Kings escape Crimson Bears den

The Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé boys basketball team had their fair share of chances to open the Southeast Conference schedule with a home win, but Ketchikan spoiled Friday night with a 52-48 victory inside the George Houston Gymnasium.

“Well, a little bit of luck,” Ketchikan coach Eric Stockhausen said. “But that was a typical conference game between these two old rivals and I don’t think either team shot the ball like they expect to. So one or two bounces here or there and I think we got a little lucky, and I just thought it was hard fought and kind of a defensive struggle.”

With the score tied at 46-46 Ketchikan came out of a timeout and Kings senior Marcus Stockhausen found a basket for a 48-46 lead.

JDHS would miss a shot, the Kings rebounded and ran the clock down to 51 seconds until the Crimson Bears fouled.

Still not in the bonus the Kings inbounded and senior Jonathan Scoblic curled over a staggered line up for a wide-open layup and a 48-46 advantage.

“Clearly I didn’t have our guys ready to play,” JDHS coach Robert Casperson said. “Ketchikan came in more prepared. I was feeling good coming in. I thought we were ready. I thought we understood what this was going to be about and the opportunity in front of us here at home. We did not play to the level that I believe we were at coming out of our Capital City Classic. So that’s on me. I’ve got to do a better job of getting us ready and we have to do a better job of executing in games. Even with that it was a two-point game with a minute something left and that could be anybody’s ball game in high school.”

JDHS would miss two free throws with 14 seconds left and foul the Kings’ M. Stockhausen who hit two from the charity stripe for a 52-46 lead.

JDHS would get a final basket to cut the lead to 52-48, but time expired when Ketchikan rebounded their own missed free throw.

JDHS held the early lead after eight minutes 15-11 with deep shots from senior Pedrin Saceda-Hurt and junior Joren Gasga and senior Ahmir Parker joining them with baskets closer in, while Ketchikan worked the ball inside out and got scores from Scoblic, M. Stockhausen and a bomb from junior Jozaiah Dela Cruz.

No shots came easy for either team. Kayhi would take a lead at 21-19 with three minutes left in the second quarter after M. Stockhausen hit two shots in a row, and senior Gage Massin added another and J. Dela Cruz added a free throw.

Crimson Bears junior Elias Dybdahl had a big defensive stop on M. Stockhausen and sprinted down the court to receive a layup pass to tie the game at 21-21.

Dybdahl would snare two big rebounds in the final minute and put one back in for a score, but the Crimson Bears would trail 27-23 at the break.

“Both teams put a lot of effort into the defense,” coach Stockhausen said. “They (JDHS) are very, very dangerous when they get rolling. Whoever didn’t shoot well tonight will probably be on point tomorrow so we are going to have to be a little cleaner with how we play the game. I thought we were a little too hesitant at times and I thought their intensity gave us troubles at times. I think the ball bounced our way a couple times, but I thought we rebounded at the end fairly well and that was probably key.”

The two teams exchanged baskets into the second half with JDHS taking a 35-34 lead on a deep three by Gasga with three minutes left in the third period.

Kayhi’s M. Stockhausen got the lead back with a pair of free throws and JDHS’ Gasga took it back again at 37-36.

A free throw by M. Stockhausen, a turnover by JDHS and then a basket by Kayhi sophomore Zyrus Manabat gave the Kings a 39-37 lead at the end of three quarters.

JDHS would miss their first four shots of the fourth quarter and Kayhi went up 44-37.

Parker would close the Crimson Bears to 44-39 with six minutes left, add a free throw by junior Brandon Casperson with five minutes left and a nice inside move by Dybdahl with under four to play to pull within 44-42.

Gasga found a score to tie the game at 44-44 with under three minutes remaining.

Kayhi’s Massin gave the Kings the 46-44 lead and Gasga tied the game at 46 with two minutes left, setting the stage for the Kings time out scoring play.

“Lots of missed layups throughout the game and then we just started relying on casting up three-pointers,” coach Casperson said. “The ball never got to the rim as often as it should have before we shot threes. It was all perimeter passes and kick-outs and shots and stuff like that. If that ball goes in the paint and then it comes out for a three that is a lot better look for us traditionally then just four guys on the perimeter touch it and then somebody shoots a three when they feel like it is their turn. So we have a lot of work to do. We’ll watch some film tomorrow and try to be ready.”

The two teams are very similar, both are active physically. JDHS loves to press defensively and Ketchikan is a good ball handling team.

“They were better,” coach Casperson said. “They were better. No doubt about it. They didn’t have the mistakes that we were tying to create for them with the turnovers and everything. They shot a big percentage and if I go look at our shot chart for defense too many of their shots happened right at the rim.”

Gasga led JDHS with 15 points, Parker added 12, Saceda-Hurt 10, Dybdahl six, junior Damian Efergan and senior Ben Sikes two apiece and B. Casperson one.

The Crimson Bears hit 2-8 at the charity stripe, the Kings 8-12.

M. Stockhausen had a game high 18 points, Massin added 12, Scoblic 10, J. Dela Cruz seven, Edward Dela Cruz three and Manabat two.

JDHS is 3-5 overall and 0-1 in the SEC, Ketchikan is 5-2 OA and 1-0 SEC.

The two teams meet again Saturday at 7 p.m. inside the GH Gymnasium.

• Contact Klas Stolpe at klas.stolpe@juneauempire.com.