The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears boys basketball team have thrown a scare into the host of this years Region V Tournament (Feb. 6-8), defeating the Ketchikan Kings 61-50 Friday night inside the Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium.
The win gives JDHS a 1-2 Southeast Conference record (8-12 overall) and puts Kayhi at 2-1 SEC (12-7 overall) with another game against the Kings coming tonight.
JDHS used the sweep by Kayhi in Juneau in early January as inspiration.
Crimson Bears senior Pedrin Saceda-Hurt told the Ketchikan Daily News “We kind of used that as fuel…These are our rivals, we really wanted to beat them. So every practice before this we were as focused as we could be, and then we just executed tonight…we watch film and we know the personnel on Ketchikan, who’s the shooters, who’s the rebounds, who’s a defensive dawg, and we just kind of exploit what we know and just try to work around it.”
JDHS had one of its most balance scoring attacks of the season and held a 12-10 first quarter lead behind five points from senior Pedrin Saceda-Hurt, who connected on one shot past the arc, four points from junior Joren Gasga, two from senior Ahmir Parker and a free throw from junior Brandon Casperson.
Ketchikan senior Marcus Stockhausen hit two shots from past the arc to pace the Kings.
JDHS outscored Kayhi 21-16 in the second quarter behind a dominant inside stretch by junior Elias Dybdahl, and crafty senior Ahmir Parker. Saceda-Hurt and Gasga added another couple scores for a 33-26 lead at the half.
Parker told the Ketchikan Daily News, “After those two tough losses at home, especially with games we thought we should have won, the outcome of this game was definitely big for us…it showed us that the hard work we’ve been putting in in our practice is really showing up.”
JDHS’ Gasga would be hard to control all game for Kayhi as he connected for two more shots past the arc in the third quarter.
The Kings would outscore the Crimson Bears 15-13 in the stanza, but JDHS led 46-40 heading into the final eight minutes of action.
JDHS proved they were in charge of the game as they controlled the pace in the fourth quarter while Kayhi played at a frantic pace and struggled to get past the aggressive Crimson Bears defense.
JDHS would connect on nine free throws in the stanza — seven from Casperson — four points inside from Dybdahl and another three points from Parker. Kayhi was held to another 10 points in the period and Stockhausen held to none.
“We tried to stay in front of him,” JDHS coach Robert Casperson said. “and make him shoot contested shots.”
Gasga led the Crimson Bears with 14 points, junior Elias Dybdahl added 13, Saceda-Hurt 12, Parker nine, Casperson eight, junior Kurt Kuppert three and senior Ben Sikes two.
JDHS went 11-16 at the free throw line, Kayhi 5-10.
Stockhausen led the Kings with 14 points, seniors Jonathan Scoblic and Gage Massin added nine points apiece, junior Jozaiah Dela Cruz seven, junior Edward Dela Cruz six, sophomores Zyrus Manabat and Henry Vail two apiece.
JDHS has another game tonight at 7:15 p.m. in Ketchikan.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
