All of a sudden, the lead was gone.
From the final minutes of the second quarter until midway through the fourth, Kake held a double-digit lead over Hydaburg in an elimination game in the B Bracket at Gold Medal.
Then Hydaburg’s Damen Bell-Holter asked for the ball.
With four minutes left, he made a three to cut the lead to five points. With 1:23 left, he hit a contested three that pulled Hydaburg within one point. Just 40 seconds after that, Bell-Holter knocked down another shot from long-distance that gave Hydaburg its first — and final — lead of the half, 73-72.
“I just needed to see one (three-pointer) go,” Bell-Holter said. “I knew if I saw one go, I was going to be able to knock down a couple more.”
The final score was 75-72, stunning Kake players and fans and eliminating them from the tournament. Hydaburg is now just one win away from heading to Saturday’s championship game. Hydaburg will play the loser of the Klukwan-Haines game, which took place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
Kake went on an 18-3 run to end the first half and led Hydaburg 45-28 at the break. Not only that, but Bell-Holter and Kake’s Shea Jackson had gotten a little too physical for the referees’ liking near the end of the half, and both players were forced to sit for the first 90 seconds of the half.
Even without Bell-Holter and facing a 17-point deficit, Hydaburg players didn’t think they were out of the game.
“Basketball’s like boxing,” Bell-Holter said. “You get hit with rounds and see how you retaliate. I feel like (Kake) gave us their best punches. We just gradually, gradually wore them down and I knew right there they were playing not to lose rather than playing to win.”
In Bell-Holter’s mind, “right there” was when Hydaburg cut the lead to 69-61 with four and a half minutes left. Around that point, Hydaburg caught fire from beyond the arc. Six of Hydaburg’s seven field goals in the fourth quarter were threes, with four coming from Bell-Holter and two from Vinny Edenshaw.
Edenshaw was the game’s leading scorer, finishing with 27 points compared to Bell-Holter’s 26. Xavier Friday led the way for Kake, scoring 24 points in the loss.
Hoonah advances to M Bracket championship
Last year’s M Bracket champions will have a chance to defend their title Saturday.
Thanks to a strong second half, Hoonah defeated Klukwan 61-56 in Thursday’s semifinal matchup to advance to the championship game, which will take place at 4 p.m. Hoonah, which won the 2017 championship, will face the winner of the 3:30 pm. Friday Kake-Klukwan game. Hoonah has already defeated both Kake and Klukwan in this tournament.
The next step for Hoonah?
“We need to rest tonight and tomorrow,” said Albert Hinchman, who led Hoonah with 23 points Thursday. “Ice the knees, heal up and stay focused.”
Hinchman, the reigning M Bracket MVP, was key to fueling Hoonah’s big third quarter. He scored 12 points in the frame, hitting two threes and making a runner in transition to give Hoonah its first lead of the half at 38-37. In all, Hoonah outscored Klukwan 22-11 in the third quarter and led by one point heading into the fourth.
The teams traded baskets for much of the fourth quarter, but Hoonah made enough free throws down the stretch to stay just out of reach of Klukwan, which went by the moniker of “Chilkat Thunder.” Hoonah’s Kamal Lindoff was 6-for-6 from the foul line in the fourth, and the team as a whole was 9-for-12 from the line in the quarter.
Klukwan’s Jeff Sharnbroich led his team with 23 points, 16 of which came in the first half.
As is the case with many teams at Gold Medal, Hoonah has been playing together for years. Hinchman, who has been hobbled this year by bursitis in both hips, said that familiarity is key to the team’s success.
He also said he tries to hold his teammates to as high a standard as possible, because he knows this group’s potential.
“Sometimes it feels like I might get a little upset or mad at the guys,” Hinchman said. “I just want to win so bad for them, for my family, for my fans, for the town, the community.”
• Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or amccarthy@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @akmccarthy.
Klukwan’s Chris Wassman, right, dives for a ball retrieved by Hoonah’s Tierney Bible Sr. during their Master’s bracket game in the Juneau Lion’s Gold Medal Basketball Tournament at Juneau-Douglas High School on Thursday, March 22, 2018. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Hydaburg’s Vinny Edenshaw, right, drives against Kake’s Zavier Friday in their B bracket game in the Juneau Lion’s Gold Medal Basketball Tournament at Juneau-Douglas High School on Thursday, March 22, 2018. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
