Valley boys teams open NLC tourney with victories

Valley teams finished 3-1 during the opening rounds of the Northern Lights Conference Championships Thursday at Grace Christian School in Anchorage.

Three squads — Wasilla, Colony and Palmer — used wins to move into the NLC boys semifinals. The Palmer girls suffered a loss on the first day.

The Wasilla and Colony girls, the top two seeds in their brackets, received first-round byes and will also play in the semis Friday.

The second-seeded Wasilla boys buried seventh-seeded Kodiak 60-34. After taking an 18-13 lead in the first, the Warriors outscored the Bears 42-21 in the remainder of the game, and held Kodiak to single-digit scoring in each of the final three quarters. Noah Kroon scored 16 to pace Wasilla. Barak Wagle added 13. Kroon and Wagle combined for 15 of Wasilla’s 18 during the opening quarter.

Kodiak’s Kelly Tieman led all scorers with 17.

Third-seeded Colony had another lopsided win, beating sixth-seeded Soldotna 50-27. Both teams muscled through a slow start. The Knights used 17 points during the final quarter-and-a-half of the first half to take a 22-16 lead into the break, and outscored the Stars 32-11 during the final two quarters. Colony’s Leyton Lockard drained six three-pointers, and led all scorers with 18. Eli Whitworth and Jordan Sterling added eight points each.

Fourth-seeded Palmer beat Mountain Christian Academy, the No. 5 seed, 58-40 earlier in the day. Nolan Garner led the Moose with 17. Logan Rolston added 15. Lukas Owen chipped in 12. Garner scored eight of Palmer’s 19 first-quarter points.

In girls action, fifth-seeded Soldotna upset fourth-seeded Palmer 48-41. The Stars sealed the win with a 15-9 run in the fourth quarter. Presley Wright led Palmer with 13 points.

The Valley will have five total teams in the NLC semifinals on Friday. In the lone all-Valley matchup, Wasilla plays Colony at 1:30 p.m. Palmer will face top-seeded Grace Christian at 5 p.m.

On the girls side, top-seeded Wasilla faces Soldotna at 6:45 p.m. Second-seeded Colony meets third-seeded Mountain City Christian at 3:15 p.m. Palmer will play seventh-seeded Kodiak in an elimination game at 11:45 a.m.

In the 3A Eastern Conference tournament at Redington, the host Huskies and Houston were winless in four boys and girls games. The Sitka boys beat Redington 74-20. Mt. Edgecumbe beat the Houston boys 78-51. The Sitka girls scored a 62-20 victory over Houston. Mt. Edgecumbe also beat the Redington girls.

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