State hoops: Colony boys beat Wasilla

JEREMIAH BARTZ/ Frontiersman Sports Editor

ANCHORAGE - Ryan Gray must be a morning person.

An 8 a.m. tip-off in the first round of the Alaska Schools Activities Association 4A state basketball tournament may scare some players. But it didn't bother Gray. The Colony senior was perfect shooting the ball in the first half, scored 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and led the Knights to a 62-51 win over Valley rival Wasilla at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage on Thursday.

Knowing its first-round contest was the early game on Thursday morning, the Colony coaching staff tweaked the Knights' practice schedule a bit.

&#8220For the last week we've been getting up at 4:30 in the morning,” Colony senior Tom Creasey said.

The change made some early mornings for the Knights. But the players responded.

&#8220It was rough, but it paid off,” Gray said. &#8220I felt really good this morning.”

Gray hit his first six shots in the game. He had a game-high 12 points at the half, and didn't miss a shot until close to the three-minute mark of the third period. And if that wasn't enough, Gray's younger brother Doug hit a pair of key three-pointers early, and scored 10 first-half points.

&#8220Ryan was absolutely terrific,” Bowker said. &#8220He and Doug both were terrific.”

Ryan Gray's 17 points was a team high. Doug added 14, while senior David Registe chipped in 11.

Wasilla junior Jesse Bean led all scorers with 19 points.

Wasilla took an early 9-2 lead, led by the inside presence of center Logan Williams. The Warrior big man scored six of his eight points during that run. After that stretch, Wasilla went away from its inside game. But not on purpose, Wasilla head coach Jason Marvel said.

&#8220They did a great job of packing it in tight, and taking that game away from us,” Marvel said. &#8220I just think Colony played a great game. They played very well, and took us out of our game.”

Bowker said a priority in practice has been preparing against Wasilla's inside attack.

&#8220That was a challenge my bigs got this week,” Bowker said. &#8220Since we knew we were going to play Wasilla, that was the challenge to them.”

The rebounds were even, each team grabbed 32 loose balls off the boards, but Colony kept Wasilla's scoring to the perimeter. Williams was held to eight points. Big forward Matthew Stearman scored nine. But three of those points came off of a late trey in the fourth quarter. A lot of that inside responsibility on defense fell to Creasey and fellow senior and captain Tim Egger.

&#8220That's what we've worked on the past two weeks,” Creasey said. &#8220We knew our guards would step up. But me and Tim had to step up.”

Early it looked like the Colony post players would be in trouble. Egger was tagged with two fouls on Wasilla's first two shots in the game. After the 1 minute and 33 second mark, he didn't play for the remainder of the half. Creasey was called for three fouls in the first two quarters, and only saw eight minutes of action.

Bowker said a trio of reserves - forwards Josh Moseley, Grant Niver and Ryan Coffman - logged key minutes while his Creasey said the first-half fouls were pretty frustrating, but the seniors rebounded in the second half, and neither were called for a foul in the final two quarters. Creasey also responded by scoring six of Colony's first eight points in the third quarter. He finished with nine points on 4-of-4 shooting.

As the Knights recovered from their initial deficit, Bowker said it wasn't anything they changed. It wasn't an adjustment. It was simply execution.

&#8220We had some guys that just wanted it so bad,” Ryan Gray said. &#8220For the seniors, if we'd lost we'd still play tomorrow. But we wanted to play in another big game. If we lose, we're done forever. None of us are going to go on to play college ball, probably.”

Gray's nearly perfect performance from the field helped the Knights shoot nearly 60 percent in the game. Creasey was a perfect 4-for-4, Registe was 4-for-5. While the Colony offense was firing, the Wasilla shooters struggled. The Warriors hit just 20 of their 62 attempts (32 percent).

With the win, Colony moves ahead toward a possible second-straight trip to the state title game. Last season the Knights used a win over Wasilla to move into the championship game. Colony lost in the championship to West Anchorage. This year, standing in between the Knights and another visit to the title game is Chugiak. The Mustangs, the Cook Inlet Conference runners-up, upset second-seeded Juneau-Douglas 63-56 in the first round. Colony meets Chugiak at 8:30 tonight at the Sullivan Arena.

The other semifinal match-up pits two-time defending state champion West against fourth-seeded Dimond.

Colony 62, Wasilla 51

Thursday, Sullivan Arena

Colony (62): R. Gray 8 1-2 17, Registe 4 3-5 11, Egger 0 5-6 5, Niver 2

0-0 4, D. Gray 4 8-10 14, Coffman 0 0-0 0, Price 0 0-0 0, Moseley 1 0-0 2,

Creasey 5 0-1 9, Totals 24 17-24 62.

Wasilla (51): Bean 9 3-4 19, Hobbs 4 0-1 8, T. Johannes 0 0-0 0, Collins 2

0-0 6, Troshynski 0 1-2 1, I. Johannes 0 0-0 0, Stearman 4 0-0 9, Williams

3 2-3 8, Totals 20 6-10 51.

Three-point field goals: Colony- D. Gray 2, Creasey 1, Wasilla- Bean 2,

Collins 2, Stearman 1; Fouled out: Wasilla- I. Johannes; Rebounds- Colony

32 (Creasey 5, Egger 5), Wasilla- 32 (Stearman 6, Hobbs 6); Steals:

Colony- 6, Wasilla- 7; Turnovers: Colony- 14, Wasilla- 7; Assists: Colony-

9 (R. Gray 5), Wasilla- 8 (Bean 3).