Crimson Bears chase Wolves on Sitka court
- Klas Stolpe
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
JDHS valiant in second loss of weekend road trip
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears boys basketball team attempted to rebound from Friday’s 66-54 loss to Sitka on the road, but fell 55-37 Saturday in the Wolves’ den.
“We played much better defensively tonight,” JDHS coach Robert Casperson said. “We made several adjustments in practice today and executed them at a very high level. Tonight's biggest issue was that we did not keep pace scoring. If we had, I think that game would have been a lot more fun throughout.”
Sitka coach Steve Compagno said, “I wasn’t trying to change much. I knew that they were a very well coached team and they were going to come out and play really hard tonight. We were not in sync offensively in the first half and the first three possessions we turned the ball over. Our defense kept us in the game. We are not always going to shoot the ball like we did last night and that was evident tonight but we stayed with the process and I thought our defense was really good.”
JDHS seniors Joren Gasga and Elias Dybdahl willed the Crimson Bears to a strong start as Gasga stole the ball in the opening moments and missed a shot but followed to score. Dybdahl stole the next Sitka possession and was fouled inside, hitting both free throws for a 4-0 lead.
After two Sitka free throws, Dybdahl rebounded on one end and scored on the other, Gasga hit from the arc and Dybdahl scored twice from inside, countering a long shot from Sitka senior Kai Hirai and giving JDHS a 13-5 advantage with two minutes left in the first quarter.
Sitka senior Trey Johnson hit three free throws and blocked a JDHS shot to close out the stanza with the Crimson Bears on top 13-8.
JDHS continued to hit the boards hard in the second quarter with Dybdahl grabbing a rebound and feeding Gasga, who was fouled and made both free throws for a 15-8 lead.
After a long shot from the arc by Sitka junior Colton McGraw, JDHS’ Gasga answered with his own shot from distance for an 18-11 lead with 5:20 remaining in the first half.
Sitka worked the lead down with baskets by Hirai and Johnson inside and a long three by junior Shan Carlos to cut the score to 20-18. Hirai notched a short jumper to tie the score at 20-20 as the first half expired.
"We played really hard tonight, including the bench players," Casperson said. "Everyone gave it their all and unfortunately sometimes things do not stand out statistically. There are a lot of ways to impact the game that won't always show up in the box score."
Sitka’s Johnson scored the first basket of the second half on a fast break off a JDHS miss, but JDHS responded with a score by Dybdahl and two floating shots from Gasga. Gasga added a free throw and the Crimson Bears led 27-22 with five minutes left in the third quarter.
Sitka’s Hirai and JDHS’ Gasga exchanged scores before the Wolves closed the stanza with a 10-0 run for a 34-29 lead.
“Every game we talk about ‘take care of the process’ for 32 minutes,” Sitka’s Compagno said. “The game will take care of itself and we will be able to accept the result. Our process is playing with a lot of energy and intensity on the defensive end. That is the price of admission: a great attitude and your best effort and your defense can never take a night off. Your offense, some nights it goes in, some nights it doesn’t. We had 20 points at half time tonight and last night we had 19 points in the first quarter. We had to play really good defense, which kept us in the game until we started clicking on offense... We had an 8-0 run and a 10-0 run. If you trust the fact that you are going to get that opportunity somewhere in the game, and your defense keeps you close, at some point - and we have shooters all over the place - those shots are going to go. And that did happen. And it wasn’t because we all of a sudden became great shooters, it was because our defense turned it up... I like our team. I like how hard we play. They are going to give their best.”
Sitka outscored JDHS 21-8 in the fourth quarter.
JDHS senior Tyler Frisby followed a shot to start the fourth quarter and the Crimson Bears fell into a full-court press.
Sitka responded with two shots from the arc by Johnson and a free throw as JDHS could not connect from the field and trailed 41-31 with 5:30 remaining in the game.
JDHS’ Dybdahl scored inside and Gasga scored on a drive to cut the lead to 41-35, and the Crimson Bears called a full timeout.
Sitka junior Colton McGraw scored from the arc as play resumed, Johnson blocked a shot and Hirai hit a shot for a 47-35 Wolves lead.
JDHS’ Dybdahl hit inside for the final Crimson Bears basket with two minutes left to play.
Sitka’s Hirai scored on a short jumper, and JDHS was forced to press and foul, putting the Wolves on the charity stripe. Sitka closed the game going 6-12 from the line, but JDHS could not secure a rebound to score. The Crimson Bears had 11 missed shots and two turnovers in the final two minutes of play.
Hirai notched Sitka’s final two points from the line for the 55-37 win.
“We talk about how a season is filled with wins and lessons,” Casperson said. “There is a lot to learn from playing a quality opponent on the road, and we are committed to getting better every day, so we will use this experience to our advantage.”
Gasga led JDHS with 19 points, Dybdahl added 14 points and three blocked shots, and senior Christian Rielly and Frisby had two points apiece.
The Crimson Bears hit 3-6 from the charity stripe, the Wolves 12-21.
Johnson led Sitka with 19 points and six blocked shots, Hirai added 14 points, McGraw 13, Carlos five and senior Shane Tincher and junior Kenny Helem two apiece.
“They beat us up on the boards,” Sitka’s Compagno said. “They did a good job on getting second chances and keeping plays alive. They exposed us on the glass… Our guards have to rebound so we really send our guards to the glass. Some nights the ball falls in a certain direction but they (JDHS) were really relentless on the boards tonight. They played really hard and gave themselves opportunities through second chances and that is something we need to clean up.”
Next up for the Crimson Bears (5-4) is a trip to the Bettye Davis East Anchorage T-Bird Classic Thursday through Saturday with games against Colony, East and Bartlett. Sitka (7-1) plays Jan. 22-24 at West Anchorage in the Alaska Airlines Classic, which includes Forest (Ocala, Florida), Central (Little Rock, Arkansas), Maine-Endwell (Endwell, New York), East Anchorage, West Anchorage and West Valley (Fairbanks).
The JDHS JV defeated Sitka JV 74-63. JDHS 74: Jr. Hunter Carte 22, So. Micah Nelson 11, Sr. Ryland Carlson 11, Jr. Eric Thompson 11, Jr. Alejandro Lamas 6, Fr. Zachary Polasky 6, Fr. Vinny Nizich 5, So. Jordan Geary 2. SITKA 63: Chase Haskins 21, Owen Mork 17, Cooper Smith 13, Fisher Steinson 7, Noah White 3, Nolan Calhoun 2.
The JDHS C team defeated Sitka C 54-34. JDHS 54: Nizich 17, Geary 13, Fr. Isaiah Bean-Dewitt 6, Jr. Surin Pyare 5, Lamas 5, Fr. Adler Janes 4, Fr. John Croasmun 4. SITKA 34: Silas Marley 10, TJ Dotson 8, Boyd Branch 6, Gunner Ojala 4, Jackson Wolfe 4, Anthony Willard 2.
On Friday, the Sitka JV defeated JDHS JV 46-44 and the JDHS C team defeated Sitka C 58-38.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
