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Phil Daetwiler's strong endgame play and clutch free throw shooting was enough for Angoon to grind out another tough 82-71 victory over Sitka Shee Atika in the C Bracket on Wednesday night at the 63rd Gold Medal Basketball Tournament.

Angoon advances to play Juneau's Filipino Community at 2 p.m. today. The winner will advance to play the loser of Thursday night's semifinal showdown between Huna and Kake. Filcom advanced by eliminating Klukwan 95-54 in Wednesday's early C Bracket game.

Angoon stuck first and for a while looked like they would never look back, jumping out to a 22-8 lead on a three-pointer by Frank Jack III. Angoon would lead by as many as 16 in the first half before Sitka closed the gap to 42-34 at the half on a lay in by Mike Mills just before the buzzer.

Shee Atika tightened its defense in the second half and held Angoon seven points in the first seven minutes of the period. Sitka's Ed Mercer III and James Mercer played inspired basketball and were able to keep their team in the game in the second half. Mercer III led his team in scoring with 25 points and Mercer had 11 with key shots as Sitka chipped away at Angoon's lead.

The absence of Sitka's Rich Krupa proved to be a big factor in the close battle. Krupa, a Gold Medal veteran, was scheduled to arrive in Juneau a half hour before tipoff, but his flight was delayed and there was just a minute remaining in the game when he finally made it to the gym.

"Rich would have been the key to our offense," Mercer III said. "We struggled without him and I had to play the point."

"That was good news for us," Daetwiler said afterwards in the locker room. "He's a really good ball player and a sharp shooter - they feed off him. I didn't miss him at all."

Despite Krupa's absence, Sitka tied the game at 63 on a bucket by Sean Joslyn and briefly took the lead 67-65 on a pair of Joslyn free throws. But it was Daetwiler's aggressive play in the final minutes that turned the tide for good.

Daetwiler, who was coming off a 6-12 effort from the charity stripe a night earlier in an overtime win against Juneau NAPA on Tuesday, found his confidence at the right time against Sitka. Daetwiler scored back-to-back layups to reclaim the lead and then solidified it with by sinking a pair of free throws to give Angoon a 71-67 lead with 3 minutes to go.

"We kept saying in our huddle to keep pushing," Daetwiler said. "We spread it around and got some open shots. Everything came together - especially the free throws."

Sitka would never get closer as Angoon held Shee Atika to just four points in the final five minutes of the game.

"We tried to push forward but we started off slow," Mercer III said. "We got a lead in the end - we just couldn't hold it."

Daetwiler led Angoon with 20 points. Charlie Frisby scored 18, Ed Kookesh Jr. scored 17 and Frank Jack III added 16 to round out Angoon's high scorers.

Frisby also was pivotal in the final minutes, going three-for-four from the line before dislocating his pinky in the last minute. Frisby, who could be seen with a large ice pack on his hand after the game, said he will be fine to play tomorrow.

Joslyn finished the game with 14 points and Mike Mills added 13 for Sitka.

• Jeff Kasper is a freelance writer and former Empire sports writer. He can be reached at jskasper@gmail.com