Warriors drop opener at Arby’s Classic

BRISTOL, TENN. – The Wasilla Warriors spent Sunday night in a shoot around to familiarize themselves with the Viking Hall venue at the 28th annual Arby’s Classic. However, when the tournament got underway Monday, the Warriors couldn’t find the mark in their opening game 58-44 loss to the Bulldogs of Hampton, Tenn.

After Wasilla took their only lead on the game’s first basket by Braydon Kuiper, Hampton rolled off 14 straight points forcing the Warriors into an uphill battle the rest of the way. The Bulldogs’ Dylan Ward hit four straight field goals, two from behind the arc, scoring 10 of his 17 points in the first frame to jumpstart the Hampton effort.

“We shot poorly and dug ourselves a huge hole early,” said Wasilla head coach Ryan Engebretsen. “They had a couple of hot shooters that came out and took care of business.”

When Ward cooled off, Nathaniel Hughes heated up. Hughes eventually led all scorers with 22 points as the Hampton senior backcourt tallied 39 of the Bulldogs’ 58 points.

The Warriors cut the lead to eight at 23-15 on a Kuiper three-pointer, but still trailed by 11 at halftime. Renewed energy after the break led to a 14-6 Warrior spurt that cut the lead to three, at 39-36, midway through the third quarter.

As was the case most of the contest, however, every Warrior attack was followed by a series of turnovers that allowed the Bulldogs to expand the advantage once again. In this case, four straight miscues facilitated an 11-point Hampton run and a 50-39 lead that essentially put the game away.

“Our guards have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball,” said Engebretsen after Wasilla turned it over 25 times in the game. “You just can’t make that many turnovers and beat good teams.”

The Warriors were paced by Kuiper’s 19 points and got 13 from 6-foot 9-inch junior center Conner Devine, on whom the Hampton defense focused their efforts with a sagging defense when the ball went to the post. Kuper and Devine totaled 32 of the Warrior’s 44 points and Wasilla got no points off the bench.

“We have to find a way to get the ball inside to Conner more and let him take advantage of his size,” added Engebretsen. “A lot of our turnovers came trying to force the ball inside.”

Wasilla rallied to shoot 46 percent from the field, but was only 2-for-12 from beyond the arc and just 6-of-14 from the charity stripe. Cole Schierman added seven points for the Warriors while Devine blocked six shots and collected six rebounds, although the taller Warriors were out-rebounded by Hampton, 28-18, another telltale sign of a lack of focus according to Engebretsen.

“The kids were given everything they needed to be successful,” Engebretsen added. “The Athletic Director let us come in and shoot the ball in the gym last night [Sunday] and we had a great team meeting, but we just didn’t show up to play.”

Wasilla drops to the consolation bracket of the event and will play Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. against another team from Northeast Tennessee – the Greeneville Greene Devils – who lost 63-33 to Urspring, Germany in the tournament’s first game on Monday.

HAMPTON [58] – Nathaniel Hughes 9-23 4-8 22, Dylan Ward 7-11 0-0 17, Dylan Hill 4-7 0-0 9, Justin Scaif 3-4 0-0 6, James Hassett 1-4 0-0 0, Jacob Jones 1-5 0-0 2, Cody McClain 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Trusler 0-1 0-0 0, T.J. Lyones 0-1 0-0 0, Wesley Murray 0-0 0-0 0, Totals 25-56 4-6 58.

WASILLA [44] – Braydon Kuiper 8-13 2-4 19, Connor Devine 6-9 1-3 13, Cole Schierman 3-6 0-1 7, Dillon Ferro 0-2 3-4 3, Wade Stahle 1-6 0-0 2, Joel Quenga 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Pennington 0-0 0-0 0, Cash McGregor 0-1 0-0 0, Tyler Anderson 0-0 0-2 0, Isaiah Dawkins 0-0 0-0 0, Seth Dinkel 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 18-39.

Hampton 18 11 14 15 — 58

Wasilla 8 10 18 8 — 44

3-Points: Hampton 4-14 [Hughes 0-5, Ward 3-5, Hill 1-2, Jones 0-2], Wasilla 2-12 [Kuiper 1-3, Schierman 1-2, Ferro 0-1, Stahle 0-3, Quenga 0-1, McGregor 0-1, Dinkel 0-1]. Assists: Hampton 10 [Hughes 7], Wasilla 10 [Quenga 4]. Steals: Hampton 11 [Hughes 4], Wasilla 6 [Ferro 2, Stahle 2]. Blocks: Hampton 0, Wasilla 4 [Devine 4]. Turnovers: Hampton 13, Wasilla 25. Total Fouls: Hampton 17, Wasilla 9.