Palmer boys sweep Kodiak, girls split

PALMER — A barrage of three pointers from Trey Full.mer, Connor Looney, Hunter Dean and Jared Straight gave Palmer an early lead and the Moose held on for a 53-40 win over the Kodiak Bears Saturday at Palmer High School.

The Northern Lights Conference contest was physical. Palmer posts Kevin Montgomery and Sean Niekamp battled Kodiak’s Raphael Matautia for rebounds and points constantly, in even fashion. But the difference for Palmer proved to be the play of its guards.

The difference came with Palmer’s guards.

As was the case with the game Friday, the Moose took their lead out of the locker rooms in the second half. Palmer’s lead hung around five until the fourth quarter.

Kodiak’s starting five played almost all four quarters for the Bears, while Jason Marvel’s Moose rotated almost the entire bench, keeping fresh legs in at all times.

The Moose took these fresh legs to a 10 point lead going into the fourth quarter.

On Saturday, with Niekamp well-matched, Christian Odom was the player to step up with a big game. The senior captain who has played point guard for three years under Marvel ran the offense smoothly as usual, but also added two emphadic blocks and a three-pointer.

On Friday, the Moose chipped away to find the weakness in the Palmer attack and scored a 55-43 win over the Bears.

Though the score was 25-24 at halftime, the Moose came out in their 2-1-2 zone that troubled the Bears.

Kodiak also went cold in the second half. Palmer’s steady source of offense, Niekamp was quiet. Though Niekamp battled Kodiak’s Raphael Matautia successfully most of the game, Niekamp seldom cashed in. Though Niekamp only totaled 11 points, he still scored a double-double, with more than 10 rebounds as well.Palmer’s Jackson Buresh was the deciding force.

Buresh’s shut down defense, stellar play during Palmer’s third quarter 8-0 run, and game-high 18 points propelled the Moose to the win.

Girls split

The Palmer girls won a defensive grudge match 49-39 on Friday.

Kodiak started off in a defensive zone, denying the Moose post presence.

Moose forward Kasara Brandenburg would not be denied her offensive dominance. Brandenburg cashed in on offensive rebounds time and time again over the smaller Kodiak forwards.

Kodiak guard Johanna Garcia knifed through the Palmer defense for elbow jumpers. Garcia played tough perimeter defense all night, which ended late in the fourth quarter as she fouled out.

The Moose led 25-12 at halftime.

But the Bears were not finished. Starting the second half on an 11-1 scoring run, largely in part to Garcia’s defense.

The Bears made an effort to surge late in the game, but without Garcia’s ability to create off of the broken play, Kodiak had trouble scoring.

While Friday night’s contest was much more of a roller-coaster, taking dramatic up and downturns, Saturday’s game between Kodiak and Palmer was dominated by the Bears, who scored the 45-33 win.

Kodiak started the game on an eight-nothing scoring run. Kodiak continued to do just that, run, all night. The fast offensive pace, pushed by Kodiak guards Johanna Garcia and Puni Timu left the Moose in the dust.

Garcia used her quick dribble to push the ball around the Moose defense for baseline jump-shots to lead her team to victory.

Tim Rockey is a senior at Palmer High School who also writes for the Frontiersman’s Sports section.