By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
The dream of most young lads playing basketball on bent rims, and gravel courts, or rec gyms and middle school covered concrete slabs, is to play at the state championships.
Sitka senior CJ Taccad and the pack of Wolves he grew up with accomplished that feat last weekend in the ASAA March Madness Alaska 3A State Basketball Championships in Anchorage.
“Playing at state was something I, we, definitely thought about growing up,” Taccad said.
Sitka senior CJ Taccad (11) waves off a screen by teammate Austin
Morrison as he dribbles past Monroe senior Isaac Garcia (13) during
the Wolves 45-40 loss to the Rams in the 4th/6th place game at the ASAA March Madness Alaska 3A/4A State Basketball Championships in Anchorage on Saturday. (Sentinel Photos by Klas Stolpe)
The Wolves may have dreamed harder than what they finished, falling to Fairbank’s Monroe Catholic 45-40 on Saturday in the fourth-sixth place game at the UAA gymnasium, but not every high school team makes state.
Led by Taccad, the Wolves pressed and hounded the athletic Rams, and afterward Taccad was selected to the All-State Tournament team, the first Wolves player since Brian Way in 2013 to make it.
“To earn that, with the help of my teammates, meant a lot,” Taccad said. “For me it’s a big thing because it’s like getting rewarded for your hard work and now that my high school career is over it’s just a good way to go out. Sixth place, too, I’m happy with it. I’m happy with how hard our team played.”
Sitka junior Gavin Flores gave the Wolves the first 2 points of the game and senior Morgan Simic hit inside, both on assists by Taccad who then made his own shot to stay on pace with Monroe’s Quinn McHenry and tie the score at 6-6 in the first four minutes.
McHenry led a small Monroe run that gave them an 11-6 advantage but was answered by Sitka senior John Arce.
“Just being with all of us together was fun,” Arce said. “Having the guys around and just having fun and making memories. For sure this was one of the best trips for my high school career.”
McHenry sparked another Rams’ run in the second quarter but the Wolves fought back with Taccad scoring on an Arce screen, then hitting a deep shot past the arch as senior Morgan Simic screened. Simic would earn his third foul in the stanza as he tried to battle the taller Rams and keep the Wolves in the game at 21-14, ending the second quarter.
“It was fun,” Simic said. “I would have liked to win but it was a great experience going up to state. We surprised some people. We surprised ourselves too. We played a lot better than we thought we would, I think. We started to come on towards the end of the season and that was best for us. I’m glad it happened like that, not start off hot and finish bad.”
Austin Morrison started Sitka’s aggressive defensive stance in the third quarter with a rebound and the Wolves finished the next play with a hustling loose ball scramble that caused Monroe to call time out.
“Being able to grow with this group of guys was a great experience,” Morrison said later. “What I really enjoyed was that our two sophomores (Joe Harris, Ryan Bartlett) and our freshman (Clayton Person) were able to see what it was like up there and prepare themselves to be playing at that level and to lead their teammates to a state championship.”
In the Monroe time-out huddle the spirit of their Sitka opponents was brought to the attention of the Rams players.
“We have to give them a reason to be afraid,” Monroe coach Frank Ostanik told his players. “Do they look afraid. We have to come with great energy if we’re going to compete with them.”
Sitka’s Flores showed the Wolves’ lack of fear by burying a shot from deep and Taccad drove from end-to-end to close the score to 21-19.
After a Monroe basket by junior Gabriel Silas gave the Rams a 23-19 lead, Sitka’s Arce, junior Marson Martin-Eubanks, and Flores started a defensive, rebounding, scoring run that resulted in the Wolves’ getting leads of 24-23 and 26-25 before a last second basket by Monroe senior Isaac Garcia gave the Rams a 27-26 advantage ending the stanza and another eight minutes to play.
Sitka’s Arce and Simic answered baskets by Monroe to start the fourth quarter then the Rams scored 12 points and the Wolves 7 on baskets by Taccad, senior Aedon Dumag, and Martin-Eubanks for a 43-37 tally with 45 seconds remaining to play.
Monroe’s McHenry closed the Rams books with a score inside and Sitka’s Taccad put the last Wolves bucket on the score board with a long range jumper for the 45-40 season final score for both teams.
Taccad led Sitka with 14 points, Flores 8, Arce 7, Dumag and Simic 4 apiece, and Martin-Eubanks 3. Arce and Morrison had 4 rebounds apiece, Simic and Flores 3 apiece, Demmert, Dumag and Martin-Eubanks 2 apiece, and Taccad 1.
Sitka senior Aedon Dumag attempts a shot against Monroe junior Gabriel Silas (32) and sophomore Quin McHenry (23). (Sentinel Photos by Klas Stolpe)
The Wolves were 6-10 from the line, the Rams 13-18.
Garcia and McHenry led Monroe with 16 apiece, Silas 11, and Trae Puryear 2. McHenry had 8 rebounds and Silas 6.
Sitka opened the tourney with a 74-44 loss to eventual state champion Anchorage Christian on Thursday and defeated Nome 54-50 on Friday. Monroe opened the tourney with a 52-42 loss to eventual state runner-up Valdez and beat Barrow 65-51 Friday.
“I think we definitely started playing our best basketball during the season,” Sitka coach Jarrett Hirai said. “I was happy we were able to come up here. Obviously, ACS was tough, the best team in 3A, but beating Nome and playing Monroe and making it a game and competing, I was impressed with the energy we brought each game. The energy was the reason why we stayed in games for sure. We have a lot of work to do and a lot of holes to fill next season but the energy we had all state tournament was nice. We didn’t know what to expect from Monroe. We made it a game and it was fun. It would have been nice to end with a ‘W’ but after the game was over it was nice to look back and see where these guys came from at the beginning of the year to how they are now. I’m happy how they finished up despite the loss to Monroe.”
The Wolves finished the state tournament in the fan section of the Ketchikan Kings, watching their southeast 4A opponent win the state title in overtime, 57-53. over Dimond High.
“I felt like I won the state title too, because we’ve been playing those guys since eighth grade and it just feels good to see them succeed,” Taccad said.
