State basketball: Kenai boys end Colony's season a day early

ANCHORAGE — If Colony’s three seniors were going to go out, they were going out fighting.

Senior guards Jared Turner and Tim Smith combined for 20 points and forward Blake Hightower pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, but another senior helped end the Colony trio’s season a day early.

Kenai senior Bo Reilly scored 32 points to lead the Kenai Kardinals to a 58-48 win over the Colony Knights during the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Championships consolation semifinals Friday at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

“They’ve been tremendous all four years,” Colony head coach Tom Berg said of his seniors. “They’ve been a reason why Colony basketball is what Colony basketball is. They’ve all put in a tremendous amount of time and effort.”

Turner scored a team-high 11 points for the Knights and Smith chipped in nine. Both hit key three-pointers as the Knights tried to pull from behind in the third.

Five of Hightower’s eight rebounds came off the offensive glass.

“They were certainly reasons why we were able to stay in the game,” Berg said. “The disappointing thing is — you hear coaches say they deserve everything a lot — but those three deserved one more.”

Reilly’s hot hand helped the Kardinals get one more shot to hit the court this season, using the win to move into a fourth-place match with Juneau-Douglas. Reilly finished 11 for 16 from the floor, 3 for 4 from behind the arc, and scored 20 of his game-high 32 in the second half.

“Bo was really good today. I give him a lot of credit,” Berg said. “He’s been good all year, but he found his stroke today.”

Colony junior Nate Umbarger collected 11 points and seven rebounds for the Knights. Junior Hunter Eisenhower scored all nine of his points in the first half.

Berg and his assistants are sad to see Turner, Smith and Hightower leave the program, but are excited about the future of Colony basketball.

“The junior class is huge and we’ve got good young kids,” Berg said.

The Knights finished the regular season second in the Northern Lights Conference.

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

Kenai 58, Colony 48

4A boys consolation semifinals

Friday, Anchorage

Kenai 18-8-16-16—58

Colony 13-8-16-11—48

Kenai (58) — Hull 2 5-7 9, Fitt 2 0-0 4, Reilly 11 7-8 32, Spalding 1 3-4 5, Hayes 3 1-3 8; Totals: 19 16-24 58.

Colony (48) — Smith 3 2-2 10, Fulp 1 2-2 4, Turner 5 0-0 11, Umbarger 3 5-5 11, Hightower 1 0-2 2, Eisenhower 3 3-4 9, Compton 1 0-0 2; Totals 17 12-15 48.

Three-point field goals: Kenai 4 (Reilly 3), Colony 2 (Turner, Smith 1); Total fouls: Kenai 12, Colony 16.