Moose fall

ANCHORAGE -- The East Thunderbirds are a traditional basketball power in Alaska, holding not only an annual spot in the state tourney, but sporting countless state championship banners in their school gym.

Palmer boasts a senior-laden program that has worked for the last several years toward its goal of a spot in the state championship tourney.

Unfortunately for the Moose, experience won out as East slipped past Palmer 63-59 in the first round of the 4A boys' state championship tournament at the Sullivan Arena on Thursday.

"We had too big of eyes in the first half," Palmer head coach Brandon Blake said. "They hit a lot of threes early."

Thunderbird forward Dennis Wilson hit three of his team's five three-pointers in the first half. Wilson scored nine of his 10 points in the first two quarters and led the Thunderbird perimeter attack that shot 71 percent from behind the arc in the first half.

Derek Laws, who scorched the Moose for 19 points, and Kylan Robinson also hit key treys in the first half.

The long balls proved to be key for the T-Birds as they used a 17-9 run in the second quarter to build a nine-point halftime lead.

Palmer used several strong runs in the second half to leap back into the contest and trailed by only a basket with less than a minute left in regulation.

Laws hit a pair of free throws with 2:16 left in regulation to snap a Palmer 5-0 run. Though small, the Moose run brought Palmer within four points. Following the Laws freebies, Brandon Gaines fed fellow Moose senior Stanley Ratcliff, as Ratcliff stormed the lane and the forward's bucket cut the East advantage to 60-56.

With just 81 seconds left on the clock, Palmer senior Jesse Prins hit a huge three-pointer to cut the lead to 61-59. After an East free throw, Palmer had one last opportunity to tie the game, but Gaines was unable to hit on a floater from the arc.

"It was a valiant effort, but not enough," Blake said.

Palmer's trip to the state tourney is the program's first since 2001, when Region III player of the year C.J. Hooker led the Moose to the big dance.

Ratcliff, Kurtis Devon and Charlie Bentti each were on the varsity squad as sophomores, but received little or no playing time.

Ratcliff led the Moose with 22 points on 11 of 13 shooting, including several stunning shots from inside the paint. Ratcliff also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Bentti added 10 points.

Dimond 37, Colony 35

Lillian Bullock sank a pair of free throws with less than a second left in regulation to lead Dimond past the Colony Knights 37-35 in the first round of the 4A girls' state basketball tournament on Thursday.

As the final seconds of regulation ticked away, the Knights were whistled with a controversial call with the game tied 35-35.

The Lynx backcourt duo of Bullock and Zee Zee Young combined for four assists and seven rebounds to lead third-seeded Dimond. Colony forced the duo to commit 12 turnovers.

Kristina Klapperich led the fifth-seeded Knights with 16 points. The senior was the only player in the game to hit double-digits in scoring.

Lathrop 57, Wasilla 26

The Lathrop Malemutes held Wasilla to just 23 percent shooting from the floor, and earned a 57-26 win over the Warriors in the first round of the 4A boys' state championship tournament. Malemute guards Josh Lohrenz and Micheal Titus combined for 21 points to lead Lathrop.

Matt Crane led the Warriors with 14 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Crane also pulled down a team-high six rebounds.

Wasilla 67, Service 32

The Warrior girls trailed after the first quarter, but went on to blow out Service 67-32 on Thursday.

Chandice Cronk led the Warriors with a game-high 22 points. Laurel Creel and Hillarie Putnam each added 10 points for the

Warriors.