Moose boys beat a pair of Valley rivals en route to conference championship

The Palmer Moose boys basketball team may have to start calling Soldotna High School its second home.

In 2019, Palmer entered the region tournament at SoHi as the No. 5 seed. The Moose put together a stellar weekend and played their way to a conference title. Over the weekend, the Moose were back in Soldotna for another postseason tournament.

And Palmer did it again.

The fourth-seeded Moose downed the top two seeds, and their two biggest rivals, on consecutive nights to earn another chance to cut down the nets.

Palmer scored a 61-58 win over second-seeded Wasilla during the final game of the Northern Lights Conference Championships Saturday night at Soldotna High.

Palmer’s Isaac Evans scored all eight of his points during a key 22-point third quarter. Wasilla had led 29-23 at halftime. Lukas Owens hit a pair of threes in the third and also scored eight in the quarter.

Owens led Palmer with 18. He drilled four three pointers and was 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Logan Rolston added 12.

Noah Kroon led Wasilla with 15 points in the loss. Gavin Morris and Tristan Horton added eight each.

Both Palmer and Wasilla earned automatic bids to the ASAA 4A state tournament, which starts March 20 at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

Wasilla is the No. 7 seed and meets second-seeded Service March 20 at 8 a.m. Palmer, the eighth seed, faces undefeated East Anchorage, the top seed, at 4:15 p.m.

On Friday, the Moose earned the big upset of the region tournament.

The fourth-seeded Moose outlasted top-ranked Colony 49-44 during the semifinal round.

Owens hit a pair of three-pointers, scoring all six of his points in the fourth quarter, to help the Moose get by the Knights and move into a region final against rival Wasilla. The Warriors beat host SoHi 64-53 in the other semi.

Palmer, 0-2 against Colony during the regular season, outscored Colony 18-14 in the fourth quarter. The Moose were held to only four points in the second quarter, but used a 17-10 third-quarter run to take a 31-30 lead.

Rolston and Nolan Garner scored a dozen each to lead Palmer. Blake Dinkel and Eli Whitworth led the Knights with 11 points each.

Wasilla jumped to an early lead and kept the momentum en route to the 64-53 win over the Stars.

The Warriors led by three after the first quarter and extended their advantage with a 19-5 second-quarter run.

Gavin Morris led Wasilla with a game-high 18 points in the win. Eleven of those points came during the second quarter. Noah Kroon added 14. Ledger Lusk finished with 10.

Colony capped its season with a 74-60 win over Soldotna in the third-place game. Brady Reaves led Colony with 14 points. Nile Deland had 12 points, and Blake Dinkel and Ridge Spencer added 11 each.

Contact the Frontiersman at sports@frontiersman.com.