Prep boys' basketball: Soldotna stops Moose

Jan. 28, 2007

By Jeremiah Bartz/ Frontiersman

PALMER - Not much separated the Palmer Moose and Soldotna Stars Friday.

&#8220One less turnover, maybe one extra rebound, one bucket that goes in,” Palmer head coach Greg Fullmer said after he saw the Soldotna Stars pull of a 47-41 win over his Moose Friday night at Palmer High School. &#8220Actually we felt like we played well, but not as well as we could have.”

Senior Quentin Fiscus helped Palmer win the battle inside, but the outside shooting of Soldotna senior Kelly Seggerman helped the Stars improve to 2-1 in Northern Lights Conference play.

Seggerman scored a team-high 19 points, and hit a pair of early three-pointers in the win.

Fiscus scored a game-high 20 points, and helped Palmer win many of the battles inside.

&#8220Quentin, I thought, did a nice job,” Fullmer said. &#8220He was giving up some size, but I thought we did a really nice job defensively.”

Fiscus had the task of battling 6-foot-5 forward Ryan Shelton and 6-6 forward Tony Besse throughout the entire game. With his fellow Palmer forwards in foul trouble, Fiscus spent virtually the entire game on the court.

&#8220Quentin played all but about 45 seconds,” Fullmer said.

The Fiscus-led Palmer defense held Shelton scoreless, and the UAF-bound Besse without a field goal, and to just five points from the free-throw line.

Working with a short bench, fouls proved to be key for the Moose in the second half. Palmer is still without its leading scorer, guard T.J. Fullmer, and forwards Nate Svedin and Mitch Bergeron each had four fouls with significant time left in the second half.

Fullmer said that forced the Moose to do some different things.

Late in the game, and down by only three points, Palmer lost its best three-point threat, Scott Cottrell, who used his fifth foul to tap Soldotna guard Brad Blossom to stop the clock.

Blossom hit both his free throws to give Soldotna the more comfortable five-point lead.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.