Palmer boys win Elks Showdown

PALMER — A Saturday afternoon power outage at Palmer High School nearly led to an early end to the Palmer Elks Showdown. A second-half outage on the offensive end of the floor nearly led to the end of Palmer’s run to the title of its own tournament.

But the Moose managed to overcome both, and held on for a 47-45 win over Juneau-Douglas in the boys’ title game of the annual round-robin tournament.

After holding a double-digit lead at halftime, Palmer had just a pair of field goals during the final two quarters and 13 second-half points. Both of those field goals, a Payton Martin three-pointer and a Clayton Southwick bucket that gave the Moose a 39-23 advantage within the first minute of the third quarter, were Palmer’s only baskets of the second half. Palmer was stuck at 39 points until Martin hit a pair of free throws with a minute left in the game.

“No consistency,” Palmer head coach Chuck Martin said after the win. “We’ve been in so many games this year where we’ve really, really played like a good basketball team, then we can’t score, we throw the ball away after looking like we can handle pressure.”

Palmer, the defending Northern Lights Conference champions, entered the season with only two players with significant varsity experience (Payton Martin and Southwick) and two others with limited experience.

“I think you can attribute a little bit to inexperience,” Chuck Martin said.

But the Palmer mentor said, experience or not, Palmer his having a tough time with consistency on the floor.

“I’m not sure we’ve had a complete game yet,” Martin said of the 8-6 Moose.

Palmer opened its win Saturday with a 34-point first half, scoring 17 in each quarter. Palmer hit big shots from beyond the arc. Freshman Dae Osiensky hit three-pointers on back-to-back possessions in the first quarter to give the Moose a 15-7 lead. Payton Martin, a senior who was named MVP of the Showdown following the tournament, hit a trio of three-pointers in the second quarter.

“Early, we threw the ball into the post, the ball came out and we shot it in. We got to the rim. We scored in a variety of different ways,” Chuck Martin said.

But the second half produced very different results.

“How we started tonight, all three nights, we kind of made a game out of all three games,” Martin said of wins over Juneau, Houston and Soldotna in the three-day Showdown. “That’s our frustration right now.”

After about a 14-minute scoring draught, Palmer did come through with free throws late, hitting 8 of 10 from the stripe during the final minute of play. Martin was 5 of 6 from the line, and another senior, Liam Hughes-Duffy was 2 for 2 late.

“Those were big, no question,” Chuck Martin said of the free throws.

Martin also noted a free throw by Joe Rankin with 17 seconds left in regulation, a shot that gave Palmer the 46-41 lead.

“Five’s a lot different than four,” Martin said of the advantage.

Palmer held Juneau to just a single three-pointer in the third, but Juneau managed 19 fourth-quarter points. Juneau hit a three with 21 seconds left to cut Palmer’s lead to four. A late Crimson Bears free throw with 4.6 seconds left brought Juneau within two, but Palmer was able maintain possession on a final inbound pass to hold on to the win.

Saturday afternoon there was question whether the Moose would even have a chance to face the Crimson Bears that evening. According to school officials, about 3:30 p.m. the school lost one-third of its power supply. The partial outage left the parking lot dark, and limited power within the building. With the outage, lighting inside the Palmer gymnasium was limited, and the scoreboards were not in working order. The game clock was kept at the scorers’ table, and the public address announcer announced the time left in the quarter throughout the game. Fans kept tabs of the score, thanks to a volunteer who flipped the scorecards on a portable manual scoreboard in the stands.

In the girls’ class, Bartlett was awarded the Elks team title by tiebreaker. Bartlett, Palmer and Juneau-Douglas each finished 11-1 in the tournament, and the Golden Bears were awarded the title based on total points allowed in the tourney. Palmer’s girls’ game against Grace Christian was cancelled Saturday. The Grizzlies were unable to make the trip to the Valley due to poor road conditions on the Glenn Highway.

Moose boys, girls split on second day of tourney

A pair of Palmer captains helped the Moose hold on for a victory.

Clayton Southwick and Payton Martin combined to score a dozen of Palmer’s 13 fourth-quarter points during a 44-39 win over Soldotna during the second day of the Palmer Elks Showdown Friday at Palmer High School.

Martin scored eight of his 13 points during the final frame to help the Moose improve to 2-0 in Showdown play. Palmer beat Houston Thursday.

The Moose held a slim 31-29 advantage of their Northern Lights Conference foe heading into the final frame. Martin hit a pair of shots during the fourth, and was 4 for 4 from the free throw line. Southwick added four points during the fourth quarter and scored a game-high 16 points.

Soldotna used the three-pointer to stay in the game, hitting eight from beyond the arc against the Moose.

The Palmer girls dropped to 1-1 in the tournament after a 44-39 loss to Bartlett Friday night. Palmer led 11-8 after the first quarter, but the Golden Bears jumped ahead with a 24-point second quarter.

Lorna Suaava led Palmer with 15 points in the loss. Kassidy Bowman added 10.

In other action, Juneau-Douglas scored a 75-49 boys basketball win over Houston. Kade Taylor scored 26 points for Houston in the loss. Taylor hit six three pointers. Ben Bitler and Ben Pelesasa added eight points each.

Palmer opens tourney with wins

The Palmer boys used an early lead to open their annual round-robin tournament with a victory.

Sparked by a 26-point first quarter, Palmer scored a 56-40 win over Houston during the first day of the Palmer Elks Showdown Thursday night at Palmer High.

Payton Martin hit two of Palmer’s three-pointers in the opening quarter, and scored eight of his team-high 18 points in the first. Dae Osiensky also knocked down an early try for the Moose. Clayton Southwick added 13 points for the Moose, who led 29-19 at halftime.

Ben Bitler led Houston with a game-high 19 points in the loss. Bitler scored eight of Houston’s 11 points in the second quarter, and nine of Houston’s 13 in the third. Kolby Taylor added seven for the Hawks.

The Palmer girls also earned a victory on the first-day of the three-day Showdown. Emma Uschmann scored 17 points to lead the Moose to a 54-40 win over Juneau-Douglas. Uschmann knocked down a half-dozen shots from the field, including two from behind the arc. Abriana Busbey also had a pair of three pointers.

In other tournament action Thursday, the Bartlett girls beat Grace Christian 48-37 and the Soldotna boys edged Juneau-Douglas 48-45.

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

Palmer 47, Juneau-Douglas 45

Palmer Elks Showdown

Saturday, Palmer High

Juneau 11-12-3-19—45

Palmer 17-17-5-8—47

Juneau (45) — Hoover 1 5-8 8, Watts 2 1-4 6, Hamrick 1 1-2 4, Swofford 5 1-1 11, Kelly 3 3-4 10, Mallinger 1 0-0 3, Lozado 1 0-0 3; Totals: 14 11-19 45.

Palmer (47) — Osiensky 3 0-1 8, Martin 4 5-6 17, Hawkins 1 0-0 3, Hughes-Duffy 1 2-2 4, Rankin 0 1-2 1, Southwick 3 2-2 8, Eiman 3 0-0 6; Totals: 15 10-13 47.

3-point field goals: Juneau 6 (6 with 1), Palmer 7 (Martin 4); Total fouls: Juneau 16, Palmer 21.

Palmer boys 44, Soldotna 39

Palmer Elks Showdown

Friday, Palmer High

Soldotna 9-9-11-10—39

Palmer 11-8-12-13—44

Soldotna (39) — Trammell 1 0-0 2, Spence 3 0-0 9, Sheridan 4 0-0 12, Crowder 2 0-0 4, Tuisaula 1 0-0 2, McElroy 3 1-3 7, Marcuson 1 0-0 3; Totals: 15 1-3 39.

Palmer (44) — Osiensky 0 1-2 1, Martin 4 4-4 13, Hawkins 1 0-0 2, Hughes-Duffy 5 0-0 10, Southwick 7 2-5 16, Eiman 0 2-2 2; Totals: 17 9-13 44.

3-point field goals: Soldotna 8 (Sheridan 4), Palmer 1 (Martin 1), Total fouls: Soldotna 14, Palmer 7.

Bartlett girls 51, Palmer 43

Palmer Elks Showdown

Friday, Palmer High

Bartlett 8-24-10-9—51

Palmer 11-11-3-18—43

Bartlett (51) — Tosi 1 1-4 4, McWhite 2 0-1 4, Uhila 5 0-0 10, Hawley 5 2-3 13, Yisrael 3 11-14 20; Totals: 16 14-22 51.

Palmer (43) — Busbey 1 5-6 7, Bowman 3 2-4 10, Suaava 5 3-8 15, Sutton 1 2-4 4, Uschmann 1 2-2 5, Dixon 1 0-1 2; Totals: 12 14-25 43.

3-point field goals: Bartlett 5 (Yisrael 3), Palmer 5 (Bowman, Suaava 2); Total fouls: Bartlett 18, Palmer 18.

Juneau boys 75, Houston 49

Palmer Elks Showdown

Friday, Palmer High

Juneau 17-23-17-18—75

Houston 14-8-18-9—49

Juneau (75) — Bradley 1 3-3 5, Hoover 3 1-1 8, Watts 6 1-2 13, Hamrick 4 0-2 8, Swofford 7 0-2 15, Kelly 5 4-7 14, Mallinger 2 0-0 5, Lozada 2 3-4 7; Totals: 30 12-21 75.

Houston (49) — Ka. Taylor 7 6-8 26, Ko. Taylor 2 0-0 4, Ross 1 1-4 3, Pelesasa 4 0-0 8, Bitler 2 4-7 8; Totals: 17 11-23 49.

3-point field goals: Juneau 3 (3 tied with 1); Total fouls: Juneau 17

Palmer boys 56, Houston 40

Palmer Elks Showdown

Friday, Palmer High

Palmer 26-13-13-9—56

Houston 8-11-13-8—40

Palmer (56) — Osiensky 1 4-5 7, Martin 6 2-2 18, Hawkins 2 0-0 4, Hughes-Duffy 2 3-5 8, Southwick 6 1-3 13, Eiman 3 0-0 6; Totals: 20 10-15 56.

Houston (40) — Werts 1 0-0 3, Ka. Taylor 1 3-4 5, Ko. Taylor 2 3-5 7, Ritter 0 0-2 0, Ross 2 0-0 4, Pelesasa 1 0-0 2, Bitler 9 1-7 19; Totals: 16 7-18 40.

3-point field goals: Houston 1 (Werts 1); Total fouls: Houston 17,

Palmer girls 54, Juneau 50

Palmer Elks Showdown

Thursday, Palmer High

Juneau 11-10-10-19—50

Palmer 17-15-12-10—54

Juneau (50) — Carsons 6 7-11 19, Bohulean 1 2-2 4, Posich 6 6-9 20, Dzwick 2 2-2 6, Hickok 0 1-4 1; Totals: 15 18-28 50.

Palmer (54) — Pettingill 1 0-0 2, Busbey 2 2-4 8, Bowman 2 0-0 6, Suava 4 3-8 11, Sutton 1 0-1 2, Uschmann 17, Alley 1 0-0 2, Dixon 3 0-0 6; Totals: 20 8-17 54.

3-point field goals: Juneau 2 (Posich 2); Palmer 4 (Busbey, Uschmann 2); Total fouls: Juneau 20, Palmer 21