Wasilla boys rebound against Kodiak

WASILLA — A win or loss Saturday afternoon would have left the Wasilla Warriors in the same spot: the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Northern Lights Conference Championships. But after suffering a 21-point loss to Kodiak the night before, Wasilla head coach Ryan Engebretsen was ready to see his Warriors rebound prior to heading into the region tourney.

Wasilla capped its regular season with a win, scoring a 65-60 victory over Kodiak Saturday at Wasilla High.

“Good turnaround from yesterday,” Engebretsen said after Saturday’s victory. “They were unconscious yesterday, we did a decent job. We thought we’d change the pace up a little bit (today) with what we were doing offensively and defensively. And we shot the ball in today. We shot a much higher percentage, but we also got looks we wanted.”

Wasilla used a well-rounded scoring attack to beat Kodiak, force the two-game series split and improve to 7-3 in NLC play. Four Warriors scored in double digits. Stone Krueger led the team with 16, Emillio Carney and Cash McGregor supplied a dozen each, and Koby Burns chipped in 11. The Warriors also consistently got to the free throw line in the second half, finishing 17 of 22 from the stripe during the final two quarters.

“As soon as their two bigs got into foul trouble, our whole focus was to get into the paint,” Engebretsen said. “We were already in the bonus going into the fourth, so we wanted to make sure everything we got was looks in the paint. Either draw fouls and get to the free throw line or finish around the rim.”

Friday, Kodiak used a late second-quarter run and early third-quarter run to get past Wasilla 70-49. The teams were tied at 19 late in the first half, but Jamuel Mangalus, Austin Frick and Max Mutch each hit three-pointers during the final minutes of the second quarter, and Kodiak capped the half on a 9-0 run. Kodiak opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run.

“It came down to about five minutes of the game, five minutes of the game was a difference-maker,” Engebretsen said of the Friday loss.

Isaac Houck led Wasilla with 11 points Friday. McGregor and Alex Baham added 10 each.

Kodiak’s win on Friday assured the Bears a top 2 seed in the upcoming tournament. Wasilla’s win on Saturday left the Bears with the No. 2 seed. Colony (8-2) clinched the No. 1 seed in the tournament with the Wasilla win. Kodiak and Wasilla officially finish the regular season tied at 7-3, but Kodiak owns the tiebreaker. Common 4A opponents outside the NLC was used to break the tie. Both teams played East Anchorage. Kodiak beat East, but the T-Birds beat Wasilla early in the year.

The complete brackets with game times will be released Monday. Colony is the host of the 2014 tournament.

Colony and Kodiak earn first-round byes with the top 2 seeds. Wasilla, which is on the same side of the bracket as Kodiak, will play sixth-seeded Kenai in the first round.

“We can’t focus on Kodiak in the semis until we get past Kenai, who played us tough at their place,” Engebretsen said. “Our focus next week will be one game at a time.”

Wasilla needed overtime to get by Kenai last week at KCHS.

Fourth-seeded Soldotna and fifth-seeded Palmer will meet in the other boys quarterfinal.

Kodiak girls sweep Warriors

KODIAK — The Kodiak girls capped an undefeated regular season with a two-game sweep of Wasilla at Kodiak over the weekend.

Kodiak improved to 10-0 with a 62-46 win over the Warriors on Saturday. Wasilla trimmed Kodiak’s lead to as little as four points, but Kodiak senior Jerica Nelson hit a key three-pointer to extend her team’s advantage to seven points.

Wasilla suffered a 50-29 loss on Friday. Shayla Johnson hit a trio of three-pointers and led Wasilla with 15 points in the Friday loss. McKenna Dinkel added eight.

Kodiak will enter the upcoming NLC tournament with a first-round bye. Wasilla is the No. 4 seed and will play fifth-seed Palmer in the quarterfinals.

Wasilla 65, Kodiak 60

Saturday, Wasilla High

Kodiak 12-21-9-18—60

Wasilla 18-11-12-18—65

Kodiak (60) — Mangalus 3 0-0 9, Frick 5 2-2 16, Bezona 2 0-0 4, A. Canete-Hall 8 0-1 18, T. Canete-Hall 4 0-0 8, Mutch 2 0-0 5; Totals: 24 2-3 60.

Wasilla (65) — Carney 4 3-4 12, Krueger 5 4-4 16, Baham 2 1-2 6, Garnett 0 2-2 2, McGregor 5 1-3 12, Houck 1 4-4 6, Burns 4 3-4 11; Totals: 21 18-25 65.

3-point field goals: Kodiak 10 (Frick 4), Wasilla 5 (Krueger 2) ; Total fouls: Kodiak 20, Wasilla 8.

Kodiak 70, Wasilla 49

Friday, Wasilla

Kodiak 13-15-24-18—70

Wasilla 11-8-15-15—49

Kodiak (70) — Mangalus 8 2-3 21, Frick 4 5-5 16, Bezona 4 0-0 8, A. Canete-Hall 4 4-6 12, T. Canete-Hall 3 0-1 6, Mutch 2 0-0 5, Garcia 1 0-0 2; Totals: 26 11-15 70.

Wasilla (49) — Lee 3 3-4 9, Krueger 2 0-0 4, Baham 4 0-0 10, Garnett 2 1-2 5, McGregor 4 2-5 10, Houck 5 0-0 11; Totals: 20 6-11 49.

3-point field goals: Kodiak 7 (Mangalus, Frick 3), Wasilla 3 (Baham 2); Total fouls: Kodiak 14, Wasilla 18.

Kodiak 50, Wasilla 29

Friday, Kodiak

Wasilla 6-10-9-9—29

Kodiak 8-12-15-15—50

Wasilla (29) — Johnson 5 2-2 15, Toews 1 0-0 2, Hutchins 1 0-0 2, Dinkel 2 3-3 8, Edwards 1 0-2 2; Totals: 10 5-7 29.

Kodiak (50) — Horn 0 0-2 2, Nelson 2 0-0 4, Cannon 5 2-8 14, Catt 1 0-2 2, Pyles 4 0-0 8, Wandersee 9 1-1 19, Hughes 0 1-2 1; Totals: 21 6-17 50.

3-point field goals: Wasilla 4 (Johnson 3), Kodiak 2 (Cannon 2); Team fouls: Wasilla 13, Kodiak 11.