The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé boys basketball team had the last shot for the championship against Palmer on Saturday in the Palmer Elks Showdown in Palmer but a designed three-point shot just banked off the rim and the Crimson Bears lost to the Moose 66-64.
“We came up on the short side of the scoreboard but it wasn’t for lack of effort,” JDHS coach Robert Casperson said. “In my recollection, we might have had a six-point lead at some point, but the game was always tight throughout. It was a really good game all the way through. Even the crowd got excited. There weren’t a whole lot of people in the building, but people were showing up for the second half and they were definitely treated to a good basketball game.”
Led by the play of senior all-tournament selection Pedrin Saceda-Hurt, and junior all-tournament selections Brandon Casperson and Joren Gasga, and senior do-everything forward Ahmir Parker, the Crimson Bears were tied with the Moose 18-18 after eight minutes of play.
“We were trailing partway through the first quarter,” coach Casperson said. “Joren hit a three to tie it at the buzzer.”
JDHS would get seven points from Saceda-Hurt in the second quarter and six from Gasga, four from senior Ben Sikes and two from Parker to take a 37-35 lead at the half.
“They are big,” Casperson said of Palmer. “They have a couple big kids inside that are pretty athletic, but we are executing on a better level than we have been in the past. This is the goal. We move forward, we want to get better every game out and I truly believe that we are. This feels like it was a grow-up game for us. We had to grow up to face these guys.”
The evenly matched play would continue into the second half with Gasga, B. Casperson and junior Elias Dybdahl provided the points, as JDHS and Palmer played to a 52-52 tie after three quarters.
JDHS continued to overcome the challenges of the bigger Palmer players inside and the quickness of their players on the outside, exchanging points and defensive stops in the final eight minutes of action.
“Palmer is going to be a tough opponent up here for everybody I imagine,” coach Casperson said.
Palmer plays in the 4A Northern Lights Conference with Wasilla, Soldotna, Mountain City Christian Academy, Grace Christian and Colony.
“We had the game,” Casperson said. “We had it in our hands and we still have a little bit more growing to do. That’s what it comes down to.”
JDHS had a four-point lead with a minute and a half left to play in the fourth quarter.
“We missed a couple layups in there,” Casperson said. “We had a couple turnovers, had some inopportune fouls. Put them at the line where they could score without any time coming off the clock. Next thing you know, you are looking uphill on the scoreboard. Even with that we wiggled it down to one second left in the game and executed what we talked about in a timeout, and had a chance at a half-court three, it banked off and hit the side of the rim.”
JDHS’ efforts did not go unnoticed as Saceda-Hurt, B. Casperson and Gasga were selected to the all-tournament team.
“I really feel like Ahmir, if he hadn’t been saddled with some foul trouble in this game he would have been deserving of an all-tournament, I thought he played great for us on both sides of the ball,” coach Casperson said. “Often we are asking him to guard someone a lot taller and he has attacked that challenge with determination and a smile on his face…Elias (Dybdahl) played big for us, too, against that size, and Ben (Sikes) was playing to the point of exhaustion…It was a good game for us. Everybody contributed…I am proud of them. I really am. I was disappointed for them, certainly not in them. They worked extremely hard and it just didn’t come out our way.”
Gasga led the Crimson Bears with 17 points, B. Casperson had 16, Saceda-Hurt 14, Parker seven, Dybdahl six and Sikes four.
JDHS hit 9-14 at the free throw line, Palmer 13-22.
Senior Kaden Henry led the Moose with 20 points, freshman McKay Miller had 12, junior Lukas Owen 11, sophomore Logan Johnson 10, senior Logan Rolston nine, senior Maddox Moore three and senior Logan Mccann one.
JDHS (5-7 overall, 0-2 in Southeast Conference) will play next week at the Colony Basketball Classic Tournament against Colony, Monroe and East Anchorage. The Crimson Bears defeated Soldotna 64-49 on Thursday and Homer 71-46 Friday.
Casperson noted the number of road games against teams the Crimson Bears don’t normally play will have big rewards when the Southeast Conference play continues.
“We weren’t super happy with how things went when Ketchikan came to town,” he said. “They were better than us at that point. We are just going to have to keep working and go down to there place mid-February and turn around a week or two later and go back there for regions, which will be best two-out-of-three. It’s fun, they play hard and it’s good competition.”
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
