NLC, Southcentral tournaments start Thursday in the Valley

WASILLA Prep basketball junkies, prepare to get your fix.

Thirty-four games, 26 teams and two venues separated by less than eight miles of Bogard Road.

Wasilla High School is hosting the Northern Lights Conference Championships. Houston High is the host school of the Southcentral Conference Championships this year. Thanks to an assist from their friends at Colony, the 3A tournament games will be at Colony High. Expect the houses to be packed for the tournaments, which start Thursday. The following is a closer look at the matchups.

NLC boys

Wasilla is the No. 2 seed in the NLC boys’ tourney, but is riding the greatest momentum into the conference championships. The Warriors capped their regular season with consecutive dramatic victories. Senior Reilly Devine used a buzzer-beater to give his team a 36-35 win over Palmer on Feb. 27. Four days later, sophomore Levi Houck scored the game’s final five points to lift the Warriors to a 43-42 win over Colony.

Wasilla finished 9-1 in NLC regular season play.

Wasilla and top-seed Colony (9-1) both receive first-round byes. Colony clinched the top seed in the tournament with a 33-27 win over Palmer on March 2. Both teams finished 9-1 in NLC play, but Colony’s nonconference win over Wasilla in the title game at the Doc Larson Roundball Classic in December proved to be the tiebreaker.

Palmer (6-4) is the third seed and will play winless Kenai Thursday at 8:15 p.m. in the quarterfinals. Wasilla hosts the Palmer-Kenai winner Friday at 6:45 p.m. Fourth-seeded Soldotna meets fifth-seeded Kodiak in the other quarterfinal. The winner of that game plays Colony Friday at 3:15 p.m.

The championship game is Saturday at 5:15 p.m. The top two teams in the conference earn an automatic bid to the 4A state tournament.

NLC girls

The conference tournament will follow a wild final week of the regular season for the NLC’s three Valley girls teams. Palmer, Colony and Wasilla each suffered losses to a Mat-Su rival on their home floor during a five-day stretch.

On Feb. 27, Wasilla won at Palmer. On March 2, Palmer won at Colony, scoring its first win over the Knights since 2014. The following afternoon, Colony rebounded at Wasilla, beating the Warriors for the first time since 2015.

Two-time defending state champion Wasilla (9-1) is the top team in the tournament. Colony (8-2) is seeded second, and Palmer (7-3) is third.

Palmer plays sixth-seeded Kodiak Thursday at 6:30 p.m. The winner of that game moves forward to face Colony Friday at 1:30. In the other semifinal, fourth-seeded Soldotna plays fifth-seeded Kenai Thursday at 3 p.m. Wasilla gets the winner Friday at 5 p.m.

The championship game is scheduled for Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Southcentral boys

The Redington Huskies used a win over Houston last week to grab the sixth-seed in the seven-team tournament. The Huskies open against third-seeded Homer Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at Colony High. Houston is the No. 7 seed, and faces defending state champion Grace Christian Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

Both Valley teams are on the same side of the bracket. The winners of the Redington-Homer and Houston-Grace games meet Friday at 7:30 p.m. The loser of each game plays Friday at 1:30 p.m.

Southcentral girls

Redington scored three conference victories in its second season as a varsity program and is seeded sixth in the conference. The Huskies will open against third-seeded Grace Thursday at 3 p.m. at Colony High. Houston, winless in conference during the regular season, is seventh. The Hawks open against second-seeded Nikiski Thursday at 6 p.m.

The winners of each matchup play Friday at 6 p.m., the losers at noon.

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