Federal Way boys stretch past JDHS in Capital City Classic title game

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé boys basketball team may have looked like the underdog on paper, but they played with a pedigree on Sunday that gave the visiting Federal Way Eagles from Washington and the packed George Houston Gymnasium crowd a GH Capital City Classic championship game to remember, yet the Crimson Bears came up short 61-48.

“I feel like everyone kind of thought we were the underdogs against them,” JDHS senior Pedrin Saceda-Hurt said. “We kind of used that as fuel and the moment we started seeing everyone doing good, we just used it to our advantage to try and get everyone motivated and just getting hyped. It really helps that everyone was looking for each other and playing team ball.”

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CAPITAL CITY CLASSIC COVERAGE:

Day 1: Chugiak girls run past Kenai | Federal Way gets past Soldotna 63-40 | 4A Crimson Bears girls topple 1A Chieftains | JDHS boys beat Cordova

Day 2: Chugiak girls defeat Klawock | Federal Way wins against Cordova | 4A Crimson Bears girls topple 3A Cardinals | JDHS boys battle in extra time with Soldotna

Day 3: Kenai girls defeat Klawock for third place | Soldotna topples Cordova in overtime

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Federal Way started out on a 10-3 run out of a full-court pressing defense with seniors Geron White, Saxon Niles, Angelo Williams and Brayden McVey all finding space in the key to score.

“It is defense first,” Federal Way’s McVey said. “It is like our coach in practice is always on us about our defense and it will translate to offense. Especially being disciplined, like he is always on us in practice about having our hands down, not fouling because that is something we struggle with…but yeah, the team has a lot of energy and it is infectious.”

JDHS senior Ahmir Parker had a shot past the arc in that run and assisted on a score by Saceda-Hurt, and added his own free throw to pull to within 10-7 with under three minutes left in the first quarter.

Federal Way closed out the quarter with senior Jacob Hurskin being fouled on a rebound basket and hitting the extra free throw, Niles putting a shot off the glass underneath and McVey making two from the charity stripe for a 17-7 lead after eight minutes of action.

McVey would steal a ball in the opening moments of the second quarter and be fouled on a scoring layup, hitting the extra free throw.

After a missed Crimson Bears shot, the Eagles’ Hurskin hit from beyond the arc for a 22-19 lead.

JDHS would put on a highlight show as Saceda-Hurt scored on a reverse layup, then hit from past the arc, had a steal and fed junior Joren Gasga who hit from past the arch.

Federal Way’s White scored on a layup and then Gasga hit from deep again, and the Crimson Bears trailed 24-18.

McVey would steady the Eagles with two straight fast-break buckets and Saceda-Hurt hit from distance for the Crimson Bears with two seconds remaining in the second quarter to trail 28-21 at the half.

“We were looking forward to the challenge,” Gasga said. “We just took the ‘L’ yesterday so we used that as fuel. We wanted to beat these guys, win the tournament at home, but you know it didn’t come out in the end. But we battled, played as a team, boxed out, we fixed everything we needed to but there was some stuff we can fix and we’ll face that down the road.”

Federal Way’s Niles scored inside to open the third quarter and Gasga answered for JDHS.

The two teams would keep exchanging small scoring bursts with Federal Way’s White, McVey, Williams and sophomore Erick Turner putting 50 on the score clock and JDHS’ Parker, Saceda-Hurt, senior Ben Sikes and junior Tyler Frisby lighting up 35 as the third quarter ended.

Federal Way’s Niles put in two free throws to open the final quarter, and JDHS’ Sikes battled inside for a basket.

The Eagles’ Hurskin pressured JDHS hard in the backcourt and got a steal and was awarded two free throws. Another Eagles steal saw White score on a layup to lead 56-37.

“It was just the last game of the day, last game of the week and I just wanted to finish off strong,” Hurskin said. “I wanted to play hard, get a championship and go home and it was tough.”

JDHS’ Gasga, Saceda-Hurt, Gasga again and sophomore Logan Carriker all scored to pull the Crimson Bears to 56-45 with two minutes left in the game, but the aggressive attack of Federal Way’s offense put White, Turner and Niles on the free throw line and they led 60-45.

JDHS got one last free throw and a jump shot from Gasga, and Federal Way sophomore Julian Barrett hit a free throw for the 61-48 final.

“I have not seen a crowd like that this early in the season,” Federal Way coach Yattah Reed said. “I was just telling Coach Casperson that we wouldn’t see this until playoffs. So this was great for our guys. I enjoyed the whole five days that we were here. The Juneau-Douglas community treated us right. It is a great culture here, beautiful, beautiful city and not only did it help prepare us for our games up ahead, but our kids don’t get out much and for them to see this it was big for them.”

Niles led Federal Way with 14 points, White and Hurskin added 13 apiece, McVey 10, Turner six, Williams four and Barrett one.

The Eagles hit 13-22 from the charity stripe, the Crimson Bears 4-6.

Saceda-Hurt led JDHS with 17 points, Gasga added 13, Parker eight, Sikes and Frisby four apiece and Carriker two.

“I was just really proud with the competitive spirit that our kids showed,” JDHS coach Robert Casperson said. “They were battling, giving up six to eight inches in a lot of different positions. I wouldn’t say we got outworked or outtoughed or anything in this game. We were right there mixing it up. We cut their lead down to eight or nine a couple of times and just had a hard time getting over the hump. You can’t trade baskets when you are trying to come back from a deficit. I was just really proud of the way the boys battled tonight. We probably could have played a fifth or sixth quarter and the people would have enjoyed that, it was good basketball, the kids were working really hard and their kids played super hard too. That is a good team and they have been playing for a little bit; down there, their season starts earlier, and they have done things already down in Washington. That is a good team and I feel really good about how we played them.”

Federal Way’s McVey earned the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.

“Well, I am kind of honored in the first place,” McVey said. “I thank my team more because we came out high energy this whole tournament. We kind of came out slow the first game, we were down at one point, but then we kind of flipped it, and I feel like ever since then we have had energy built off of it. So I don’t want to just say this is me, the award is everybody on my team.”

The All-Tournament Team were Federal Way’s McVey, Niles and Hurskin; JDHS’ Saceda-Hurt, Gasga and Brandon Casperson, Cordova senior Chiko Jacob and Soldotna senior Izaiah Gilbert.

Awards were also given for Friday’s shooting contests and Soldotna senior Easton Hawkins won the Free Throw Contest, JDHS’ Saceda-Hurt won the Three-Point Contest and Soldotna sophomore Demari Adams the Slam Dunk Contest.

Boys Tournament Scores:

FRIDAY: Federal Way 63, Soldotna 40; JDHS 62, Cordova 39.

SATURDAY: Federal Way 64, Cordova 31; Soldotna 62, JDHS 60.

SUNDAY: Soldotna 56, Cordova 52; Federal Way 61, JDHS 48.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.