Warriors survive, advance to Arby’s tourney consolation final

BRISTOL, Tenn. — Survive and stay. That was the Wasilla Warrior battle cry heading into day two of the 28th annual Arby’s Classic.

After a 4,200-mile trip to Northeast Tennessee, the Warriors were facing elimination from the event with a second loss in just under 24 hours. Instead, Wasilla extended its stay by three days with a 60-55 consolation bracket overtime win over Greeneville on Tuesday.

For the second time in as many days, the Warriors found themselves in an early hole as the hot-shooting Greene Devils forged to an early 11-2 lead. But unlike Tuesday, Wasilla rebounded quickly and closed the gap to just two at the first break, riding mainly the diverse skills of 6-9 junior Connor Devine.

Devine scored the Warriors’ first 10 points on his way to a near triple-double that included a game-high 28 points, nine blocks and eight rebounds.

“My guards did a good job of getting me the ball,” said Devine, who had 17 points by halftime.

Devine was also a force on the defensive end as time and again Greeneville kept challenging the post only to routinely leave rejected.

“They kept in there so I kept knocking them out,” added Devine, who also added an assist and two steals to his stuffed worksheet.

The Warriors were plagued by turnovers in their opening-day loss to Hampton, many of the unforced variety. Against Greeneville, the turnovers were fewer and 17 of the 22 made field goals were assisted.

“Our philosophy is to always get Conner [Devine] the ball down deep and play inside out,” explained Wasilla head coach Ryan Engebretsen. “When we do that, it makes the guard game so much easier for us.”

Joel Quenga picked up five steals and handed out five assists, all going inside to Devine.

“We always try to value the ball,” Quenga said. “We didn’t do that yesterday, but we stepped up and did a little better today. We just wanted to stay focused, stay composed, make good passes and take good shots.”

Devine converted on 10-of-15 field goals and knocked down his first three looks from beyond the arc before missing his final attempt.

“When he does that as well, it makes us even more effective,” added Engebretsen. “It really gets the team going and makes him even harder to guard.”

That also translates to his teammates as well. Braydon Kuiper made two of three treys and finished with 20 points to go with seven boards. It was Kuiper’s first three early in the second quarter that gave the Warriors a lead they would never relinquish. The margin grew to as many as 12 early in the third quarter on another Kuiper basket.

But Greeneville caught fire again as Bryan Everhart knocked down two of his six threes on the night sandwiched around another from long range by Landon Duncan to pull the Greene Devils to within a single point at 46-45. The Greene Devils fired away at will from behind the three-point line, eventually launching 31 attempts with 14 alone coming from Everhart.

A Kuiper putback and a Wade Stahle basket pushed the margin to five again with a minute left. But Duncan connected from long range again and Everhart knocked down two charity tosses to force overtime.

“We buckled down and got after it after they made shots early,” noted Engebretsen. “I was disappointed with the start and finish defensively. We just have to find a way to get the entire group to defend for 32 minutes.”

In overtime, the Warriors connected on six straight free throws and another Kuiper field goal as they tallied the first eight points of the extra session and earned the right to play in Friday morning’s consolation final against Tabernacle Baptist of the Bahamas.

“We wanted to make sure we played three games here, we didn’t want to come all this way and just play twice,” said Devine.

With two days off before getting back on the Viking Hall court, the Warriors will take time to see what Northeast Tennessee has to offer. Definitely on the itinerary, according to Engebretsen, is a stop just down the street at the NASCAR mecca Bristol Motor Speedway.

“They put 165,000 people in that place, that’s amazing,” said Engebretsen. “Of course, we’ll practice a lot and watch a lot of basketball as well.”

Wasilla 60, Greeneville 55

Arby’s Classic, Bristol, Tenn.

WASILLA [60] – Conner Devine 10-15 5-9 28, Braydon Kuiper 7-19 4-4 20, Joel Quenga 1-5 2-3 2, Dillon Ferro 2-4 0-0 4, Cole Schierman 1-5 0-0 2, Wade Stahle 1-5 0-0 2, Totals 22-53 11-16 60.

GREENEVILLE [55] – Bryan Everhart 6-15 4-4 22, Brennan Hollowell 5-12 0-0 12, Landon Duncan 3-5 0-0 8, Thornton Miller 3-10 0-0 6, Taylor Blair 1-5 1-2 4, Chaz Story 1-4 1-2 3, Trevor Ford 0-6 0-0 0, Joseph Tillery 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Cobble 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 19-58 6-8 55.

Wasilla 12 14 13 11 10 — 60

Greeneville 14 9 10 17 5 — 55

3-Points: Wasilla 5-13 [Devine 3-4, Kuiper 2-3, Quenga 0-2, Ferro 0-1, Schierman 0-2, Stahle 0-1], Greeneville 11-31 [Everhart 6-14, Hollowell 2-6, Duncan 2-4, Blair 1-5, Story 0-1, Ford 0-1]. Rebounds: Wasilla 30 [Devine 8], Greeneville 34 [Holloway 8]. Assists: Wasilla 17 [Quenga 5], Greeneville 15 [Blair 9]. Blocks: Wasilla 9 [Devine 9], Greeneville 0. Turnovers: Wasilla 16, Greeneville 19. Total Fouls: Wasilla 10, Greeneville 16. Fouled Out – None.