It was the second day of the Gold Medal Basketball Tournament, but the audience crackled with late tournament energy.
For most of the second half of Hoonah and Filcom’s Tuesday morning game, it was a one-possession contest with lead swaps and aggressive defense before Hoonah pulled ahead to claim a 72-60 victory.
“We talk a lot about the fourth quarter and being in position to click into another gear,” said Anthony Lindoff. “We like to end with an exclamation point, and I think we did that.”
[Game Schedule, Brackets and More: Read our Gold Medal 2019 Special Section here]
As the game wore on, Hoonah’s players continued to run the court aggressively forcing Filcom defenders to their heels, which generated trips to the free-throw line for Hoonah and helped seal the game.
“The difference, I thought, was conditioning,” said Donald Dybdahl, who chipped in 23 points.
The team was heartily cheered on to victory.
The Hoonah hopeful let out bellows of “Hoo-nah,” chanted defense when it was time for their team to clamp down and stomped their feet like mad when the opposing team needed to shoot free throws. It kept the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé gym loud.
“Sometimes it can play to the other guys, because when they get that crowd and they’re into it, it really pumps up the other team, too, so you get this clash, and I love it,” Lindoff said. “They get up for us because of that crowd. That’s for sure.”
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A double dose of Dybdhals gave them plenty to cheer about.
Travis Dybdahl, a Gold Medal Tournament Hall-of-Famer and cousin of Donald Dybdahl, contorted in air to sink a couple of tough layups. He also dished out assists off of his drives and found Jeremy Martin for a kick out 3-pointer that helped establish a Hoonah lead that would not be relinquished.
Let them beat Kake
Monday’s first match up was not a close contest.
[Gold Medal Tournament kicks off in Juneau]
Kake prevailed against Angoon 94-54 and for much of the fourth quarter, Kake players seemed content to let the most fun shot fly instead of working to get the absolute best look.
“It was pretty good,” said Nick Davis, identified as team captain for Kake. “We started off kind of slow and got our rhythm out there.”
The first quarter ended at a relatively close 19-11, but from there on out Kake would add to its lead. Many points came from some smooth moves and sharp shooting from Rudy Bean. There were also a couple of dynamic drives to the hoop by Kip Howard that got the audience involved.
[How athletes did at traditional games]
At one point, Howard gathered himself to lay the ball in, when a shout of, “Dunk it,” rang out in the gym. Howard missed the layup.
“Who said dunk it?” he asked with a laugh after landing.
Got their Haines on
Skagway and Haines were the first game in the women’s bracket Monday and through the half it was a close one with Skagway boasting a modest 5-point lead.
A major reason for that early success were the handles of Jesse Ellis, who initiated much of Skagway’s offense in the early going.
[Gold Medal Live blog brings updates from the day’s games]
Skagway would hang on to win 62-55.
Cleaning their Klukwan
Klukwan topped Yakutat 82-62 in the day’s 2:30 p.m. day.
Travis Dybdahl dribbles during Hoonah’s victory against Filcom during the Gold Medal Basketball Tournament Monday. (Ben Hohenstatt | Juneau Empire)
Jesse Ellis puts a move on her defender during the Gold Medal Basketball Tournament Monday. (Ben Hohenstatt | Juneau Empire)
