Wasilla boys ready for run

WASILLA — Last season, the Wasilla Warriors shocked West Anchorage, and most of the state, with their 67-64 win over the Eagles during the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank 4A State Basketball Championships.

With the victory, Wasilla became the first eight-seed to knock off the top team in the bracket in the history of the ASAA-sanctioned state tourney. The Warriors were on top of the Alaska basketball world. But the following night, the Soldotna Stars brought the Warriors back down to earth with a 49-38 win over Wasilla. Despite scoring the biggest upset in the first round of a 4A state tourney, the Warriors ultimately had to settle for fifth in the tourney after a nine-point loss to Bartlett in the third-place game.

Now as Wasilla prepares to make another run at a top finish in the 4A tournament, Warriors head coach Ryan Engebretsen said his team can look back on that roller coaster ride through the 2009 event and learn from the past.

“The biggest (thing) we can take from that is now the young kids expect to be in those games, expect to win those games,” Engebretsen said of the Warriors, who open 2010 tourney play against Juneau-Douglas Monday at 5 p.m. at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

Engebretsen said the Warriors rode a tremendous emotional high with the win over West, but it proved exhausting for the young team as the Warriors faced the Stars the following night.

“We’ve learned from it, and we’re better for it in many ways,” Engebretsen said. “We know how to handle those emotions the next day.”

Wasilla, the two-time defending Northern Lights Conference champions and the tournament’s No. 2 seed, draws a seventh-seeded Juneau-Douglas squad that’s making its fifth straight trip to the state tournament. The Warriors and the Crimson Bears have met this season. Wasilla scored a 63-56 win over Juneau during the Doc Larson’s Roundball Classic at Wasilla High, but Engebretsen said it’s hard to compare that December meeting to the first-round matchup at the state tournament.

“We’re both quite a bit different,” Engebretsen said. “We’re both doing some different things.”

Cook Inlet Conference runner-up Dimond and Soldotna, the third seed from the NLC, share the bottom half of the bracket with Wasilla and Juneau-Douglas. Dimond will be without 4A state player of the year Travis Thompson, who suffered a broken hand during the CIC tournament.

“We’re real familiar with both teams,” Engebretsen said. “Both are well-coached and both are going for the same prize.”

Wasilla has not played Dimond, other than a scrimmage during the preseason Valley Jamboree, but Engebretsen said the Warriors have been able to see the Lynx play at times during the season. The Warriors beat Soldotna 57-43 during the final game of the regular season.

While Wasilla may potentially have some favorable matchups on the bottom half of the bracket, Colony sits amidst a tough top half. The Knights open with Bartlett Monday at 9:45 a.m.

Colony head coach Jeff Bowker said he doesn’t mind that as the sixth seed his team drew third-seeded Bartlett in the first round, although he joked that the Knights seem to always get stuck playing a hot Anchorage team in the first round.

And the Bears are on quite the roll.

Bartlett upset 4A power West Anchorage in the CIC semifinals and topped Dimond in the conference championship game. Colony does have a win over Bartlett this year, edging the Bears 61-58 in overtime during the regular season.

Bowker said the game time, 9:45 on a Monday morning, could be the biggest obstacle for the teams.

“I’ve never experienced anything like that, a 9:45 a.m. game on a Monday morning,” Bowker said. “We’ll have to go out and see how it plays out.”

West, the top seed of the tourney, and Mid-Alaska Conference champion Lathrop are also on the top half.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.