NLC tourney: If it has to be their last game, Palmer boys find nice way to cap season

WASILLA — If the Palmer Moose have to be done, they found a good way to end they’re 2011-12 season.

Palmer rolled to a 71-38 win over Skyview during the final day of the Northern Lights Conference Championships at Wasilla High School on Saturday. The program’s two seniors, Jared Straight and Jackson Buresh, combined for 40 points in the victory, which sealed fourth place in the NLC for the Moose.

Palmer entered the NLC Championships as a potential state tournament team. A first-round overtime loss to Kenai damaged that chance, and left the Moose wondering if they were still alive for one of the state’s two at-large bids.

“We really didn’t want to go out this way,” Straight said of potentially missing the state tourney. “But it’s definitely good to go out and finish strong.”

Straight and junior Connor Looney scored a game-high 24 points each. Buresh added 16.

The top two teams in the NLC (Wasilla and Colony) earned the conference’s only automatic berths. Alaska School Activities Association changed its way of filling the state tourney bracket. Instead of giving three automatic berths to the NLC and Anchorage-based Cook Inlet Conference, ASAA cut those conferences to only two automatic bids. Now two at-large bids are available, and that will be determined by ASAA’s method of ranking 4A teams, the Winning Percentage Index. Marvel said he is not sure if Palmer will have a WPI high enough to garner one of those two at-large bids. If the Moose do in fact fall short of the state tourney, Marvel wanted his team, and his seniors in particular, to hit enjoy themselves and cap the year with a win.

“They had fun. I told them, those seniors to have fun,” Marvel said. “This is why you play the game. Go out and have fun. I am so proud of Jared and Jackson. They’re stellar young men, and are going to be very successful in life. That’s what matters.”

Straight and Buresh have been staples in the Palmer program, and have helped the team progress, Marvel said.

“When you’ve got kids like that working, it’s big,” Marvel said. “They’re blue collar type kids. You root for kids like that.”

Skyview, which played in its last NLC game in the loss before moving to the 3A Southcentral Conference, played Palmer tight early, but as the first half progressed, the Moose began to roll. Palmer scored 20 points in the first quarter and 21 in the second.

Looney scored 19 of his 24 during the first two quarters, while shooting 80 percent from the field in the first half.

Palmer added 30 points in the second half.

The Moose shot 57 percent from the floor and 46 percent from behind the arc. Straight hit a trio of three-pointers.

Regardless of what happens with the WPI, Straight said good things are ahead for the Moose.

“I think they have a bright future,” Straight said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.

Palmer 71, Skyview 38

NLC fourth-place game

Saturday, Wasilla High School

Palmer 20-21-14-16—71

Skyview 13-8-4-13—38

Palmer (71) — Nisbett 1 0-0 2, Looney 10 3-5 24, Ramoth 1 0-0 3, Straight 8 5-6 24, Buresh 6 3-4 16, Mayer 0 2-2 2; Totals: 26 13-17 71.

Skyview (38) — Reynolds 2 0-0 4, Harling 1 0-0 2, Collier 0 1-3 1, Jones 1 0-0 3, Penrod 7

2-2 16, Schwartz 1 0-0 2, Diaz 4 2-2 10; Totals: 16 5-9 38.

Three-point field goals: Palmer 6 (Straight 3), Skyview 1 (Jones 1); Total fouls: Palmer 7, Skyview 13.