Crimson Bears ‘golden’ over Bartlett, grounded against Thunderbirds
- Klas Stolpe
- 19 hours ago
- 6 min read
JDHS defeats Golden Bears, loses to East at T-Bird Classic Tournament
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé boys’ basketball team got a taste of the 4A Cook Inlet Conference talent Saturday at the East Anchorage T-Bird Classic as they defeated Bartlett 74-41 in a 9 a.m. game and lost to East Anchorage 84-70 four hours later.
“The morning game was a good challenge for us and we came out with good energy,” JDHS senior Brandon Casperson said. “We then had a quick turnaround against an athletic East team where we came out hot and they kept responding to our runs and capitalized on turnovers.”
Bartlett (1-1 CIC, 1-6 overall) is fifth in their conference behind West Anchorage (2-0, 7-2), Service (1-0, 7-2), East (2-0, 3-1), and Dimond (1-0, 5-3) and ahead of Eagle River (0-3, 0-7), Chugiak (0-1, 1-8) and South (0-2, 3-3).
While the Golden Bears hit their first three shots from past the arc — the first by senior Kahliel Bernard-Alli and the next two by Lion Moana — the Crimson Bears found a rhythm from inside and outside. Senior Elias Dybdahl and junior Logan Carriker scored in the key, and senior Joren Gasga hit from midrange and the arc to tie the score at 9-9 with 5:02 left in the first quarter.
Bartlett would not score again in the stanza as they missed their next 10 shots and JDHS went on a 16-0 run to lead 25-9 starting the second stanza.
The Crimson Bears would not be challenged the rest of the way despite the Golden Bears hitting three more shots from past the arc and outscoring JDHS 14-12 in the quarter. JDHS led 37-23 at the half.
JDHS’ Gasga, Carriker and senior Kurt Kuppert would open the second half with a scoring frenzy to take a 47-27 lead, and Gasga, Kuppert, Dybdahl and senior Tyler Frisby would push that advantage out to 63-29 as the third quarter ended, and they coasted through the fourth quarter for the win.
Gasga led the Crimson Bears with 27 points, Kuppert added 12 points, Carriker 11, Dybdahl nine, Casperson eight, Frisby four and senior Christian Rielly three.
JDHS hit 7-13 from the charity stripe and had 11 made shots from the arc (Gasga 3, Kuppert 3, Casperson 2, Carriker 2, Rielly 1). Bartlett went 4-10 from the line and had seven threes (Moana 3, Bernard-Alli 2, Dennis Jeremia-Wilson 1, Marley Fakatoumafi 1). Both teams had 13 personal fouls apiece.
Bernard-Alli led the Golden Bears with 15 points, Moana had 13, Fakatoumafi five, Jeremia-Wilson and Salvation Tyrell three apiece, and Julian Alaivanu two.
“The early morning was a little tough and was a good game to start the day off for us,” Gasga said. “And playing East was very competitive, very physical and we knew it was going to come. We competed very well with them but also have lots of things to work on back home.”
Against the three-time defending state champion East Thunderbirds, JDHS’ Kuppert would hit the first shot of the game from past the arc, and Gasga the last shot of the game from the same distance. But in between, the pressing tournament hosts would get the better of their visiting Southeast challengers.
The two teams would exchange baskets through the first quarter with Carriker hitting from the free throw line, Kuppert another from distance and Dybdahl on a fast break for a 10-9 lead with 4:55 left in the stanza. East scores came from senior Kharmello Delaney and sophomores Nfamara Sabally and Da1 Reid.
Kuppert would hit back-to-back shots from the arc and Gasga added another for a 19-13 lead with under two minutes left. East had scores from sophomore Anjrue Lewis and senior Braeden Speakman.
“Being patient makes it the easiest against teams as good as East,” Kuppert said of his shot. “They are a lot faster and more disciplined, so realizing when I have as much space as I need — I know I am able to shoot it so I take the shot.”
East’s Delaney scored on a drive and was fouled to pull to 19-16, but JDHS’ Carriker answered from the arc and Gasga hit a runner for a 24-16 lead after eight minutes of action.
East stayed with a full-court press throughout the game and opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 25-24 lead, forcing a JDHS timeout.
JDHS’ Casperson hit a free throw to tie the game at 25-25 with six minutes remaining in the quarter, but East answered with a shot past the arc by Reid for a 28-25 lead.
A JDHS turnover led to a foul as East’s Delaney drove. The call was questioned by the Crimson Bears, and the discussion led to an additional foul and ball possession for East. Delaney would hit four straight free throws and Sabally scored on the possession for a 34-25 lead.
JDHS closed the first half on an 11-6 run to trail 40-36.
East opened the second half with baskets by Sabally and Reid, but JDHS answered with a fast break score by Kuppert and a shot past the arc by Casperson to pull to 45-41.
East’s Reid hit from distance, and JDHS’ Carriker answered inside and Dybdahl scored on an inbounds play on the next possession to pull to 48-45 with 4:03 left in the third quarter.
The Thunderbirds increased their full-court pressure and closed the stanza on a 15-3 run to take a 63-48 lead, and the Crimson Bears could only match baskets in the final eight minutes of action.
JDHS would score 22 points in the fourth quarter while East added 21 to their total.
“I think our biggest takeaway for this tournament is that we can definitely hang with these top teams,” Kuppert said. “We just need to be able to come out in the second half just as strong as we do in the first since that is when their leads grow and eventually pull away.”
JDHS showed flashes that they can play with the best of the Anchorage courts as Dybdahl registered an astounding five blocked shots in the game and nine rebounds.
“I think that for a team that usually tries to play more calm and slow that we did good against those athletic teams,” Dybdahl said. “It opens up more opportunities for pump fakes and pass fakes as a team.”
Gasga, Kuppert and Casperson showed they can play under full-court defensive pressure and still have the conditioning to hit shots from distance or on drives, and Carriker proved to be an inside presence who can also float outside when the offense dictates that rotation. The JDHS bench did not lose any Crimson Bears momentum when entering the game.
“I think we played well against the more athletic teams,” Carriker said. “The pace was faster, but our outside shooting opened up the court more, especially for me and Eli in the post areas.”
Gasga led JDHS with 20 points, Dybdahl added 15, Kuppert and Carriker 13 apiece, Casperson seven and Frisby two.
The Crimson Bears hit 9-13 from the free throw line, the Thunderbirds 8-11. JDHS had 10 fouls, East 16. The Crimson Bears connected on 11 three-point shots, the Thunderbirds 10.
Reid led East with 25 points, Delaney added 19, Sabally 17, Speakman 10, Lewis seven, Darin Willis four and Marion George two.
“Playing two games is a little tough,” JDHS assistant coach John Sleppy said. “They are very tired. However, our players are resilient. This weekend will only make us better.”
JDHS opened the tournament with an 80-60 loss to the Colony Knights. Colony plays in the 4A Northern Lights Conference. The Knights (2-0 NLC, 5-1 overall) are second in the NLC behind Kodiak (1-0, 1-5), and ahead of Wasilla (1-1, 3-3), Grace Christian (1-1, 7-2), Palmer (0-1, 3-3), Soldotna (0-1, 4-6) and Mountain City Christian Academy (0-1, 2-8).
JDHS (6-6 overall) plays in the Southeast Conference with Ketchikan (4-5). Their first conference games are next Friday and Saturday at Kayhi.
The fourth 4A conference, the Mid Alaska, features West Valley (1-0, 7-0), Lathrop (0-0, 8-0), Monroe Catholic (0-0, 4-4), and North Pole (0-1, 4-4).
The CIC earns two automatic bids to the state tournament from its eight teams, the NLC two automatic bids from its seven teams, the MAC one bid from its four teams and the SEC one bid from its two teams. There are also two at-large bids determined by RPI (Rating Percentage Index) based on winning percentage, opponents’ winning percentage and opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
