Wasilla girls cruise, Warrior boys fall just short on Day 2 of Doc Larson tourney

WASILLA — It could have been a lopsided loss, but turned into a near miss.

After falling behind by double digits early, Wasilla rallied and was within reach of knocking off defending 3A state champion Barrow, but the Whalers held on for a 61-54 victory over the Warriors during the semifinal round of Doc Larson’s Roundball Classic Friday at Wasilla High School.

Wasilla cut Barrow’s lead to a pair of possessions a handful of times during the fourth quarter, but the Whalers used key buckets down the stretch to move into the tournament finals, where they will face the Coronado Cougars of Henderson, Nevada, Saturday at 7 p.m. at Wasilla High School.

“They answered every time,” Wasilla head coach Ryan Engebretsen said. “They stuck shots. Their role players stuck shots.”

Barrow head coach Jeremy Arnhart said, even though he felt the Whalers let down a bit in the second half, he liked how his players responded when Wasilla rallied.

“We talked about composure. Main message was, they hit shots, you hit adversity. What are you going to do?” Arnhart said after the win. “I thought they reacted well. They hit some shots, but we went down and scored again.”

Wasilla, which trailed by 15 at the half, used a 39-point second half to leap back into the game. Wasilla’s Kobe Brown hit big shots late. Brown drained a three from the left corner with 3:41 left to cut Barrow’s lead to 49-45. Less than a minute later, Brown nailed another three from just about the same spot to slice the Whalers advantage to four points once again. But each time Brown and the Warriors hit a big shot, Barrow would strike. Barrow’s Kevin Goodwin answered Brown’s first three of that stretch with a three-pointer of his own. Travis Adams drove to the bucket after the next Brown three-pointer to push Barrow’s lead back to five.

“It was a good second half of basketball. Obviously you don’t want to see them roll over and mail it in, and I don’t think they did that,” Engebretsen said. “They kept battling and kept it in until the end.”

Brown scored a game-high 25 points for the Warriors. The guard was 10 of 16 from the field and 4 of 5 from behind the arc.

“He did that minus being able to play in the second quarter. He’s so critical to what we ere doing. I couldn’t risk him getting a third foul in the first half, so I sat him the entire second quarter,” Engebretsen said. “It was a huge game for him. He lit it up from outside. That’s a huge confidence builder.”

Isaac Houck added 15 for the Warriors and freshman Daniel Headdings added 14 for the Warriors.

Houck also helped hold Barrow phenom Kamaka Hepa to only 11 points on 5 of 13 shooting.

“Isaac Houck did a terrific job of defending Kamaka,” Engebretsen said.

Hepa is currently ranked No. 21 on the ESPN.com list for boys’ basketball players across the nation in the 2018 class.

Trevor Thomas led Barrow with 17 points, and Adams added 16.

Wasilla will play Juneau-Douglas in the boys’ third-place game Saturday at 3:40 p.m. at WHS.

Wasilla girls 61, Coronao 31

Wasilla senior Leya DePriest scored a game-high 25 points to help the Warriors cruise to a 61-31 win over the Coronado Cougars of Henderson, Nevada, during the second day of Doc Larson’s Roundball Classic.

DePriest also pulled down 13 rebounds to notch the double-double. Azlynn Brandenburg added a dozen points for Wasilla.

Hayley Tyrell led the Cougars with 12.

Wasilla can clinch the 2015 Doc Larson girls’ title with a win over the Lincoln Cardinals of Portland, Oregon, Saturday at 5:20 p.m.

West boys 77, Colony 53

Defending 4A state champion West Anchorage scored a 77-53 win over Colony during the consolation semifinals of Doc Larson’s Roundball Classic Friday at Wasilla High.

Da’zhon Wyche scored a game-best 27 for the Eagles. Anton Chamblee led Colony with 13.

West will face the Lincoln Cardinals of Portland, Oregon, in the fourth-place game Saturday at 2 p.m. Colony meets the Ambridge Bridgers of Ambridge, Pennsylvania, in the seventh-place game at 10:40 a.m.

Lincoln beat Ambridge 71-53 Saturday.

Barrow boys 61, Wasilla 54

Barrow 17-13-10-21—61

Wasilla 7-8-19-20—54

Barrow (61) — Goodwin 3 0-0 7, Thomas 6 0-0 17, Adams 6 4-8 16, Untoa 0 1-2 1, Ahgeak 0 2-2 2, Hepa 5 0-0 11, Snow 2 2-2 7; Totals: 22 9-14 61.

Wasilla (54) — Brown 10 1-2 25, Headdings 3 7-10 14, Houck 5 4-4 15; Totals: 18 12-17 54.

Wasilla girls 61, Coronado 31

Coronado 7-7-9-8—31

Wasilla 16-17-15-13—61

Coronado (31) — Thorton 2 5-6 9, Sapp 0 1-2 1, Tyrell 3 6-11 12, Caci 2 0-0 4, Cox 2 1-3 5; Totals: 9 0-10 31.

Wasilla (61) — Brandenburg 5 0-0 12, Kelly 1 0-0 2, Davies 2 2-4 7, Drorbaugh 1 0-0 3, Heath 1 0-0 2, Obremski 1 0-0 2, Lindeman 0 2-2 2, Wheeler 0 1-2 1, Green 1 0-0 5, DePriest 11 3-4 25; Totals: 24 8-12 61.

West 77, Colony 53

West (77) —Wyche 11 0-0 27, Lawson 1 1-2 3, McMorris 4 2-2 12, Bland 1 0-1 3, Duffy 4 2-2 10, Barranco 4 0-0 11, Lampkins 4 1-2 9, Tui 1 0-0 2; Totals: 30 6-9 77.

Colony (53) — James 3 1-2 7, Nygard 3 0-0 7, Neuner 0 2-4 2, Chamblee 5 0-0 13, Kizer 1 0-0 3, Martin 0 3-4 3, Villatraigo 0 2-2 2, Nicholson 3 2-6 8, Boyer 4 0-0 8; Totals: 19 10-18 53.