The Juneau Empire’s expanded coverage of the Juneau Lions Club 74th Gold Medal Basketball Tournament is made possible by Sealaska Corp. Thanks to this sponsorship, this article —and all of this year’s Gold Medal coverage — is available online without a subscription to the Empire.
Metlakatla and Angoon played a B Bracket elimination game on Wednesday near the end of another exciting day of the Gold Medal Basketball Tournament.
It was a physical game from start to finish which saw both teams within a single score of each other for much of the first half, however, by the end of the fourth quarter Angoon managed to jump ahead to a 20-point lead that they would never relinquish. The final score was 77-57.
Angoon’s Aquino Brinson said with such a tough game, the only way to come out on top was to maintain confidence in themselves and the team.
“Angoon had a lot of pride, that’s for sure,” Brinson said. “We don’t give up, we keep on going, we just need to play better defense and that’s the thing. Defense is our main focus but right now it’s really just one game at a time, we just move ahead into tomorrow.
Angoon’s JJ Nixon (3) puts up a tricky 2-point shot against Metlakatla on Wednesday for an elimination game as part of this year’s Gold Medal basketball tournament. Nixon finished the game with 12 points. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)
Brinson led in scoring for Angoon with 25 points while Kendrick Payton had 22. For Metlakatla’s team, Willie Hayward led in scoring for a total of 24 points.
Angoon will now play against Haines at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Angoon’s last B Bracket title came in 2016, and it’s the most recent of the town’s 14 titles. Haines has won three consecutive B Bracket titles, and five of its 16 Gold Medal titles since 2016.
• Contact reporter Jonson Kuhn at jonson.kuhn@juneauempire.com.
