Palmer boys score road win at West Anchorage

ANCHORAGE — The Palmer Moose opened the season with a dozen wins in their first 15 games. But a frustrating 1-2 start in Northern Lights Conference play has left the Moose wondering a little bit about who they are, and hungry for a big victory.

Palmer earned one of those victories Friday night.

The Moose posted a 47-43 win over defending 4A state champion West Anchorage at West Anchorage High School.

“We finally got a good win. We’re 13-3, we think, at times, we’re pretty good, but you’ve got to win these types of games to legitimize who you are,” Palmer head coach Chuck Martin said via cellphone. “You can talk about being good, you can think about being good. But you’ve got to go out and demonstrate it.”

After West took an early 12-10 lead, the Palmer defense held West to a combined 13 points in the second and third quarters. West’s Da’zhon Wyche, the reigning 4A player of the year, scored a game-high 18 points in the loss, but half of his scoring came in the opening minutes of the game. Wyche hit a trio of three-pointers to help West jump to an early lead, but was held to only nine second-half points following that stretch.

“He scored nine right off the bat, but after that Chase (Ferris) did a good job on him,” Martin said.

Palmer used a 14-point second quarter to take the lead, and didn’t trail in the second half.

“When we’re ahead, our defense is tough to go against,” Martin said.

Michael Kluting led Palmer with 15 points in the game.

“Michael was good for us, really good on the glass,” Martin said.

Martin said Kluting’s play inside opened up opportunities for Palmer’s shooters on the perimeter. Payton Martin hit a pair of fourth-quarter three-pointers, and scored half of his 14 points during the final frame. Brady Southwick added another three-pointer in the fourth.

“We went to Michael, and Michael went inside-out,” Martin said.

Clayton Southwick added eight points in the win, and Ferris added seven.

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

Palmer 47, West Anchorage 43

Friday, Anchorage

Palmer 10-14-7-16—47

West 12-5-8-18—43

Palmer (47) — Martin 5 1-2 14, Ferris 2 3-4 7, B. Southwick 1 0-4 3, C. Southwick 2 4-4 8, Kluting 5 4-6 16; Totals: 14 12-20 47.

West (43) — Wyche 6 2-2 18, Jackson 1 0-0 3, Lawson 1 0-0 3, McMorris 1 0-0 2, Tovio 1 0-0 2, Duffy 2 0-0 4, Wanamaker 0 1-2 1, Barranco 2 0-0 6, Lumpkins 1 0-0 2; Bland 1 0-0 2; Totals: 16 3-4 43.

3-point field goals: Palmer 5 (Martin 3), West 8 (Wyche 4); Total fouls: Palmer 12, West 18.