By GARLAND KENNEDY
“The boys are excited, I’m excited to see where we’re at right now,” Sitka High boys basketball coach Jarrett Hirai said. “The first couple games of the season will give us an idea of what we need to work on and maybe give us an idea of some of our strengths.”
Both local high school boys basketball teams face a long road ahead, and will rely on younger, less experienced players to fill out their varsity ranks, the two coaches said in interviews with the Sentinel.
The basketball season starts tonight, with the Wolves at home and the Braves off to Anchorage.
“Even though I have four seniors,” Hirai said, “I don’t have a lot of experience.”
Sitka’s returning, experienced seniors, he noted, are Mason Eubanks and Gavin Flores. “They are, for the most part, going to be a focus for the rest of the team,” their coach said.
Hirai added that “I really want to stay away from individualizing... players. I’ve been working really hard the last couple of years on doing everything as a team. We win as a team, we lose as a team.”
“But mainly I just want consistent play out of everybody,” Hirai said, “and to know that each night could be a different person. We would be more effective that way.”
The Sitka Wolves boys basketball team poses for a shot before the season kicks off, Wednesday, December 11, at Sitka High. From left are Clay Pearson, Mason Eubanks, Issa Al Bawwab, Gavin Flores, Jay Roy, Jemar Diga, Ryan Bartlett, Eman Barragan, Makai Saline, Liam Miller, Joe Harris, and Shane Webb. The Wolves boys and girls teams play Bethel tonight, at Sitka High. (Photo provided by Jarrett Hirai)
In the 2019 season, the Wolves faced a number of challenging teams, the coach said, including many powerhouse 4A schools. In the Region V Championship, Sitka beat Edgecumbe and ended up taking sixth at state. The Wolves’ CJ Taccad earned an All-Tournament nod. He graduated last spring.
This year, coach Hirai said, the Wolves “have a strong schedule, (there are) a lot of really good teams we’re playing this year. It will give us a really good idea of where we stand in the state. I’m looking forward to getting those opportunities and hoping we can make improvements and progress at the right times.”
Hirai was also eager for the traditional rivalry games against Mt. Edgecumbe High. He said “it’s fun, the atmosphere is pretty cool. It’s exciting, both the schools represent pretty well. And it always feels like tournament games when we play.”
Over on Japonski Island, the Mt. Edgecumbe team starts the season with a challenging first tournament.
“We have three really tough teams,” Braves’ coach Archie Young said, “We’re playing South Anchorage, Service, and Chugiak (today, Friday, and Saturday). And South is going to be a (state) contender.”
“I’m expecting a rough start... but I think we’re going to be OK by the end of the year,” he said.
Young noted that his team shoots well, but defense requires more work.
“The kids are pretty comfortable – they play with each other a lot, so they have a pretty good feel for each other and how each other plays, which is nice,” he said.
The Braves “have a reputation of being a competitive team who plays hard to the very end,” Young said.
He added that, like the Wolves, his team this year enters the season without a great deal of experience. “There are actually quite a few seniors, but experience-wise it’s younger. I have about three returning kids who are key players,” he told the Sentinel.
Team captains are RJ Alstrom-Beans and David Dock. Young said that Leon Toomer, another vital player for the Braves, remains sidelined for the moment due to injury.
Coach Young said of the coming Braves-Wolves games that “most of our games with them (last year) were close all the way through.”
But local basketball fans will have to wait for the Battle of the Bridge. The two local boys teams don’t face off until January 28, at Mt. Edgecumbe. Fans of the girls teams have an even longer wait – SHS and MEHS girls play on February 8.
That said, Sitka and Edgecumbe kick off their season with tournaments starting today. Sitka plays at home. The schedule is as follows.
TODAY
3 p.m. Kendrick Girls v. Valdez Girls
4:30 p.m. Kendrick Boys v. Valdez Boys
6 p.m. Sitka Girls v. Bethel Girls
7:30 pm. Sitka Boys v. Bethel Boys
FRIDAY
3 p.m. Bethel Boys v. Kendrick Boys
4:30 p.m. Bethel Girls v. Kendrick Girls
6 p.m. Sitka Boys v. Valdez Boys
7:30 p.m. Sitka Girls v. Valdez Girls
SATURDAY
2:30 p.m. Valdez Girls v. Bethel Girls
4 p.m. Valdez Boys v. Bethel Boys
5:30 p.m. Sitka Girls v. Kendrick Girls
7 p.m. Sitka Boys v. Kendrick Boys
The Braves meanwhile play in Anchorage, today through Saturday, against South Anchorage, Chugiak, and Service High Schools.
Wolves’ coach Hirai said that “I just want the boys to play hard for 32 minutes, and I want them to play together for 32 minutes.”
