Underdogs to champions; Palmer boys win NLC title

The Palmer Moose have shown a knack for winning region sports titles as longshots.

They did it again Saturday at Soldotna High School, capturing the 2019 Northern Lights Conference boys championship as the lowest seed in the tournament with a 62-58 win over Soldotna. It gives Valley schools 25 of the last 27 boys NLC crowns.

It's the first region hoops title for No. 5 Palmer since 2016, and it comes on the heels of region and state titles in the past calendar year as the No. 4 seed (hockey) and the No. 7 seed (baseball). Saturday's basketball crown just added another remarkable Cinderella story to the mix.

”Anything's possible," said Palmer senior guard Ronny Marshall. "We had no (expectations). It was a shock to all of us, we didn't expect to be region champs."

Marshall finished with 20 points to lead the Moose, while teammate and brother Lavar Marshall had 14, Jacob Titus had 15 and Dae Osiensky notched 13.

Jersey Truesdell fueled SoHi with 24 points, including 18 in the second half, while Stars teammate Ray Chumley recorded 13, but it wasn't enough to beat the Moose, which constantly stayed one step ahead of the Stars.

"We didn't finish at the rim like we needed to, didn't shoot free throws well," said SoHi head coach Nolan Rose. "They were just a little better than us today."

The Stars ended 7 for 14 from the free throw line, including all four misses in the fourth quarter.

Palmer led 45-43 entering the fourth quarter, and Lavar Marshall helped pad the lead with two drives to the rim and was joined by Osiensky's trey with 5:46 remaining that pushed the lead to 52-45.

"We all work together really well," Lavar said. "We have a good leader in Ronny."

Lavar later grabbed a steal from Truesdell and laid in the transition bucket with 3:19 left to forge a 58-49 advantage, a lead that held despite three putback baskets from SoHi's Tyler Morrison and a triple by Truesdell with 50 seconds left that cut it to four points.

Palmer coach Jeremy Arnhart said he had seen flashes of championship material from the Moose throughout the regular season, but had yet to see it come together in one game.

"We had games where we played three quarters of good basketball and then we'd have a quarter where we'd play just bad," Arnhart said. "When you do that it's really hard to win, because in this conference, every team is really good."

Truesdell slashed the lead to 60-58 with 1.4 seconds left on a roll to the rim, then immediately fouled Titus on the ensuing inbounds pass. Titus converted both foul shots to give Palmer a two-possession lead.

SoHi was in search of its first region boys title since 1991, but the long wait will last for a 29th year.

However, Rose said with the hopes of a deep state run in their minds, the Stars will be back soon enough.

"To fall short really hurts," Rose said. "But we can either feel sorry for ourselves or get back in the gym and get better for next time.

"We've got more games in front of us."

Saturday boys

Moose 62, Stars 58

Palmer 16 15 14 17 —62

Soldotna 7 21 15 15 —58

PALMER (62) — Osiensky 13, L. Marshall 14, Maclean 0, Titus 15, Rankin 0, R. Marshall 20, Brown 0.

SOLDOTNA (58) — Rich 1, Morrison 6, Hanson 4, Chumley 13, Truesdell 24, Kant 6, Michael 4.

3-point FG — Palmer 6 (Osiensky 3, Titus 3); Soldotna 5 (Chumley 2, Truesdell 2, Kant 1).

Team fouls — Palmer 13; Soldotna 13. Fouled out — Morrison.