Wherever reigning Alaska Player of the Year Carlos Boozer and the Juneau-Douglas men's hoops team goes these days, a packed house seems to follow.
That was the case Saturday night at East Anchorage High School, as a jam-packed crowd came to see Boozer and the two-time defending state champion Bears get a rematch of last year's state title game Saturday at the Thunderbird Classic.
This time the game belonged to East. Garland Perry canned five 3-pointers to lead the East T-Birds to a 87-77 defeat of Juneau, the Crimson Bears' second loss in four days following a 10-0 start.
Boozer, who had been averaging near 30 points and 12 rebounds coming into the game, was held to 18 points, seven rebounds, and suffered a game-high seven turnovers.
East's Garland Perry got the best of his matchup with Boozer, canning 5-of-8 3-point attempts en route to his 19 points to lead five T-Birds in double figures. Brandon Edwards had 18, Rahim Abdul-Bassit 17, Howard Bellamy 12 and Jevon Miller 11 as the T-Birds shot 53.6 percent (30-56) in the game.
Juneau guard James Wilson was the offensive force for the Crimson Bears Saturday night. The six-foot senior hit 10-of-13 shots for a game-high 27 points before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Christian Carpeneti added 16 points on his 10-of-11 free throw performance.
Juneau tied the game 54-54 late in the third quarter before East ran off a 10-0 run to put the game out of reach.
"To beat (Juneau) like this gives us a lot of confidence," said Perry. "But I know they're going to come back and work really hard."
Wilson said after the game that the loss is just more motivation for the state tournament. "We'll see them again. Who wins the last game - that's the one that counts."
