Seniors help Moose open season with a win

PALMER — The Palmer Moose are the defending Northern Lights Conference champions, but return only two players who saw significant action during Palmer’s run to the NLC crown last season.

Saturday, as the Moose opened their 2013-14 season, both those players used big fourth-quarter efforts to help Palmer start the season with a win.

Seniors Adam Ramoth and James Nisbett combined for 16 of Palmer’s 23 fourth-quarter points to help the Moose earn a 64-58 win over Eagle River at Palmer High School.

“It was a good win. To get a ‘W’ in the first game of the year is always a good thing,” Palmer head coach Brandon Blake said.

Ramoth scored 10 of his game-high 29 in the fourth quarter, and Nisbett chipped in six of his 17 points during the final frame.

Blake praised the work off all three of his senior captains — Ramoth, Nisbett and Cody Wells. Wells chipped in three points, but also stood out on the defensive end.

Blake said he was impressed with his seniors’ ability to rebound after a rough start. Within the first two minutes of regulation, Blake had two of his seniors on the bench with two fouls.

“We struggled a little bit in the first half, especially defensively with foul trouble,” Blake said. “We had a very positive halftime adjustment. We came out and the kids did a nice job.”

Eagle River’s Thomas Jones led the Wolves with 18 points in the game, but was held scoreless in the third quarter and hit only two field goals in the fourth.

“I’ve really got to give a lot of credit to Cody Wells defensively. He face-guarded (Jones) the entire second half. He was really tough on him,” Blake said.

Jones scored half his points in the second quarter.

Palmer, which trailed 14-11 after the first and 30-25 at halftime, used a 16-8 third-quarter run to jump into the lead. In addition to his five field goals in the second half, Ramoth was also 11 of 14 from the free-throw line.

“Inside, outside. All of the above, very solid,” Blake said of Ramoth. “The thing about Adam, he can flat-out score. He’s confident. He’s very good attacking off the dribble, very good at spotting up and stroking threes.”

Brady Southwick added 10 points in the Moose win.

Palmer 64, Eagle River 58

Saturday, Palmer High

Eagle River 14-16-8-20—58

Palmer 11-14-16-23—64

Eagle River (58) — Anderson 6 1-2 15, Metzel 1 1-6 3, Nurdahl 1 12- 3, Collins 2 1-2 6, Jones 6 5-7 18, Patin 1 0-0 2, Durriscleat 4 2-4 11; Totals: 21 11-27 58.

Palmer (64) — Ramoth 8 11-15 29, Jones 1 0-2 2, Southwick 3 4-4 10, Wells 1 1-2 3, Nisbett 8 0-5 17, Yanez 1 1-4 3; Totals: 22 17-32 64.

3-point field goals: Eagle River 5 (Anderson 1), Palmer 3 (Ramoth 2); Total fouls: Eagle River 27, Palmer 26.