Warriors rally to win title

KODIAK — All season long, Wasilla was faced with deficits.

So when they fell behind by 11 points to Soldotna in the boys Northern Lights Conference championship game they didn’t panic.

The Warriors just went about their business. And in the end, they rallied back to claim their first NLC title since 2007 with an exhilarating 55-53 come-from-behind victory Saturday evening at Kodiak High School.

Senior Adrese LaVern sparked the turnaround scoring 17 of his game-high 23 points in the second half — 10 of those points came from the free throw line.

“We have been down many times this year and we have always fought back,” Lavern said. “So it’s nothing too new to us … we knew we would come through.”

Wasilla head coach Ryan Engebretsen wasn’t worried either, even though his team trailed 20-9 just moments into the second quarter.

“I knew they weren’t quitting,” Engebretsen said. “We just weren’t making shots. They got a little frustrated and flustered at what was happening, but they didn’t realize we just weren’t making shots.”

The Warriors started the game misfiring on seven of their first eight field goal attempts. After that, they rebounded to hit 13 of their final 37 shots.

In doing so, the Warriors denied the Stars its first NLC title and the Kenai Peninsula’s first title since the league went to an eight-team format in 1993.

“It’s a hard one to take,” Soldotna coach Matthew Johnson said. “Our kids love to compete. They play extremely hard. I thought they deserved to win it. It hurts, but in the big scheme of things we got where we wanted to go and that is to the state tournament.”

Both teams will head to the 4A state tournament that begins in two weeks in Anchorage.

Soldotna raced to a quick 13-2 lead in the first five minutes of the game and lead 17-9 after the first quarter.

The Stars pushed the lead to 20-9 on a convential three-point play by Daniel Geller just seconds into the second quarter. That turned out to be the Stars biggest lead of the game.

“We were aggressive,” said Johnson on the quick start. “When we play aggressive, we our tough to defend. Our two bigs clean up really well and they finished really well. When our guard play is aggressive we our tough to stop.”

Wasilla, down 11 points, though, never gave up.

“They made plays,” Johnson said. “They got stops when they needed to. Adrese and Pfeifer (Cody) hit a bunch of shots — they were big shots. We just didn’t get stops when we needed to.”

Wasilla eventually tied the game at 41-all on a Lavern free throw with just under two minutes left in the third.

Moments later, Boomer Blossom put Soldotna back up 43-41 as time expired in the third.

After a three-point play by Wasilla’s John Knowles, Carver put Soldotna up 46-44 with a 3-pointer midway through the fourth — that turned out to be the Stars final lead of the game.

Wasilla’s Cole Schierman tied the game up and then a pair of Lavern free throws put the Warriors ahead for good at 48-46 with 3:31 left.

Wasilla pushed the lead to 53-48 with one-minute remaining.

After each team exchanged a pair of free throws, Carver connected from long-range to cut the lead to 55-53 with three seconds left.

Wasilla then missed two free throws, but Soldotna couldn’t get a shot off as time expired.

“My seniors were so stinking tough they willed that win for us,” Engebretsen said.

Wasilla 55, Soldotna 53

NLC title game

Saturday, Kodiak High School

Soldotna 17 15 11 10 — 53

Wasilla 9 16 16 14 — 55

Soldotna (53) — Blossom 4, Grubb 13, Carver 15, Aberkane, Geller 7, Bauder 3, Jansen, Anders 11. FG — 14-46 (.304). FT — 10-15.

Wasilla (55) — Schierman 3, Mock, Kroon 2, Kuiper, Lavern 23, Orr 1, Pfeifer 13, Knowles 9, Green 4. FG — 18-54 (.333). FT — 15-25.