There were lots of faces painted Crimson and Black on Saturday night for Juneau's Homecoming game against Dimond, but it was the Crimson Bears who nearly left red-faced.
The Bears built a 12-point third-quarter lead, but the Lynx - wanting nothing to do with their assigned role as the Homecoming tackling dummy - stormed back and came dangerously close to spoiling JD's festivities.
"We did a lot of good things," Dimond coach Brad Lauwers said after watching his team fall by a 64-53 count. "But if we come in (today) and lose by 20, it'll be hard to see the good points."
The Lynx missed their Friday night game with Juneau because their plane couldn't get in until Saturday morning, so Crimson Bear fans will be treated to a rare matinee today to finish the weekend set.
The JD women play West Anchorage today at 2 p.m.; Juneau-Dimond follows at 4.
On Saturday, Juneau's Carlos Boozer had a typically strong night, canning 28 points (12-of-17 from the field) and grabbing 13 rebounds - both game highs.
Christian Carpeneti also enjoyed his best game of the season, totaling 22 points and eight rebounds. He's showing no ill effects of the injured knee that kept him out of the lineup early in the year.
"It doesn't bother me at all," Carpeneti said after the game.
Carpeneti was a key late in the game, driving the lane for a couple of buckets and canning all four of his free throw attempts to stave off Dimond.
"They're really good, very fundamental," Carpeneti said of the Lynx. "They work you hard on defense and make you pass the ball around a lot. They made us work harder than any other team."
Before Carpeneti performed his heroics in the homestretch, Boozer put on another fantastic show for the jam-packed JD gym.
He dominated play in the second quarter, scoring 12 points on a variety of shots - an offensive board, a slam dunk, a pretty floating jumper in the lane, a fadeaway jumper ... the only other field goal in the quarter came by Carpeneti, and it was the result of a blocked shot by Boozer.
As much as JD coach George Houston appreciates Boozer's talent, he doesn't like to see the Bears rely on his scoring runs.
"It can't be about one player," Houston said. "He can have an off night or be shut down. It's gotta be a team effort."
Thanks largely to Boozer, Juneau held leads of 12-11 after one quarter and 28-23 at the half. A Boozer hoop and a thunderous slam - courtesy of a perfect Evan Tromble alley-oop pass from mid-court - upped Juneau's lead to 32-23 to start the third quarter. Boozer and Carpeneti hit back-to-back buckets midway through the period, increasing the Bears lead to 12 points, 43-31.
But the Lynx kept their composure.
Their collapsing zone defense made it increasingly difficult for the Bears to get the ball inside to Boozer.
"They're well-drilled and well-disciplined," Houston said of the Lynx. "In that zone, they're very aware of his presence."
And Dimond's pressing defense started to cause the Bears some problems. The Lynx trailed by eight after three quarters and cut the Juneau lead to six points, 58-52, with 1:39 left when guard Landon Lockard converted a Matt Huckaby steal into a hoop.
Lockard went crazy on Juneau in the fourth quarter, canning 11 of his team-high 15 points in the period.
"Ridgeway did a nice job on him (Lockard) in the first half," Lauwers said of Juneau's senior guard Robert Ridgeway. "But Landon did a good job not to get frustrated; he kinda made some tough shots at the end to give us a chance."
To say the least.
Leading by six, Juneau missed the front end of two one-and-one situations with time waning, but the Lynx couldn't capitalize. A missed Lockard trey attempt would have cut the lead in half.
"He makes that and things start to get a little dicey," Houston said.
Carpeneti canned four straight free throws with a half minute left to protect the lead. He also had a hand in on Juneau's sizzling hot 15-of-23 showing from the field in the second half, canning 5-of-6 field goal attempts.
