Warriors defeat ball control Moose

WASILLA -- Palmer boys' basketball head coach Brandon Blake took a page from the playbook of Palmer football coach Rod Christiansen Saturday.

In an attempt to derail the high-speed offense of Jason Marvel's Wasilla Warriors, Blake opted to run a true ball control offense.

Palmer held the ball for minutes at a time at some points, in an attempt to upset the Warriors.

Though Wasilla's shots were few and far between, the Warriors made them count.

Buddy Bailey hit six three-pointers, four in the second half, en route to a 22-point performance in Wasilla's 44-35 win over the Moose.

At numerous points in the game Blake had his guards simply sit with the ball near mid-court as time on the clock ticked away.

"Obviously they are a very potent team," Blake said. "The less time they have the ball the better."

The strategy had merit as the Moose were within just a bucket of the state's top team as late as midway through the fourth quarter.

"It was a great strategy," Marvel said. "What I like about Brandon is he is a great strategist, a real thinker.

"It was perfect, he knew that playing our game against the talent we have, he would never beat us," Marvel added. "He pulled us out of our game. In a huge sense they made us complacent."

"We knew that they have a huge size advantage, we play with a small team," Blake said. "By being patient we could make their big guys come out and guard us."

The Moose burned more than a quarter's worth of time as their guards traded the ball back and forth well beyond the three-point line. At one point in the fourth quarter, Palmer guards Dustin Dubois and Charlie Bentti passed the ball back and forth for more than two-and-a-half minutes.

The Moose held the ball for well over three minutes in the third period and 3:48 of the first 4:42 of the fourth quarter.

During that time the Palmer guards would swing the ball back and forth and wait for their shot. Palmer wing Stanley Ratcliff occasionally drove the ball inside. If the 6-foot 3-inch Ratcliff ran into the likes of 7-0 Ray Schafer, 6-7 Mason Heibel or 6-7 Luke Schafer, he would dribble the ball back to a safe point away from Wasilla's trio of towers.

The play of Ratcliff and the Palmer guards often looked like an extended ball handling drill. The Moose would weave in and out of traffic like a driver's education student twisting and turning through a parking lot full of orange cones.

As Palmer continued with their strategy, the faces of the Warrior players turned darker shades of red as the game progressed. By the mid-point of the fourth quarter, the complexion of the faces on the Warrior players were as dark as their school color.

It was at the height of the Warrior frustration that the Moose capitalized. Dubois hit a pair of three-pointers early in the third to bring cut the Warrior lead to two points.

Ratcliff hit a driving layup after 34 seconds of controlling the ball midway through the third to bring the Moose back within one.

But each time the Moose were able to torment the Warriors and whittle away at the Wasilla lead, Bailey and the Warriors would hit a shot to keep them at least one step ahead of Palmer.

Following Ratcliff's driving layup, Bailey nailed a three-pointer from a good two feet beyond the three-point arc.

Following Dubois' second trey, Bailey followed with a three-pointer attempted from what could have been downtown Wasilla. The Bailey bucket gave the Warriors a five-point lead.

"Unreal," Marvel said of his hot shooting senior guard. "This is the second night he has stepped up."

Bailey scored a team-high 23 points to lead Wasilla past Colony in a squeakier the night before.

"Buddy hit some unbelievable threes," Blake said.

Random shots … A standing only crowd at Wasilla High School was treated to a performance by Jason "Midcourt" McCourt at halftime. McCourt the team's scorekeeper and an assistant coach for the Warrior football squad demonstrated his version of the "Electric Slide." According to McCourt he has no intention to leave Wasilla to pursue a career in dance … Prior to the theatrics of "Midcourt" McCourt, Wasilla High honored Warrior faithfuls Erling Nelson and Sarah Palin. Nelson helped lead Wasilla to the state boys' basketball championship in 1950. Palin, a graduate of Wasilla and member of the 1983 girls' basketball championship team, was honored for her support of Warrior athletics during her six-year tenure as mayor of Wasilla. Both were presented with Warrior memorabilia.