The deeper team stayed alive in the loser’s section of the B Bracket on Thursday.
As Angoon’s bench has gotten shorter throughout the tournament due to injury and illness, the confidence level on Wrangell’s bench has grown, and it showed Thursday.
Four Wrangell players scored in double digits, led by Ryan Howell’s 25 points, as the team eliminated Angoon with a 92-81 victory. Howell said the play of Wrangell’s bench helped fuel the win.
“When you go out, everybody has confidence that they can come in and give us some hard minutes and fill the other guy’s shoes,” Howell said. “We go in there and not miss a beat.”
One of the major benefits of having fresh players off the bench was that Wrangell could throw a variety of players at Angoon leading scorer Clayton Edwin. Edwin didn’t come off the court in Angoon’s final three games of the tournament, scoring 55 points Tuesday and 46 points Wednesday before leading all scorers with 35 points Thursday.
Wrangell’s game plan was to make nothing easy for Edwin, putting different defenders on him throughout the game to exhaust him. The plan worked, as Edwin was inefficient from the floor. Nineteen of his 36 points came from the foul line, and he felt that he never found a rhythm with his shot.
“They put me to the line a lot, so there was a lot of that,” Edwin said. “It’s just one of those days, you know? They were playing great defense.”
Wrangell’s Andrew Versteeg spent a great deal of time on Edwin, disrupting him at every turn and keeping a hand in his face. Howell compared Versteeg’s defensive effort to the Energizer Bunny, never slowing down. Versteeg added seven points as well.
Angoon’s bench was short due to a collarbone injury to one player, one player being out of town and one player dealing with illness. The tournament ends for Angoon, but Edwin said he’s already looking forward to next year’s Gold Medal.
Wrangell advances to the semifinal set to take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Wrangell will play the loser of the Hoonah-Haines Thursday evening game for a chance to play in the championship. Wrangell went to the loser’s bracket after a loss to Haines on Monday night, then beating Hydaburg and now Angoon to stay alive.
Wrangell is riding a wave of confidence at the moment, and Howell said that as long as the team continues to play smart, the success could continue.
“I think we’ll be right there with anybody,” Howell said. “If we take care of the ball, make some good shots and trust everybody out there on the court, we’ll be right there.”
Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com or at 523-2271
