JDHS boys repel Vikings plunder to open Capital City Classic
- Klas Stolpe
- Dec 28, 2025
- 8 min read
Monroe Rams overpower Kake Thunderbirds 70-13
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears boys had their toughest test of the season against the visiting Petersburg Vikings on Saturday during the George Houston Capital City Classic basketball tournament inside the tournament namesake’s Gymnasium and the Monroe Rams had their first game of the season against Kake.
“I found out we are going to be tested in every game,” JDHS coach Robert Casperson said. “Petersburg is a very well-coached team. Coach Brock has been around for quite a while and he knows how to get his kids motivated, and they responded very well. They don’t quit, they play hard the whole game and that is what we saw and we also have to be able to match that energy. When things start to ramp up in intensity we have to make sure we are staying calm.”
Petersburg came to play and earned a pair of free throws by senior Logan Tow to open the game.
JDHS senior Elias Dybdahl answered with a contested score and those two would battle in the paint throughout the night.
Petersburg senior Noah Pawuk scored for a 4-2 lead only to be answered by JDHS junior Logan Carriker from deep past the arc and senior Joran Gasga from just as far on the corner to take an 8-4 lead the Crimson Bears would never relinquish.
JDHS’ Gasga would add another deep shot and Dybdahl began to control the paint on both sides of the court as the Crimson Bears ended the first quarter with Tyler Frisby following a shot for a 20-8 lead.
JDHS’ Frisby would score on a steal to open the second quarter and Carriker hit a jumper after Dybdahl blocked a shot for possession to counter a free throw by Petersburg and lead 24-12.
Dybdahl would have five blocks on the night and ‘owned’ Crimson Bears home paint.
“It seems like a nice thing, ‘owning the court,’ I have never really heard that until today,” Dybdahl said. “But if that is what people think I like that. Defensively my mindset is to just get the stop, play defense hard until the shot clock is out and try and get a stop or a block or steal every possession.”
The two sides would exchange baskets into the half with JDHS’ Carriker hitting inside, Gasga hitting from the arc and from the lane to counter a Petersburg basket and free throw by sophomore Mason Knudsen, free throws from freshman Camden Johnson and Pawuk, and a deep shot from senior Alex Holmgrain to pull to 31-22. JDHS’ Carriker would hit from past the arc at the buzzer for a 34-22 lead.
JDHS would go up 38-22 off a pair of steals with senior Kurt Kuppert scoring off his own theft and Frisby scoring off a steal by Carriker.
Petersburg responded with two baskets by Tow and one from senior Aiden Knudsen to pull to 38-29.
JDHS’ Dybdahl responded with a pair of free throws, a rebound put back and a blocked shot that led to a Gasga layup. Carriker scored and Frisby added a free throw to answer a basket and two free throws from Petersburg’s Johnson and push the Crimson Bears lead to 49-33 with one stanza left to play.
“I try to do both sides of it,” Dybdahl said. “Key for me offensively is just getting an iso (isolation) against a smaller player, it is just a lot easier to score. Petersburg brought a lot of physicality. They doubled a lot in the post and it was kind of hard to get buckets.”
Petersburg’s A. Knudsen would answer a basket by JDHS’ Dybdahl to open the fourth quarter and added another from past the arc, answering a deep shot from JDHS’ Gasga as both teams played with intensity.
“Oh man it is a great environment,” Petersburg’s A. Knudsen said. “They are a good team. Coming up we have high expectations for us this year and I imagine they have the same so just this experience is great. Regions are going to be here this year so just getting used to the environment and all that is a really great feeling…Before coming over, before this game especially, we talked about thinking that we belonged here. We are not going to walk onto this court scared. We know they are a bigger school than us, but that is not a true basketball game if you think you are going to lose the whole time.”
With four minutes remaining to play JDHS held a 54-41 lead and Frisby made it 56-41.
Petersburg’s A. Knudsen hit from deep to close to 56-44 and again to close to 56-47 with 2:17 remaining.
“I think we learned a lot about ourselves,” Petersburg coach Rick Brock said. “We did some nice things. I thought, at times, we handled their pressure pretty well. I think we learned we did a better job in the second half, especially in the fourth quarter, of moving against their pressure, trying to get good looks at the basket. I think the biggest thing we probably figured out is that we are going to play for 32 minutes, we are going to fight and see what happens. I appreciate that out of them because that is one of our things that we try to hang our hat on is that we are just going to come and play as hard as we can for the whole game and that fourth quarter was a good sign of that. A good building block for the year. We went on a couple of runs, I learned some things about myself. You know, every year as a coach you have a different group of kids so I can do a bit different with them. I am happy with that. We came here to play up a level and to see what we can do and I think that all 10 guys that played today learned a little bit about what they can do individually to get a little bit better.”
JDHS senior Noah Ault, who had harassed the Petersburg guards all game, scored for 58-47. Petersburg’s Pawuk cut the margin to 58-49 with a minute left and senior Brayden Kai-Tucker hit a free throw to close to 58-50. JDHS’ Kuppert hit the games last basket for the 60-50 final.
JDHS senior captain Brandon Casperson did not play due to illness, but is expected back soon, according to coach R. Casperson.
“Hopefully he is going to regain us soon, and maybe that can help us in those situations because he spent a lot of time on the floor and had to make a lot of decisions in those moments over the last few years with a lot of varsity experience,” JDHS coach Casperson said. “But I am proud of the way the guys stepped up. I told them that when we were executing at any point of the game we looked really good. Our spacing was where it needed to be, we were setting he right screens, the ball was moving really crisp and guys were hitting shots and I said when we were good, we were good. But the other side of that is when we were bad we were pretty bad.
Gasga led JDHS with 16 points, Dybdahl and Carriker 12 apiece, Frisby nine, Kuppert seven and Ault four.
The Crimson Bears were 3-7 from the charity stripe, the Vikings 8-11.
Knudsen led Petersburg with 16 points, Tow added 15, Johnson, Pawuk and M. Knudsen five each, Holmgrain three and Kai-Tucker one.
In the earlier boys action the 3A Monroe Catholic Rams overpowered the 1A Kake Thunderbirds 70-13. Monroe placed third at last season’s ASAA 3A state tournament while Kake placed third at the ASAA 1A state tournament. Both teams are young, but the Rams only graduated a small portion of their lineup while the Thunderbirds lost a large percentage.
Monroe was firing on all cylinders from the opening tipoff and led 14-0 behind eight points from junior AJ Geyer and six team steals. Kake had six early turnovers, but continued to play hard.
“These kids are tough, resilient and have a lot of grit, growing up in the village,” Kake coach Shane Padget said. “We understood the challenges of coming up here and playing against the bigger schools, and not having a couple of our players ready at this point in the season. Looking back on our game against Monroe, there were a lot of positives, specifically some good defensive shifts, in the first half. Most importantly we’ll keep our heads up and take what we learned from that game and move forward.”
Monroe opened the second quarter with a shot past the arc from senior Isaiah Snow. Kake answered with a short jumper by freshman Erik Davis and a shot from deep by eighth grader Andre Bear to pull to 17-5. Monroe would increase their lead to 27-5 with two minutes left in the half and Kake’s E. Davis closed the second quarter with a rebound score for 27-5.
Monroe substituted liberally throughout the contest, but Kake had just five players and the score escalated to 47-8 after three stanzas. Kake would lose a player midway through the third quarter and would finish the game with four Thunderbirds on the court.
Monroe slowed the game pace in the second half and could not miss from the field, adding another 23 points in the final eight minutes to Kake’s five for the 70-13 final.
“At Monroe we just always try to respect the game regardless of who we are playing,” Monroe coach Jason McCullough said. “A game like today was good to get our bench guys in, get them some minutes so everybody has a chance. I think a game like today, our first game, a lot of guys in new roles, so I think today was a good day to break the ice, to get a flow…I expect, we play Petersburg next so that is our first order of business. They are a well-coached basketball team we know that. Our whole goal is every game we just want to get a little bit better. That is really the goal. And we are a young team so as we move through this tournament we just want to be a little bit better every game, guys understanding their roles a little bit better, and play hard and represent our school the right way.”
Monroe was led by 16 points from Geyer, sophomores Brayden Oleson and Alden Wilbur added 10 apiece, junior Cooper Wentz and sophomore Makai Bond eight apiece, senior Ryan Mavencamp six, sophomore Harry Roberts five, junior Zavier Oleson four and Snow three.
The Rams were 0-3 from the charity stripe, the Thunderbirds 1-2.
Kake was led by six points from Bean, E. Davis scored four and junior Daniel Bean-Willis three.
The George Houston Capital City Classic tournament runs through Tuesday.
Sunday:
3 p.m. - Shooting Contests - Open to the public.
Monday:
1 p.m. - Girls - JDHS Crimson Bears inter-squad game.
3 p.m. - Boys - Petersburg Vikings vs. Monroe Catholic Rams.
5 p.m. - Girls - Ft. Yukon Lady Eagles vs. Monroe Catholic Lady Rams.
7 p.m. - Boys - Kake Thunderbirds vs. JDHS Crimson Bears.
Tuesday:
1 p.m. - Girls - JDHS Crimson Bears vs. Monroe Catholic Lady Rams.
3 p.m. - Boys - Petersburg Vikings vs. Kake Thunderbirds.
5 p.m. - Girls - Ft. Yukon Lady Eagles vs. JDHS Crimson Bears.
7 p.m. - Boys - Monroe Catholic Rams vs. JDHS Crimson Bears.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
