Juneau-Douglas High School senior guard Kasey Watts picked the perfect time to employ his rebounding skills Saturday afternoon on the final day of the Whaler Invitational in Utqiagvik.
At least, that’s what it looked like.
Watts’ offensive rebound and basket with 10 seconds left put JDHS up one point on East Anchorage. However, the Thunder Birds still somehow managed to get the ball in the hands of Khalil Chaffin, who scored as time expired to lift East to a 69-68 win.
“The ball went in and we were defending and had a little breakdown in our (defensive) rotation and their big guy ended up getting open,” JDHS head coach Robert Casperson said. “It was a fun game, it was back-and-forth. … We just left too much time on the clock.”
JDHS seniors Kolby Hoover and Erik Kelly scored a combined 51 points in the game, including 19 in the fourth quarter.
“It was tough just because I feel like we played very well as a team and we played really hard,” Hoover said. “Down the stretch (the team) did well. I fouled out with like a minute left or so and guys stepped up and they made the plays.”
Jaron Williams and Joey Barranco scored 17 points and 12 points, respectively, in the win.
Neither team backed down from the other from the opening tip. The score was tied 15-all at the end of the first quarter and 26-all at halftime. East secured a razor-thin one-point advantage — 46-45 — at the end of the third quarter.
As the game approached the final two minutes, East’s Kaeleb Johnson converted a three-point play to put the Thunder Birds up six points.
The Crimson Bears answered with several defensive stops and two strong finishes at the rim by Kelly and Hoover.
Not long before fouling out, Hoover’s baseline layup furnished a 66-65 JDHS lead, about a minute before Watts’ clutch rebound and basket.
Kelly said despite the loss on Saturday, the team never gave up on the defensive end.
“The first two games of the tournament our defense was alright halfway through the game and we need to play hard defense all the way through,” he said. “We did that better today than I think we’ve done all season.”
JDHS lost to Monroe Catholic 58-46 on Friday and 70-61 to Barrow on Thursday.
The JDHS girls too finished their Whaler Invitational campaign 0-3 on Saturday. The Crimson Bears lost to Palmer 58-50.
Palmer led 42-40 heading into the fourth quarter when Julia Benshetler scored 11 of the 16 total Moose points to pull away.
Caitlin Pusich was limited to two points in the last quarter after scoring 18 through the first three quarters. Cassie Dzinich scored six points in the fourth quarter but none in the first half.
Back in Southeast Alaska, the Thunder Mountain teams battled with Mt. Edgecumbe for the second time in as many days.
After both Falcons teams lost to the Braves and Lady Braves, respectively, on Friday night, TMHS was 1-1 on Saturday.
The TMHS boys rolled to a 68-40 win over the Braves on Saturday.
The Falcons’ 48-47 loss on Friday didn’t sit well with TMHS senior Josh McAndrews, who scored 14 points after scoring no points on Friday.
“We felt like we were better than how we played,” McAndrews said of Friday’s game. “So we just wanted to live up to that — how we felt we could do. And we know we have JD coming up so we had to wake up.”
Hansel Hinckle scored a season-high 18 points in the win for TMHS.
Meanwhile, the Lady Falcons lost to Mt. Edgecumbe 47-27 at TMHS.
Sanora Bell scored 15 points for the Lady Braves, who again made TMHS work hard on defense with its relentless drives to the glass. Seven different Lady Falcons scored between two and six points in the loss.
“The one thing that we need to work on is our turnovers,” TMHS head coach Chandler Christensen said. “We turn the ball over way too much.”
It was just a 19-14 Mt. Edgecumbe lead at halftime but the Lady Braves seized all momentum in the final two quarters when they scored 28 points.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.
