Down 47-48 with 10 seconds left, Thunder Mountain High School basketball held possession at half court. It was homecoming for the defending state champion Crimson Bears; each student section packed with blue and white on one side, red and black on the other.
TMHS coach John Blasco called a timeout and drew up a play. To nobody’s surprise, the Falcons wanted to find hot-handed senior Noah Reishus-O’Brien for the game-winner. The shooting guard led the game with 27 points, carrying his team in an offensive duel with JDHS big man Erik Kelly.
If anyone was going to pull off the upset for the Falcons, it was Reishus-O’Brien, who had never beaten the Crimson Bears as a starter. He was hungry, as were the rest of the Falcons, all having endured six losses to their crosstown rivals last year.
Whatever play the Falcons had drawn up, it fell apart. Senior Chase Saviers drove the lane off a Garth Tupou screen but was turned away, electing to kick the ball back out to Tupou.
Tupou wasn’t their first, second or third choice to take that shot. He might have not even been their fourth or fifth, but it didn’t matter: Tupou’s flat-footed 15-footer rattled around the rim and in, sealing the upset win for the Falcons.
TMHS students rushed the floor. The workmanlike rebounder and defender was the star of the game.
“I guess Noah was supposed to take the shot, but I just grabbed it and threw it up, hoping it would go in,” Tupou said. “I felt excited, happy that I had gotten that done.”
Reishus-O’Brien didn’t care who took the shot, he was just happy to get a win over a team that, until Friday, had had the Falcons’ number.
“This is my first time actually starting, playing a lot and actually beating JD. Last year was a tough year with them. This means a lot, it’s big,” he said.
[PHOTOS: Photo slideshow of the game by Michael Penn]
After Tupou’s game-winner, the officiating crew decided to put a little bit of time back on the clock, determining that JDHS had gotten a timeout call in with just a few tenths of a second left.
The extra time didn’t amount to anything; Tupou, Reishus-O’Brien and the Falcons had the victory they badly needed.
“What I had drawn up didn’t work, to be honest,” Blasco said after the game. “The ball didn’t get to where we wanted to, but Chase knew we needed to penetrate the rim and get them to collapse, and Garth was open for the mid-range jumper, which I am just thankful he hit. I think it hit every side of the rim.”
Blasco said the game was a “big confidence booster” against a “very good JDHS team.” He said he didn’t have much to do with the win and was just happy for his guys, especially Tupou.
“He’s one of those kids who every day in practice gives it all he’s got,” Blasco said. “He never complains. He’s a great teammate. … For him to hit that, I couldn’t be happier for him.”
The game as it led up to that moment lived up to its billing. JDHS owned the glass, but TMHS hit the shots they needed to stay with their much taller opponents.
On offense, Kelly (22 points) and Reishus-O’Brien went head-to-head, trading buckets in a game that saw 12 lead changes before it was over. No player outside of those two scored more than seven points as the pair combined for 49, over half of all scoring on the night.
JDHS coach Robert Casperson said his team “has all the pieces,” but having lost the first three of their eight conference games, “just can’t put the puzzle together.” The Crimson Bears used their height well, but couldn’t execute on offense.
Rebounds “should be a given” with JDHS’ height advantage, Casperson elaborated, but they haven’t been able to take advantage on offense.
“It’s gotta be what we do with our possessions that we get out of those. … If we get a defensive rebound and miss the bucket, you know, what’s the point? So we are creating more possessions for ourselves, but it’s what we do with them.”
JDHS and TMHS play again Saturday. Look for coverage of that game at juneauempire.com and in Tuesday’s print edition.
CRIMSON BEARS 48, FALCONS 49
Juneau-Douglas 14 16 8 10 —48
Thunder Mountain 17 12 10 10 —49
Juneau-Douglas (48) — Kelly 22, Hoover 6, Bohulano 5, Swofford 4, Lozada 4, Hamrick 3, Watts 2, Milligan 2
Thunder Mountain (49) — Reishus-O’Brien 27, Saviers 7, G. Tupou 5, McAndrews 4, Morris 3, R. Tupou 2, V. Toutaiolepo 1
Free throws — Juneau-Douglas 2-8, Thunder Mountain 7-9
3-point goals — Juneau-Douglas 2, Thunder Mountain 6
Team fouls — Juneau-Douglas 13, Thunder Mountain 21
Contact reporter Kevin Gullufsen at 523-2228 or kevin.gullufsen@juneauempire.com
Thunder Mountain’s Vaipuna Toutaiolepo, center, comes up with a loose ball against Juneau-Douglas’ John Hamrick, left, and Erik Kelly at JDHS on Friday. TMHS upset JDHS with a shot at the buzzer 49-48. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Thunder Mountain’s Vaipuna Toutaiolepo, center, comes up with a loose ball against Juneau-Douglas’ John Hamrick, left, and Erik Kelly at JDHS on Friday. TMHS upset JDHS with a shot at the buzzer 49-48. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
