Valley rivals clash on the court at Wasilla High

WASILLA — Palmer’s opponents already know that Connor Looney is going to score. If the Moose are successful, the senior standout will get his points.

But Brian Selmer may be giving opposing teams something else to think about.

Selmer scored 18 points to help lead the Moose to a 59-41 Northern Lights Conference win over the Wasilla Warriors at Wasilla High Friday.

“I thought Brian was real key tonight,” Palmer head coach Jason Marvel said. “It’s really huge. Brian, obviously he’s an offensive threat. He just does some real nice things.”

Selmer shot 50 percent from the field in the win and knocked down 3 of 4 free throws. Last season as a junior, Selmer entered the season as a key piece of the puzzle, but was lost for much of the year after an injury to Colony early in the NLC season. Now a senior, Selmer is re-establishing himself as a threat, even though his game has somewhat changed.

“I don’t know necessarily if his role has changed that much, because he was a scorer last year. But I think he’s more of an inside presence now,” Marvel said of Selmer. “Last year he was more perimeter oriented.”

Looney scored a game-high 20 in the victory, and hit three of Palmer’s seven three-pointers in the win.

Wasilla, playing without leading scorer Dane Kuiper, held an early lead with an early six-point run. But Palmer used a run to take a 17-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Adam Ramoth scored five of his seven points in the game during that stretch.

Looney was key in the third, scoring 10 of his 20 points during a 21-12 Palmer run.

Cameron Brown led Wasilla with 13, and Cash McGregor added 10 points.

In girls’ action, Wasilla was sparked by a late first-quarter run and scored a lopsided 51-29 win over Palmer.

Moose senior Taylor Blake scored four early points, and Palmer led 6-5. But Wasilla capped the first period on a 10-point run.

The Warriors also held Palmer to single digits in scoring in all four quarters.

Alexis Imoe led Wasilla with 16 points in the win. Kyla Dinkel added 13 and Alysha Devine chipped in 12 points and six steals.

Blake scored a game-high 16 for Palmer. Leya DePriest finished with a game-high 14 rebounds.

Palmer boys 59, Wasilla 41

Friday, Wasilla High

Palmer 17-14-21-7—59

Wasilla 10-9-12-10—41

Palmer (59) — Ramoth 3 0-3 7, Looney 6 5-6 20, Mayer 2 1-2 7, Nisbett 1 0-0 2, Selmer 7 3-4 18, Niekamp 2 1-1 5; Totals: 21 10-16 59.

Wasilla (41) — Baham 1 0-0 3, Brown 3 6-6 13, Carney 2 0-0 4, Krueger 2 1-2 5, McGregor 5 0-0 10, Hanson 2 2-2 6; Totals: 15 9-10 41.

Wasilla girls 51, Palmer 29

Friday, Wasilla High

Palmer 6-8-9-6—29

Wasilla 15-14-9-13—51

Palmer (29) — Southwick 1 0-0 2, Osiensky 1 1-2 3, Straight 1 0-0 2, Blake 5 6-10 16, DePriest 3 0-0 6; Totals: 11 7-14 29.

Wasilla (51) — Ford 3 2-3 8, Imoe 5 6-9 16, Devine 6 0-1 12, Dinkle 5 3-3 13, Edwards 1 0-2 2; Totals: 20 11-18.