 lead. Devine sank a pair of free throws to extend the lead to five points.

Colony had one more chance late. McCann drilled a three-pointer with 12 seconds to go, but Stahle hit late free throws to ice the game.

“Colony is well-coached. We knew they weren’t going to roll over on their senior night. Their seniors stepped up and played hard,” Engebretsen said. “We really played well down the stretch. Our senior guards stepped up and played terrific.”

Wasilla 60, Colony 55

Tuesday, Colony

Wasilla 14-13-15-16—60

Colony 8-10-18-17—55

Wasilla (60) – Schierman 1 2-2 4, Quenga 2 6-9 10, Ferro 2 0-0 4, Kuiper 2 5-6 10, Stahle 3 2-2 11, Devine 7 5-7 19; Totals: 17 20-26 60.

Colony (55) – Niver 1 0-0 2, Smith 3 1-2 7, Turner 4 1-2 11, McCann 4 0-0 9, Enloe 2 0-0 5, Eisenhower 2 2-2 6, Michaelson 1 0-0 2, DePriest 3 0-0 6, Umbarger 3 0-0 7; Totals: 20 4-6 55.

Three-point field goals: Wasilla 3 (Stahle 3), Colony 5 (Turner 2).