The Juneau-Douglas High School boys basketball team made their families and fans nervous again, as they trailed Ketchikan nearly the entire semifinals game at the state tournament in Anchorage.<\/p>\n
That is, until JDHS\u2019 Kaleb Tompkins hit a game-winning buzzer beater that punched his team\u2019s ticket to Saturday\u2019s championship game.<\/p>\n
With the ball and nine seconds left on the clock, JDHS senior Guy Bean inbounded to Tompkins at the baseline. Ketchikan, in the double bonus, couldn\u2019t foul as Tompkins \u2014 who almost lost his dribble at half \u2014 took the ball all the way down to the right elbow, and flushed the game winner from 12 feet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhichever option it was, we wanted Kaleb (Tompkins) getting the ball,\u201d JDHS head coach Robert Casperson said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t panic, he kept that clock running in his head, and he took a legitimate shot at the basket where a lot of kids might have rushed something and thrown it up there. But once he saw that opening, he had a great follow through on the shot and dropped it home. It was one of the more impressive things I\u2019ve seen out of a high school kid in my 17 years of coaching.\u201d<\/p>\n
JDHS won a low-scoring, physical 42-40 game against their experienced Southeast rivals.<\/p>\n
The Crimson Bears started slowly again in the semifinal game, continuing a trend started Thursday against Bartlett in the quarter finals. JDHS was down 4-13 by the start of the second quarter.<\/p>\n
The Crimson Bears found a little more offense in the second quarter, as Ketchikan had to sit starters Jason James and Matt Standley, who both had two fouls early in the second. Tompkins would hit a deep 3-pointer in the quarter and spur his team to a 13-8 run to finish the half down 17-21. The Crimson Bears shot a paltry 23 percent in the first half, mirroring their 21 percent first-half shooting against Bartlett the night before.<\/p>\n
Coach Casperson talked about how Ketchikan held JDHS down in the first half.<\/p>\n
\u201cKetchikan played a heck of a game,\u201d he said. \u201cThey did a great job controlling the tempo and keeping the scoring down. Certainly we like to try to attack and score quickly. \u2026 It was a real grind-it-out kind of game,\u201d Casperson said.<\/p>\n
The physicality continued in the third quarter, with Ketchikan getting into foul trouble early. JDHS went 4-8 from the line in the quarter while Ketchikan hit 5-6. Ketchikan\u2019s big man, Nathan Bonck, earned his fourth foul with 2:35 to go in the period and had to sit. Matt Standley earned his third but stayed in the game. Going into the final period, JDHS remained behind 27-30.<\/p>\n