State basketball: Defending champs run past Colony boys

ANCHORAGE — The Colony Knights believe they can compete with the top teams in Alaska. But for the Knights to be successful, things need to go a certain way.

Unfortunately for the Knights, most things went Bartlett’s way Thursday morning.

The defending state champion Bartlett Golden Bears forced 23 turnovers and used a 25-8 second-quarter run to grab an 87-49 win over the Knights during the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Basketball Championships at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

“I talked all year about margin of error. I think we can certainly play with almost any team in the state, but our margin of error is not the same as everybody else,” Colony head coach Tom Berg said. “There are some certain things that have to happen night in and night out.”

Bartlett held the Knights to only 32 percent shooting in the game, and 27 percent in the first half.

“For us to be successful night in and night out, we have to shoot the basketball,” Berg said. “For us to be successful, we have to make shots.”

Led by senior Jared Turner’s four three-pointers, the Knights did shoot 43 percent from behind the arc to Bartlett’s 33 percent. Berg was content with Bartlett’s three-point percentage, but the Bears had an advantage in a few other areas of the game.

“That’s a number I can live with,” Berg said of Bartlett’s final line of 9 of 27 from behind the arc, “if they don’t outrebound you by (12), if they don’t get a couple of easy baskets.”

Bartlett outrebounded Colony 42-30 in the game.

Berg said a handful of Bartlett’s 13 offensive rebounds came at a key stretch in the first half.

Turner, who scored 12 for the Knights, fired one of his four three-pointers to cut Bartlett’s lead to 18-15. But the Golden Bears capped the half with a 24-5 run.

“I counted five in the first half, we got a miss, but if we pull that off the glass and go the other way, we’ve got a chance. Not only did they get that second chance shot, but they found a wide-open shooter or layup. Those really hurt us,” Berg said. “In that second-quarter run, we got a little down on ourselves. We let them assert themselves a little bit offensively.”

Trenton Anthony led Bartlett with 24 points and four assists in the win. Jai Rial added 18 points and Keenan Honoroe chipped in 10.

Junior Hunter Eisenhower led Colony with 14 points and nine rebounds.

The Knights move backward into Friday’s 9:45 a.m. consolation semifinal match.

Berg said the key now is staying alive and gaining more experience on the Sullivan floor.

“There are two good reasons to keep our heads in the game tomorrow,” Berg said. “We want to play for our seniors. We’ve got three seniors who have given a tremendous amount to this program. The other thing is I’ve only got three seniors. We want to play as many games as we can on this floor. We want that experience.”

With the loss, Colony is knocked back into the consolation semifinals and will face Northern Lights Conference rival Kenai at 9:45 a.m. Friday.

Bartlett 87, Colony 49

4A quarterfinals

Thursday, Anchorage

Bartlett 17-25-28-17—87

Colony 12-8-14-15—49

Bartlett (87) — Anthony 9 3-3 24, King-Dunbar 5 0-0 11, Berry 1 0-0 2, Honoroe 4 2-2 10, Gibson 2 0-0 6, Maduro 1 0-0 2, Morales 1 0-0 3, Rial 7 2-4 18, Sellers 1 0-0 2, Sherman-Newsome 3 1-2 7, Larrison 1 0-0 2; Totals: 35 8-11 87.

Colony (49) — Smith 1 2-3 4, Fulp 3 0-0 7, Turner 4 0-0 12, Umbarger 3 0-0 6, Menard 0 1-2 1, Peltier 1 2-3 4, Hightower 0 1-2 1, Eisenhower 5 3-4 14; Totals: 17 9-14 49.

Three-point field goals: Bartlett 9 (Anthony 3), Colony 6 (Turner 4); Total fouls: Bartlett 16, Colony 7.