Sitka falls to Nome in 3A state championship

The Sitka High School Wolves boys basketball team fell to the defending state champion Nome Nanooks 62-43 Saturday in the 3A boys title game of the 2025 ASAA March Madness Alaska 3A/4A Basketball State Championships in Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center.

“Our season is not defined by a win or loss today for sure,” Sitka coach Steve Compagno said. “One of the things that I can honestly say about this team is we got beat today by a team that was better than us. They were better today. Did we play our best game? No. But did we give it everything we had? Yeah, we gave it everything we had. I’m extremely proud of them. Again, my outlook isn’t based on a win or a loss or a result of this game. I’m sure it would have been nice to win, but they were just better and they beat us.”

The Wolves struck early with a rebound basket by senior Trey Demmert and a shot past the arc by junior Shane Tincher, and senior Trey Johnson had two blocked shots that kept the Nanooks out of the key.

Nome would respond with nine points on a run by Lane Schuerch, Orson Hoogendorn and Stanley Booth to take a 9-7 lead and take an 18-10 advantage after eight minutes.

Sitka pulled to 20-18 early in the second quarter with Johnson hitting from inside, and then from past the arc and at the free throw line.

Nome responded with a drive by Booth and a shot past the arc from Finn Gregg for a 25-18 lead. Sitka senior Bryce Compagno-Calhoun found room from distance to pull to 25-21 and then backed up another foot for a swish to trail 25-24, and junior teammate Brett Ross tied the score with a free throw.

In the midst of that action Sitka’s Johnson went down with an ankle injury and would be out until later in the stanza.

Nome responded with an old-fashioned three-point play as Hoogendorn scored, was fouled and hit the free throw for a 28-25 lead.

A mended Johnson returned to hit a free throw to pull to 28-26 and then added another blocked shot.

Nome’s Gregg would earn a free throw to give the Nanooks a 29-26 lead at the half.

Sitka began the second half with a defensive change from man to a matchup zone to slow Nome. On offense the Wolves saw the result as Demmert pulled a rebound and Johnson scored, and on the next possession Johnson pulled a rebound and Demmert scored for a 30-29 lead.

“We switched it up and went into a matchup zone or a zone disguised as a man,” Sitka coach Compagno said. “And we really slowed them down, but we had our chances. We came out in that third quarter and took that lead, and just didn’t hit shots. We could have gone on a 10-0, 12-0, 14-0 run, but didn’t do it. We had the opportunity, the shots just didn’t go in.”

Nome’s Gregg and Sitka’s Demmert would exchange scores until Booth hit three in a row for the Nanooks, two from past the arc.

Stika junior Kai Hirai put two of his own down from distance to stay within a point, 39-38 with a minute left to play.

Nome’s Gregg closed the stanza with two scores for a 43-38 lead.

The Nanooks put up an 11-0 run to open the fourth quarter, all supplied by Booth and Gregg to lad 54-38 with four minutes remaining to play.

A single Sitka free throw by Johnson was answered by Nome’s Gregg throwing a lob pass to Hoogendorn for a 56-41 lead with three minutes remaining and kept the ball on the outside forcing Sitka to foul.

Nome junior Peyton Weyiouuanna hit two free throws, Hoogendorn hit in the key and sophomore Levi Pederson hit two free throws for the 62-43 final.

“We have 24 wins and four losses,” Sitka coach Compagno said. “And out of those four losses we got beat every single time. We didn’t lose the game because we self-destructed or didn’t do this or we didn’t execute or didn’t do that. We just got beat. Like I told them before the game, ‘It is a game you are never going to forget.’ I’m pleased with our game plan. We held that team to 62 points. We hadn’t scored under 50 all season, and it wasn’t that we didn’t get shots, we didn’t make shots.”

Johnson led Sitka with 12 points, Compagno-Calhoun added eight, Demmert seven, Hirai six, senior Rowan Only-Miller four, Tincher three, sophomore Colton McGraw two and junior Brett Ross one. Johnson led with nine rebounds, Only-Miller and Compagno-Calhoun eight apiece, Demmert four and Tincher two. Johnson added three blocks in the game.

The Wolves were 16-48 from the field (6-19 from the arc), hit 5-12 at the free throw line, totaled six assists, 34 rebounds, seven steals, 16 fouls and 16 turnovers.

The Nanooks were 24-50 from the field (4-18 from the arc), 10-14 from the line, had seven assists, 28 rebounds, 12 steals, 15 fouls and 10 turnovers.

Booth Gregg led Nome with 21 points apiece, Schuerch and Hoogendorn seven apiece, Weyiouanna four and Pederson two. Hoogendorn had four steals and Booth three. Greg led with six rebounds.

Sitka coach Compagno noted the team’s effort all season.

“I never questioned their effort or their ability to go compete,” he said. “They competed. I knew they were going to compete today. I knew they were going to bring it. Attitude and effort are a requirement to be in the locker room. You’ve got to give me your best effort, you’ve got to have a great attitude. Execution is a bonus. We just didn’t execute today.”

The 3A tournament awards were presented following the game.

Nome earned the boys championship trophy and Sitka the runner-up. The Grace Christian Grizzlies girls defeated the Barrow Whalers for the girls 3A championship 62-41.

The 3A Boys Sportsmanship Award went to the Valdez Buccaneers. The 3A Girls Sportsmanship Award went to the Mt Edgecumbe Braves.

The 3A Boys Academic Award went to the Kenai Central Kardinals with a GPA of 3.67. The 3A Girls Academic Award went to the Grace Christian Grizzlies with a GPA of 4.0.

The Hilcorp “Alaskan Assist” Award was presented to the team that has the most assists through their first two state tournament games. The 3A boys winner went to the Nome-Beltz Nanooks with 23 and the 3A girls winner went to the Barrow Whalers with 27.

The 3A Boys State All-Tournament team were Sitka senior Trey Demmert and junior Trey Johnson; Mt. Edgecumbe senior Richard Didrickson Jr. and sophomore Kaden Herrmann; Nome-Beltz seniors Finn Gregg and Orson Hoogendorn; Barrow junior Jaziah Tivao and sophomore Alex Fruean; Kenai Central sophomore Miles Metteer; and Valdez senior Tino Tucker.

The 3A Girls State All-Tournament team were Mt. Edgecumbe senior Lauren Cedars and junior Tahira Akaran; Grace Christian senior Sophia Lentfer and juniors MJ Van her Horst and Poppy Wiggers-Pidduck; Barrow junior Aiga Unutoa and sophomore Kyle Burrell; Monroe Catholic senior Shannel Kovalsky and sophomore Leila Church; and Valdez junior Destiny Day.

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