While the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé Crimson Bears boys varsity was taking on some of the top ranked teams in the state last week in Palmer, their feeder program was busy battling established varsity programs in Petersburg.
“A good JV player starts with fundamentals and learning our system,” JDHS junior varsity coach John Sleppy said. “With regards to playing against a varsity team it allows player’s valuable experience about what is expected at the next level.”
The Crimson Bears lost their three games at the Petersburg tourney against three teams that are expected to flourish in their divisions.
JDHS fell to the 1A power Skagway Panthers 55-38, to the defending 2A state champion Petersburg Vikings 37-27 and the 2A Craig Panthers 65-58.
In the Skagway loss freshman Keaton Belcourt led JDHS with 12 points, junior Madden Mendoza added nine, sophomore Erik Thompson five, junior Christian Riley four, sophomore Hunter Carte and junior Marcus Mendoza three apiece, and freshman Zach Polasky two. JDHS hit 7-12 at the free throw line, Skagway 5-8.
Royce Borst led the Panthers with a game high 24 points, Kaleb Cochran and Camden Lawson added 10 apiece, Landon Rodig seven and Malcolm Lawson four. JDHS led 12-10 after eight minutes, trailed 21-15 at the half and 41-25 after three quarters.
In the Petersburg loss Thompson and Belcourt scored eight points apiece for the Crimson Bears, Carte six, Madden Mendoza three and junior Vernon Brewer two. JDHS went 2-5 at the free throw line, Petersburg 7-13.
Junior Noah Pawuk led Petersburg with 12 points, junior Brayden Tucker 10, junior Logan Tow eight, junior Aiden Knudsen five and senior Evan Ware two. The Vikings led 13-5 after eight minutes, 22-12 at the half and 33-16 after three quarters.
With the varsity playing north the junior varsity was chaperoned by JDHS Assistant Principal Nate Creel, a PHS Vikings alum.
“Petersburg runs a high class tournament and brought in some great competition for our JV boys,” Creel said from the venue. “They were gracious hosts and we are thankful for the invite. We are having a great time. We started off a little slow but have continued to battle and improve with each game that we played. I am super proud of how our Bears competed and represented our school community during this tournament.”
In the Craig loss Belcourt scored 13 points, Thompson 11, Carte 10, Polasky eight, Marcus Mendoza six, Madden Mendoza five and Brewer one. JDHS hit 7-12 at the free throw line, Craig 12-19.
The Panthers were led by 22 points from Josh Bennett, Brody Bazinet added 18, Ayden Benolken 14, Ashton Bean six, Adam Vickers three and Aiden Goheen two. Craig led 18-13 after one quarter, trailed 29-26 at the half, but took a 50-45 advantage heading into the final stanza of play.
• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.
