March has been mad for the Crimson Bears, but the clock finally struck midnight on the Southeast Cinderella Thursday evening.
The No. 8 seed Juneau-Douglas High School boys basketball team fell to No. 1 Dimond High School 48-39 in the first round of the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska state basketball championships in Anchorage.
Senior Erik Kelly had with 11 points and 17 rebounds and senior Kolby Hoover scored 14 points for JDHS.
Hoover said the difference in the game was JDHS’ 15 turnovers to Dimond’s two.
“I think we played hard. I think we played well but they just beat us with the turnover battle and that’s what they’re really good at,” Hoover said.
Dimond sophomore Isaiah Moses scored 20 points on an efficient 7-13 shooting from the field and 6-7 from the foul line. Senior Nicolas Horning, the Cook Inlet Conference player of the year, overcame a slow start to post 17 points, seven of which were made at the foul line.
JDHS coach Robert Casperson was happy with the way his team played. He said some shots just didn’t fall and the team turned the ball over a little too much.
“It wasn’t a low-scoring a game by design on our part,” Casperson said. “We missed some shots early on and that played into their hands because we got some good looks at the basket in close to start the game that just rolled around and came out.”
Dimond also wasn’t quite clicking on offense in the first half. The Lynx missed their first 10 shots from the field and did not score until almost six minutes elapsed in the first quarter.
Hoover scored the first three baskets of the game and gave JDHS a 6-0 lead.
Moses, who did just about everything for Dimond in the first half, helped Dimond get back in the game. Moses scored 12 straight points in the second quarter to help the Lynx take a 20-18 lead at the half.
JDHS was unable to retake the lead in the third quarter as its turnovers mounted.
“They got a couple breaks off of turnovers and that gave them some distance on us,” Casperson said. “And that’s what they do, they make you pay for mistakes, we turned the ball over and a lot of those turnovers became buckets for them.”
JDHS tried spreading out the Dimond defense with extra passes but the tactic didn’t seem to phase the Lynx.
JDHS freshman Cooper Kriegmont’s layup made it a 31-29 game early in fourth quarter, but Dimond responded with a 10-2 run to put the game out of reach.
Dimond has now won 16 games in a row. Their last (and only loss) this season came in late January, a 48-46 road loss to Chugiak.
The Crimson Bears now take on West Valley at 8 a.m. Friday. The winner of that match will head to the fourth-place game at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.
Dimond and Chugiak will play one another at 5 p.m. Friday in a rematch of the Cook Inlet Conference championship game.
Chugiak escaped with a 42-38 win over West Valley in their first-round game.
Dimond is 2-1 against Chugiak this season. The Lynx met the Mustangs in the Cook Inlet Conference championship game and held on for a 56-52 overtime victory.
West Anchorage and Wasilla will meet in the other state semifinal. West Anchorage took down Colony 62-56 while Wasilla won 62-45 over East Anchorage.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com.
Juneau-Douglas High School boys basketball coach Robert Casperson disagrees with the referees call during JDHS’ ASAA/First National Bank Alaska state basketball tournament game Thursday against Dimond. (Michael Dinneen | For the Juneau Empire)
