The Juneau-Douglas boys basketball team rallied from a late deficit by torching West High School for 20 points in the fourth quarter to open its season with a victory Thursday.
Trailing 52-43 after three quarters, the Crimson Bears outscored the Eagles 20-10 in the fourth for a 63-62 victory at Wasilla High School during the Doc Larson’s Roundball Classic.
“I told them that with the way we could score, nine points wasn’t a whole lot … if we could commit to defense,” JDHS head coach Robert Casperson said. “We had to get some stops defensively.”
Stopping the Eagles was no easy matter, as the Crimson Bears were also facing last year’s 4A Player of the Year in guard Da’Zhon Wyche, who was held to just 15 points on 7-of-19 shooting from the field.
“We didn’t necessarily limit his touches, but in half court we tried to get the ball out of his hands,” Casperson said of Wyche. “We were trying to make somebody else beat us.”
The Crimson Bears had the more experienced team heading into the contest, returning four starters from last year’s squad with Teyson Ramos, Kaleb Tompkins, Bryce Swofford and Guy Bean. Bean led all scorers with 20 points, followed by 18 from Tompkins, 13 from Swofford and six points from Ramos, who also dished out seven assists. Swofford also pulled in a team-high nine rebounds.
New to the Crimson Bears lineup is starting center Hunter Hickock, a football standout for the Crimson Bears who scored four points and pulled down six rebounds in his basketball debut.
“Hunter was a very big presence inside,” Casperson said. “Caleb and Guy took the shots they were able to get, and Treyson did a nice job distributing the ball.”
Casperson said turnovers were an issue all game, with JDHS and West both giving up the ball 20 times each, but he praised the “basketball IQ” of his team and saw promise from six players who were playing in their first varsity basketball game ever.
“My hope, my vision for this group, is that there will be a lot less of me involved and more of them,” he said.
The Crimson Bears made 49 percent of their shots compared to 41 percent for West, and outrebounded the Eagles 36 to 34.
Next up is Coronado at 5 p.m. today. Games can be watched live-streamed from the Wasilla High School “Cube” site.
