Braves Keenan Kashevarof intercepts a rebound against the Sitka Wolves, Feb. 9 at Sitka High School. Kashevaroff scored in games against Juneau last week. (Sentinel Photo)
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
In two hard-fought basketball games that remained tight well into the fourth quarter, the Mt. Edgecumbe High Braves fell to the might of the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears 78-69, Friday, and again 62-52, Saturday.
Edgecumbe kept the scoreboard within 5 points through much of Friday’s game, only slipping in the final minutes. While Juneau-Douglas led through almost the entire match, the Bears led by only 3 points at the half before hitting the accelerator and stretching their lead.
Juneau’s tough press, Braves coach Archie Young said, wore his players down and forced a number of turnovers.
“Some of our turnovers were fatigue, which is what they do. They run nine guys at you so they wear you down. We haven’t been able to focus on conditioning like we should, we’ve been working on skills because it’s such a short season,” Young said.
Edgecumbe’s rebounding game also suffered, particularly in the face of Juneau’s top player, Cooper Kriegmont.
“We needed to rebound hard late, they made some huge rebounds late (in the game). Their best player played well and efficiently all night long,” Young said. Kriegmont dominated the scoreboard all night, racking up about half of his team’s points in the first game.
Looking back on the ferocity of Juneau’s full court press, Braves senior Leon Toomer stressed the need for offense.
“Attacking, attacking. Not stepping back on our heels,” Toomer told the Sentinel on Friday.
As the Braves faced down Juneau’s ironclad press, Edgecumbe players sometimes had difficulty crossing the half court line.
“When we ran our plays on our offensive set when we got the ball across half court, we did all right attacking the basket,” Toomer said.
Toomer’s teammate RJ Alstrom-Beans also highlighted the need to limit turnovers.
“We could have played better defense and our offense could have been smoother. We were just trying to force some stuff that was not there. And if we limit our turnovers - we’re kind of a young team, we only have two seniors - but once we start playing more and eliminating the natural thing where you just want to get rid of the ball… we’re going to progress,” Alstrom-Beans said after Friday’s game.
Toomer led the Braves scoreboard with 27 points, followed by Alstrom-Beans with 21.
The coach concurred with his players, and said that the team will work on limiting turnovers.
“We had some really bad turnovers. We created some. Some of ours were lack of focus that I think we can work on… but I was pleased that we didn’t create some as well,” Young said.
Regardless of the results of the gameplay, Alstrom-Beans, like so many of his compatriots this year, was simply glad to be on the court again.
“I look at it as a blessing. It’s my senior year, it could have been easily no season at all. So to me I think I’m lucky to be playing and I hope so much that there is state because our goal is to get to state and do something,” Alstrom-Beans said. “All of us guys are trying to do the best we can, do the most work that we can because it is a short season.”
The uncertainty surrounding the season has imparted a sense of urgency, he added.
“This year’s team is more determined, they have that fire in them, that spark,” Alstrom Beans said. “Every time we practice we are saying, ‘this could be our last practice, this could be our last game.’ Let’s leave it all out there, let’s play hard, let’s practice hard. Let’s come here every day willing to work and get better because we don’t know when our season is going to be done. That’s the kind of mindset we have with every practice and game, play like it’s our last. Because it could be our last.”
On Saturday, the Braves fell to Juneau again, but by a smaller margin, 62-52. Young said after that game that in the first half, his team’s defense was on point.
“Defensively we were better in the first half,” he wrote in a text. “We did a better job recognizing situations and trying to capitalize on those in the first half as well.”
The Braves held a lead at the half, 37-26.
But in the second half, the coach wrote, “we lost track of a hot shooter and he really made us pay for it. That was probably the difference in the final outcome.”
A series of four three point shots by Bears Brock McCormick ended Edgecumbe’s lead, and built the momentum that Juneau rode to the win.
The teams played at Mt. Edgecumbe High for both games, attended by a small crowd of students and fans, all masked. Players wore masks both on the bench and in play. The game’s ambiance was a world apart from the season opener in January, when athletes competed in deafening silence.
The Braves cheer squad and pep band turned out last week to breathe life into halftime and other quiet moments between intense moments of gameplay.
In his first live performance in public, Mt. Edgecumbe senior Noah Andrew stole halftime with his finger style rendition of “Le Festin,” from the 2007 movie “Ratatouille.” With nothing but his acoustic guitar and a speaker, Andrew’s rendition of the finger style song stole halftime.
“That was actually my second finger style song I’ve learned, and I’ve been playing for 13 months,” he said.
With coronavirus precautions in place, the Bethel senior was happy to be playing.
“This was actually my first performance. I was so nervous but I had a lot of fun. And I think this is the best situation we could ever have, considering the COVID thing going around,” Andrew said.
Mt. Edgecumbe junior Inze Lynnowrey, from Chevak, said the small crowd lowered pressure on the musicians, but she was happy to perform in front of anybody at all.
“It really is weird, but it makes me feel less pressured to do good. But I still enjoyed playing with how many people showed up, I wasn’t expecting anybody to show up,” she said.
Lynnowrey played bass at the game and participated in renditions of “Seven Nation Army” and “Where is My Mind.”
Like the other musicians, Braves sophomore Micheel Martin, of Juneau, was glad to play his music for other people.
“It feels great, I’ve been really sad I wasn’t able to play music in front of others besides just myself. When I play in front of myself I don’t know if it’s good or not,” Martin said after Friday’s basketball game.
But the joy of music was dampered, he said, because so few Edgecumbe students were present to enjoy it.
“It’s kind of sad that not everyone’s here to have fun,” Martin said.
For cellist Lauryn Hansen, the pep band’s sole freshman, Friday was the first-ever performance at a sports game.
The Fairbanks musician said she enjoyed “hanging out with my friends, they’re all fun. I like playing my cello too, its brings more life into it.”
But Hansen noted that during intense gameplay, she sometimes worried that an errant basketball could damage equipment.
“It’s fun, except when the ball comes to hit the stuff that’s really expensive, then it’s scary,” she said.
Pep band members practice together in the school’s Music 2 class, taught by Heather Gluth. Echoing the words of her musicians, Gluth told the Sentinel the band was happy to play.
“They’re in a class together, the five of them, and they are so excited to be able to play in the gym. It’s the first performance we’ve had live, everything else has been recorded,” Gluth said. This is her first year teaching this class, and she was happy with her student’s music.
“They rocked it out and they are so excited,” Gluth said.
Basketball games are set to continue throughout the week, though scheduled games against Ketchikan were called off due to a coronavirus outbreak there.
