By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
The Sitka High seniors organized their finest team performance of the season when they needed it most, Saturday’s Region V 3A championship game win over bridge rival Mt. Edgecumbe, 45-32.
“I don’t know, I’m out of words right now,” Sitka senior guard CJ Taccad said. “We had to stick together. That’s all we had to do. We didn’t have to do anything special, we just had to be ourselves. Definitely missing state last year hurt a lot.”
It hurt so much that Taccad had the Mt. Edgecumbe Championship Team photo as his wall paper.
“I still have it,” he said. “I’m changing it after this though. Props to Edgecumbe, they worked hard, it was three good games and it was fun playing against them.”
Taccad, senior John Arce, and juniors Asa Demmert and Gavin Flores hounded the Braves ball handlers and senior Aedon Dumag had the assignment of slowing down MEHS’ all-state candidate Bear Brown (Anchorage).
Mt. Edgecumbe’s Emmett Dunaway and Bear Brown, and Sitka’s Morgan Simic and CJ Taccad wish each other good luck after meeting with officials prior to the start of the Region V 3A Championship game on Saturday in the B.J. McGillis Gymnasium.
“I can’t even put it into words,” Dumag said. “It’s regions, of course I am going to think about guarding him. When defending people I just have a clear mind I guess. I don’t really think much about it except not letting him score I guess or at least try my best to not let him score.”
Brown would tally 4 points on the night.
“This still proves that we have more stuff to work on,” Dumag said. “At state we have to prove our hard work brings more success.”
The battle produced just a 9-5 first quarter lead for Sitka and a 17-16 halftime advantage.
Sitka senior Morgan Simic surprised the coaching staff with the game’s first points, a key 3-point shot, and in the second quarter he drained another for a 14-5 lead.
Slowing Brown would take all hands, and Sitka senior Austin Morrison, senior Garrison Lass, junior Mason Eubanks, and Arce were on board.
Morrison was whistled for two fouls in the first quarter and four in the first half.
“In all honestly I was just trying to play as hard as I can,” Morrison said. “I just let it get to my head. This could have been our last game, but I am really glad it’s not. I just tried to go all out and I did it in the wrong way. I should have been smarter about my defense.”
Mt. Edgecumbe would rally on the efforts of senior Emmett Dunaway (Dillingham) and sophomore Jeff Adams (Mentasta Lake), both of whom played big roles in the Braves’ 39-36 win on Thursday and 56-53 overtime loss on Friday.
“Nobody was making shots,” Dunaway said. “I missed my free throw (the previous night) which would have probably won it. It happens. It just feels bad right now.”
Dunaway would grab four rebounds in the third quarter, Adams hit two key baskets to close the Braves to 22-20 with 2:15 left in the stanza but Demmert answered with two baskets on assists by Flores.
MEHS’ Brown found a path to the hoop at the end of the third quarter to bring the Braves within six, 28-22.
The senior class should be welcoming an underclassman into their Spring commencement exercises as Flores was invaluable in sweeping down from the guard spot and harassing the MEHS big men and then flying back to the perimeter to rattle the ball handlers.
Just when MEHS seemed to have momentum, Flores opened the final quarter with a steal and basket for Sitka.
Dunaway answered to cut the lead back to 30-24 but Demmert converted a full-speed euro-step layup and after an MEHS miss, Simic hit yet again a deep shot from the top of the key.
“I was just trying to leave it all out there,” Simic said. “I was just trying to feel good about my shot, not really worry about mechanics or anything, just kind of throw it up. It just felt good. It feels incredible to head to state, it feels great.”
Dunaway continued to pull the Braves along, scoring 10 of his game-high 17 points in the final eight minutes, but Brown would be hit with two fouls in the quarter, his third at 3:05 and an intentional with a minute left and MEHS trailing 40-32.
Sitka’s Flores would convert both free throws and regain possession on the infraction.
Flores was fouled again and hit two more for a 44-32 lead.
“It feels amazing,” Flores said. “Going into this game knowing that Edgecumbe was going to play hard, we were going to play hard and going out there and winning it for our six seniors just feels great. I just drove in and hoped to get contact and get to the free throw line.”
Taccad added one last free throw for the final tally.
“We peaked at the right time,” Sitka coach Jarret Harai said. “We played our best basketball at the end of the season. Defensively was the reason why we kept things close. We saw some maturity out of the group. It was really enjoyable to see all the hard work paying off at the end. We took care of the ball, didn’t get rattled, didn’t speed up, just took our time, made some great passes inside, some key free throws. It was the whole team. And Edgecumbe is well coached, you know every game you are going to have to battle. Playing them four times in a row is so difficult. It’s not about X’s and O’s it’s about who is going to execute, who is coming to come to play. Things went our way tonight and we will take that.”
Mt. Edgecumbe coach Archie Young said Sitka was more confidant.
“I felt like we were very nervous and we talked a lot about playing to win and not being afraid to lose,” Young said. “I really felt like we were worried about making mistakes, worried about messing up, and that just made us tighten up as the game went on. They shot the ball well early and relaxed. That helped them settle in and boost their confidence a lot and then we were struggling finishing and that just tightened us up more and more. Sitka played well. They showed up and they played like they had to play and we didn’t.”
Simic led Sitka with 9 points, Arce had 8, Flores 7, Taccad 6, Dumag 5, Demmert and Eubanks 4 apiece, and Morrison 2. The Wolves were 11-16 at the line, the Braves 8-11. Dunaway scored 17 for Mt. Edgecumbe, Adams 9, Brown 4, and RJ Alstrom-Beans (St. Mary’s) 2.
Sitka’s Morrison and Taccad and Edgecumbe’s Dunaway and Brown were All-Conference selections.
Sitka will open 3A State tourney play as the 8th seed and face top seed Anchorage Christian at 8 a.m. on Thursday, March 21.
SATURDAY -
4A/2A Ketchikan 75 Metlakatla 49
Region V 4A champions, the Ketchikan Kings, defeated the Region V 2A champs, the Metlakatla Chiefs, 75-49 in a tournament cross bracket game with no title significance.
Ketchikan led 9-5 after eight minutes, 26-18 at the half, and 56-29 after three quarters.
Ketchikan senior ER Caparas had 14 points, junior Kristian Pihl 11, senior Marcus Lee 10, senior Cody Kemble 8, sophomore Tyler Slick 5, senior Kyle Smith 4, senior Gavin Salazar 4, senior Jake Taylor 3, Arthur Williams 3, senior Robert Seludo 3.
Metlakatla senior Conrad Hudson Jr. had 13, senior Desmond King 11, sophomore Elijah Caspersen 7, sophomore Brady Milne 6, junior Coleton Hayward 5, sophomore Isaac Henderson 3, sophomore Jason Williams 2, sophomore Aidan Rolando 2.
Metlakatla (4th seed) opens 2A State play at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 14. Ketchikan (8th seed) opens 4A State play against top seed Dimond at 8 a.m. on Thursday, March 21.
2A Haines 38 Petersburg 30
The Haines Glacier Bears defeated Petersburg 38-30 in the Region V 2A second-place State qualifying game. Haines opens 2A State play at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 14, against Glennallen.
The Glacier Bears led 5-2 after eight minutes, 19-11 at the half, and 23-19 with eight minutes remaining.
Haines was led by sophomore Carson Crager with 15, junior Kirby Faverty 10, sophomore Mark Davis 8, freshman Zander Willard 3, freshman David Strong 2, sophomore Wesley Verhamme 2.
Petersburg was led by 8 points from junior Gunnar Payne, junior Thomas Durkin had 7, sophomore Brennan Skeek 6, senior Louden Sandhofer 5, sophomore Mattias Volk 2, junior Rylan Wallace 2.
FRIDAY -
3A Sitka 56 Mt. Edgecumbe 53 (OT)
Sitka’s Tacaad and MEHS’ Adams were masterful in their performances in the overtime thriller.
Taccad scored 22 points to lead the Wolves, Flores 16, Eubanks 7, Simic 4, Morrison 3, Dumag 2, and Arce 2.
Adams hit for a game-high 28, Brown 14, Dunaway 6 and David Dock (Togiak) 5.
MEHS led 11-9 after the first, 24-23 at the half, and 39-35 after three quarters.
Flores had a steal and a basket with just under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter to pull the Wolves to within 43-41 and Morrison hit two free throws to tie the score with 54 seconds left.
Taccad had a steal and a layup for a 45-43 Sitka lead with 26 seconds remaining.
Edgecumbe’s Dunaway was fouled on a made basket to tie the score with 18.2 seconds left but missed the free throw and the game went into overtime.
Brown scored first for MEHS in the extra stanza but Flores and Eubanks answered for a 49-47 lead.
Adams hit inside for MEHS to tie the score but Arce hit two free throws for Sitka.
Adams was fouled and hit two himself to tie the score at 51-51.
Taccad then hit two free-throws to put the Wolves’ lead at 53-51.
Brown would tie the score for the Braves but then be whistled for his fifth foul as Taccad drove to the basket and dished to Eubanks across the lane and Brown had to make the stop.
Eubanks hit both the basket and the free throw for the 56-53 final.
4A Ketchikan 66 Juneau-Douglas 60
The Ketchikan Kings won the Region V 4A Championship with a 66-60 win over the JDHS Crimson Bears.
Kayhi led 19-13 after the first, 42-36 at the half, and 54-46 after three quarters.
The Kings were led by Pihl 20, junior Chris Lee 15, senior M. Lee 11, Kemble 4, Smith 3, senior Wyatt Barajas 3, Salazar 2, senior Selcudo 2. FT 17-23.
The Crimson Bears were led by 21 points from senior Philip Gonzales, sophomore Cooper Kriegmont 14, senior Krishant Samtani 12, sophomore Brock McCormick 4, senior Tristan Bryant 4, senior Isreal Yadao 4, sophomore Garrett Bryant 1. FT 3-9.
2A Metlakatla 64 Petersburg 63
The Chiefs King scored 25 points to lead Metlakatla to their semifinal win. Hudson added 16, Rolando 11, Hayward 9, Henderson 3.
Durkin hit 19 for Petersburg, Sandhoffer 13, Payne 10, Wallace 10, Skeek 3, junior Zephrie Whitethorn 2.
2A Haines 69 Wrangell 35
Faverty scored 25 to lead Haines in their semifinal win. Davis had 14, Crager 13, Strong 6, Verhamm 5, Willard 3, Clay 3.
Wrangell’s Blatchley had 14, Abramson 12, Miller 3, Googenbickler 2, Lofftus 2, Eagle 2.
