Monroe plays doubleheader at Cap City Classic tournament
- Klas Stolpe
- 2 days ago
- 10 min read
Rams hold off Vikings 43-36, Lady Rams topple Lady Eagles 48-37
By Klas Stolpe
Juneau Independent
The Monroe High School boys and girls basketball teams were the main attraction at Monday’s George Houston Capital City Classic basketball tournament inside the tournament namesake’s gymnasium as the Rams’ boys defeated the Petersburg Vikings 43-36 and the Lady Rams outshot the Fort Yukon Lady Eagles 48-37 in the day’s only action.
The boys opened the day's activities in a physical battle of fast-breaking teams, and Petersburg had no answer to slow down Monroe junior AJ Geyer, who scored a game-high 24 points, including three shots from past the arc.
“What I like about our team this year is I feel like we all want to work together more and feed the ball for each other,” Geyer said. “I have teammates that are willing to give the ball up for me and honestly, it is great. Our team has more well-rounded players and we have better relationships with each other, so that translates onto the court as far as just backdoor cuts and all that good stuff. I think that is how we get Ws...The tournament has been great. First couple games of the season for us. This was, like, our first really competitive game and it has been fun staying here in Juneau with the team and getting up early.”
The first quarter was a basket-for-basket show with Geyer netting 10 of the Rams’ 11 points while the Vikings had a basket apiece from senior Aiden Knudsen, sophomore Mason Knudsen, senior Noah Pawuk and freshman Camden Johnson to trail by three points.
Petersburg struggled to find consistent shooting in the second quarter while Monroe continued to find swift movement in their perimeter offense.
Monore sophomore Brayden Oleson opened the quarter with a shot past the arc, junior Zavier Oleson attacked the basket to earn a free throw, sophomore Harry Roberts drove to the basket and scored while being fouled and added the free throw, and Geyer took a charge from a Vikings’ dribbler to secure possession.
Geyer would hit on a layup and then assist on a basket to Roberts that forced Petersburg to call a timeout trailing 22-10.
“Coming into this game we knew that Petersburg was a well-coached team and it was going to be difficult to win,” Monroe coach Jason McCullough said. “Considering we are young and this was our first real competitive game, we were definitely taking this game very seriously. We have a really young team in regard to roles, everybody is in a new role from last year so it is going to be a process. I was happy with the way the guys competed tonight. I felt like we were a little nervous down the stretch, we had a couple turnovers, but that is expected with a young team. Overall, I thought we got better tonight, I thought our guys competed hard, they were respectful with the opponents and the referees so I was pleased.”
Petersburg’s A. Knudsen was the only Vikings player that found the scoreboard in the stanza with six points. Monroe led 26-14 at the half.
“Their physicality really bothered us,” Petersburg coach Rick Brock said. “They are very good at using their body to play defense without using their hands, which is great defense. So we struggled to get a rhythm on the offensive end and we didn’t shoot the ball very well because of that.”
Petersburg would chip away at the lead in the second half. But Monroe started the third quarter on a 6-2 run behind a block by Geyer who then fed a fast break pass to Roberts for a score. They added a free throw by Geyer, and a shot past the arc from Z. Oldeson.
The Vikings started the stanza with an inside shot by senior Logan Tow and after the Rams’ run, Petersburg found baskets from A. Knudsen past the arc and senior Noah Pawuk on a drive to pull to 32-21. Monroe’s Geyer would add a shot late and Petersburg’s A. Knudsen buried his second shot outside the arc to close to 34-24 as the quarter ended.
Both teams were slow to get on the board in the fourth quarter until Monroe’s Geyer buried his third shot of the night past the arc for a 37-25 lead, forcing a Petersburg timeout.
“AJ (Geyer) is definitely our most complete player,” coach McCullough said. “He got varsity minutes last year. Harry (Roberts), he came off our bench last year, but he got some experience and is one of our better ball handlers. I think that Brayden Washburn was key for us. He gave us a lot of second-chance opportunities in the third quarter and I thought that kind of opened the game up for us, those offensive rebounds were key for us.”
In three straight possessions, Monroe’s B. Washburn tipped or pulled down a rebound as the Rams created multiple put-back shots that resulted in six straight made free throws — four from Geyer and two from Z. Oleson.
Petersburg kept pace with a steal by Tow for a layup and a basket by A. Knudsen to trail 43-29 with under three minutes to play. The Vikings upped their defensive pressure and senior Brayden Kai-Tucker forced two turnovers and junior Nolan Lutomski benefited from past the arc and M. Knudsen from inside to pull to 43-34 with a minute left.
“I think we are really working together and trying to communicate a lot better than last season,” Kai-Tucker said. “We like to say, ‘Have fun, but play hard.’ I have learned in this tournament how to play hard with intensity at higher levels especially with these teams.”
Kai-Tucker and Johnson would force one last Monroe turnover, and Petersburg senior Alex Holmgran scored to pull to the final 43-36.
Brock compared Monroe’s defense to JDHS, a team they had played close throughout in their opening tournament game.
“I felt Juneau had aggressive hands on defense and Monroe, as soon as we put the ball on the deck, they would use their body to change our angles,” Brock said. “And their switching bothered us more than Juneau’s switching did. I just felt like it was more contact on the dribble, when we tried to make a move to the basket they walled up very well. And Juneau is just more aggressive, kind of overall just trying to get into you and tip the ball and things like that…so that threw our rhythm off. I don’t think we made a three in the first half, we were too sped up. I thought we kept fighting and then our rhythm on offense finally got going. A couple times if I remember it right we had a chance to get it into single digits, and then we hurried on a shot and then gave up a layup at the other end. We had a three-point shot taken away on a call. I like the fight in our guys. I think we learned a lot about ourselves here which is why you play these tournaments. I thought we did a better job of rebounding as the game went on, just to match their physicality. Monroe boarded extremely hard. All good things for us to work on as we move into conference play.”
Geyer led Monroe with 24 points, Zavier Oleson added 10, Harry Roberts six and Brayden Oleson three.
The Rams hit 14-24 from the charity stripe, the Vikings just 1-2.
A. Knudsen led Petersburg with 16 points, Noah Pawuk, Logan Tow and Mason Knudsen had four each, Nolan Lutomski and Camden Johnson three apiece, and Alex Holmgrain two.
Monroe will face the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“We are very concerned about the pressure they apply throughout the game,” coach McCullough said of Juneau. “As you saw in the last minute or two, we were a little shaky, but it will be great for us either way because we are going to face a lot of athletic pressing teams in our conference and Juneau will be great prep for that. We are looking forward to the challenge.”
In the second game Monday, the Monroe and Fort Yukon girls held a shooting contest that saw the Lady Rams hit seven shots past the arc and the Lady Eagles six, but an abundance of opportunities by both sides were attempted.
The action was muted early as Monroe junior Leila Church scored the game’s first basket with 6:05 on the clock and she was answered by Fort Yukon senior Kylee Carroll. Monroe senior Emersyn Cortez hit for a 4-2 lead and Fort Yukon answered with an inside score by senior Nellie Ward and one past the arc by sophomore Shandace Carroll for a 7-4 lead.
Monroe would score the next 10 points as sophomore Chany Turiel and E. Cortez hit from the arc, and freshman Gemma Geyer and E. Cortez hit on layups for a 14-7 lead.
Fort Yukon senior Jane Ward closed the first quarter with a swish deep past the arc to pull to 14-10.
Monroe would open the second quarter on a 10-3 run behind scores from L. Church, a block by L. Church that led to a fast break score by E. Cortez and two shots past the arc from sophomore Chany Turiel for a 24-13 lead. Fort Yukon’s score was past the arc by N. Ward.
“I think the key for us was not underestimating Fort Yukon,” Turiel said. “They are a great team so just come out with an open mindset to play like we did Saturday and push the ball in transition and just be there for each other.”
Fort Yukon’s J. Ward hit from the arc to pull to 24-16, but Monroe answered with scores by L. Church and E. Cortez to lead 28-16.
Fort Yukon closed out the first half with free throws by J. Ward and K. Carroll and a drive by J. Ward, pulling to 28-21 at the break.
Monroe would score six points in the third quarter with C. Turiel hitting deep, junior Leyton Cortez inside and freshman Gemma Geyer from the charity stripe. Fort Yukon scored five points with J. Ward hit past the arc and K. Carroll from the charity stripe.
Monroe led 34-26 starting the final eight minutes. The two sides exchanged opening shots from the Lady Rams’ C. Turiel and the Lady Eagles K. Carroll and then the Lady Eagles’ S. Carroll hit from the arc to pull to 36-31 with four minutes left to play.
Monroe’s L. Cortez answered with a score past the arc for 39-31 and Fort Yukon’s K. Carroll hit inside to pull to 39-33.
Monroe’s L. Church hit on a layup and then past the arc for a 44-33 lead and the Lady Rams’ E. Cortez blocked a shot and hustled down court to score for 46-33.
Fort Yukon junior Karli Thomas scored on a steal, Monroe’s Geyer hit on a layup and Fort Yukon’s Thomas hit again for the Lady Eagles, but the Monroe Lady Rams took the game 48-37.
Monroe was led by 14 points from C. Turiel, E. Cortez had 13, L. Church nine, L. Cortez and G. Geyer five apiece and T. Turiel two.
The Lady Rams hit 1-4 from the charity stripe, the Lady Eagles 6-8.
Fort Yukon was led by 12 points from J. Ward, K. Carroll had 10, S. Carroll six, N. Ward five and K. Thomas four.
Monroe will play at 1 p.m. Tuesday against the JDHS girls.
The Lady Rams defeated the Crimson Bears 56-50 on Saturday.
“I think that we just need to play at our own pace,” Monroe’s C. Turiel said. “We … need to be using what we did then really well, doing it again and fixing our little mistakes that we had.”
Fort Yukon will face the JDHS girls at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The Lady Eagles lost to the Crimson Bears 60-45 on Saturday.
“Our shooting ability has been key,” Fort Yukon’s Kylee Carroll said. “And our great passing, and we are fast and we are big. We need to play tougher than we did the first game against them. Play like we did today with better passes and talk more and have better screens. Monroe was definitely a tough team.”
The Monroe boys had defeated Kake 70-13 on Saturday to open tournament action and Petersburg had fallen to JDHS 60-50.
Tuesday:
1 p.m. - Girls - JDHS Crimson Bears vs. Monroe Catholic Lady Rams.
3 p.m.. - Boys - JDHS Crimson Bears vs. Kake Thunderbirds. Tournament Free Throw Contest follows.
5 p.m. - Girls - Ft. Yukon Lady Eagles vs. JDHS Crimson Bears.
7 p.m. - Boys - Monroe Catholic Rams vs. JDHS Crimson Bears.
Awards Ceremony follows.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@gmail.com.
