Moose fall to Dimond in first round of boys' 4A state tourney

ANCHORAGE — Palmer enjoyed a promising start Thursday. But after a 15-point first, a second-quarter lull left the Moose lagging behind.

Dimond used a 10-2 second-quarter run to score a 55-42 victory over Palmer during the quarterfinal round of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Basketball Championships at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

“I really felt like if we made some more plays early, with the stuff we were trying to do against their zone, we would have gained more confidence,” Palmer head coach Chuck Martin said after the loss. “But we didn’t. Balls off our fingertips out of bounds, we missed shots at the rim. We were caught reverting back to what cost us early in the year, relying on the three-point shot, rather than finding ways to manufacture points.”

Palmer shot 60 percent in the first quarter from both inside the arc and beyond. The Moose hit a trio of threes to take a 15-14 lead late in the first quarter.

“We made some shots early, but didn’t finish when I thought we could get a little bit of separation,” Martin said. “And we started relying on the three.”

After taking a 16-15 lead at the tail end of the first, Dimond opened the second quarter with a 5-0 run and didn’t allow the Moose to score for nearly the first six minutes of the second quarter. Palmer’s first points in the second came when Clayton Southwick drove to the basket with 2:15 left in the first half. The Southwick basket was Palmer’s lone score on the second quarter, and the Moose were also held to a mere nine points in the third.

Palmer did have chances to pull itself back into the game during the final quarter, scoring 16 points in the fourth. But mistakes hurt the Moose, Martin said.

“We turned it over, I felt like, every time we had a chance to get back into the game,” Martin said. “We had the ball twice with plenty of time left with (Dimond with) a single-digit lead. Anything could have happened. But we turned it over. You can’t do that.”

Overall, Martin said, the Moose left the locker room disappointed.

“You’ve got to give Dimond credit. But it just doesn’t boil down to much more than we didn’t do what we needed to do. Dimond kept us from doing it, and we didn’t play well enough to beat a good team,” Martin said. “We’re disappointed we didn’t give ourselves a chance to win.”

Senior Michael Kluting led the Moose with a game-high 16 points in the loss. Southwick added 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Junior Payton Martin chipped in six points.

Josh Fosi led Dimond with 14 points. Mason Merchant added 10.

With the win, Dimond moved into the semifinal round, and will face Cook Inlet Conference rival East Anchorage Friday at 5:15 p.m. With the loss, Palmer was pushed backward and will face West Valley Friday at 9:45 a.m. in the consolation semifinals.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.

Dimond 55, Palmer 42

4A boys’ quarterfinals

Thursday, Anchorage

Palmer 15-2-9-16—42

Dimond 16-10-16-13—55

Palmer (42) — Hughes-Duffy 1 2-2 4, Martin 2 0-0 6, Ferris 1 0-0 3, C. Southwick 5 0-0 13, Kluting 3 4-8 16; Totals: 15 6-10 42.

Dimond (55) — Boese 2 0-0 6, Osborne 3 0-1 6, Parker 2 5-10 9, Moore 1 0-1 3, Fosi 3 6-6 14, Merchant 5 0-0 10, Jenkins 1 5-10 7; Totals: 17 16-28 55.