Wrangell's Cody Angerman nearly matched Juneau's Carlos Boozer blow for blow on Saturday night.
Unfortunately, the Wolves had no answer for the barrage of punches thrown by James Wilson and Christian Carpeneti.
Crimson Bear seniors Boozer (32 points, 15 rebounds), Wilson (21 points, five rebounds) and Carpeneti (16 points, five rebounds) and were simply too much firepower for the Wolves as Juneau rolled to a 85-46 victory and its record seventh-straight Southeast championship.
On Friday, the Bears beat a scrappy Sitka team, 73-57, to win the 4A Region championship. Wrangell (20-4) beat Petersburg in the exciting men's 3A title game, 50-48.
"It's a credit to the kids," said Juneau coach George Houston of the seven straight Southeast crowns. "They're really good players. It'll be neat for them to be able to look back and say they were here for four of those years. And, hopefully, three of four state championships."
But that's next weekend. For Saturday, anyway, there was nobody around who could even touch the Bears, who improved to 22-2 with the win - their 11th straight.
Angerman put on another fantastic display of drives and long-range bombs, finishing with 28 points and a team-high nine rebounds. But after that there were no Wolves' player in double figures.
"We didn't have the player to control Carlos Boozer," said Wrangell coach Ray Stokes. "Then, to top it off, they have those other players they can go to. We maintained their lead at 15 points for a while, but then we just couldn't contain them."
The Wolves came out playing a very deliberate game, with lots of passing high above the key, but Juneau still jumped out to a 12-0 lead.
"We weren't trying to stall, but I knew we didn't want to trade possessions with them," Stokes said. "We didn't have the player, or the players, to control Boozer."
But he said the slow-down apparently wasn't the answer either. The Wolves then began running with Juneau and did pretty well. In time, though, Juneau's depth proved to be too much.
"It would help if we were able to see Juneau more," Stokes said. "I don't know if we would have been any more effective. The only thing we know about Boozer is what we see on ESPN - the guys come here and they're sitting here trying to get his (Boozer's) autograph," Stokes chuckled.
Stokes said the Wolves' intense and intensely physical game in a win over Petersburg on Friday for the 3A championship wasn't a factor.
"I just think we came out somewhat intimidated," he said.
Boozer, who had four blocks on the night, has that effect on people.
"The difference here was Boozer," agreed Houston. "If we don't have him, the game is a dogfight. A lot has been asked of him, and he delivers."
To be sure, Saturday's contest marked the last time Boozer will ever play in the Juneau gym as a member of the Bears.
But while his spectacular career in Juneau may be over, he still has some unfinished business to attend to in Fairbanks next weekend. There's that thing about three straight state titles still unfolding.
"We still have time to improve," Houston said. "Hopefully, we're still getting better. You gotta build `till the end."
Friday's game - 4A Region Championship
Juneau 73, Sitka 57
Someone must have spread a rumor that ESPN was in town hunting for highlight-reel material, because the 4A Region V men's championship Friday didn't disappoint in the `Oh-my-God-did-you-see-that?' department.
En route to capturing their seventh straight region title, the JD men put on a fantastic display of alley-oop jams, arcing 3-pointers and behind-the-back passes to defeat Sitka 73-57 and advance to the state tournament March 18-20 in Fairbanks.
Just seconds into the game, Juneau guard James Wilson fed center Carlos Boozer with a perfect arcing pass that Boozer stuffed home to send the packed JD gym into a frenzy.
Later in the quarter, with Wilson and point guard Robert Ridgeway streaking downcourt on a fast break, Wilson whipped a pass behind his back that Ridgeway kissed easily off the glass for two points. Wilson finished with a game-high nine assists.
Juneau forward Christian Carpeneti stopped-and-popped a rainbow 3-pointer and had several sweet drives en route to his 18-point performance.
Not to be outdone, Sitka point guard Scott Jones had quite a few plays that would make the nightly sports roundup.
Jones (18 points, four assists) did his best to keep the Wolves close. After hitting a soft jumper from the free throw line, the 6-foot-three inch senior's hoop and foul pulled Sitka to 52-40 late in the third quarter.
Juneau raced out to a 24-6 first-quarter advantage, but a lax second in which Sitka outscored the Crimson Bears 18-9 made it a close game.
"They kept battling," said Juneau coach George Houston. "From our standpoint we relaxed a little bit and it let them back into the game."
Boozer (10-of-14, 21 points, 10 rebounds), Wilson (8-of-14, 21 points) and Carpeneti (8-of-10, 18 points) led the Crimson Bears to a 53-percent shooting performance.
While the performance was a dominate one, Houston had some concern about the letdown in the second quarter.
"Looking ahead to state, I thought we played really spurty," Houston said. "We had big highs and big lows. We've got to play on a more even keel."
