Finishing tied for seventh would have been acceptable.
Averaging 999 less students than the other seven teams in the Class 4A state basketball championships, Kenai Central wasn't given much of a chance by anybody.
Probably not against top-seeded Colony. Certainly not against second-seeded Bartlett. And most definitely not against third-seeded Dimond.
After their stunning 74-73 overtime upset of the Lynx in the opening round on Thursday, though, the senior-laden Kardinals instantly proved they belonged.
And they nearly made a run to the championship game to boot.
But the hot shooting that carried Kenai to the shocking win over Dimond completely disappeared over the next two games.
Leading by eight after the first and by one at halftime, Kenai didn't score until the 1:15 mark of the third quarter on Friday in falling 54-46 to a bigger, more athletic Bartlett team. The Kardinals then went scoreless over the final 2:12 of the fourth quarter in losing 42-38 to the scrappy Knights in Saturday morning's third-place contest at Sullivan Arena.
"We played the one, two and three (seeds) in our three games and we certainly didn't embarrass ourselves in any basketball game," said Kenai coach Jim Beeson. "If you'd have told me we were going to come to the state tournament and we were going to play the one, two and three seeds and we were going to win one of those games, I'd probably have been ecstatic at that point in time.
"And I told our kids, that kind of put Kenai basketball back on the map," he added. "They set the groundwork for the kids coming behind them to try to strive to get back here because this is what it's all about."
The Kardinals fifth-place showing was their best finish since 1998, when they last won a first-round game.
Though they certainly had their chances to place higher.
But the shots just weren't falling against the Knights, as only four players scored, and two starters, Daniel Gustkey „ who dropped a game-high 29 against Dimond „ and Zach Beeson went scoreless in almost 38 combined minutes of action.
"Our kids that usually get six, eight points, just didn't get it done (Saturday)," Beeson said. "Some of that's a tribute to how (the Knights) play. They play hard, they get in our face, and trap the ball and put a lot of pressure on the basketball and we don't get a lot of easy looks."
Matthew Stearman converted a put-back just before the buzzer to tie the game at 31 entering the final quarter. Stearman was one of eight Colony (23-5) players to find the bottom of the net without scoring more than nine points. Kenai nabbed a three-point lead when senior Cory Toombs netted three of his game-high 21 points just 48 seconds into the final frame.
It would be the final field goal of the game for Kenai (19-9).
And while they overcame a 5:10 scoreless stretch to beat Dimond, the Kardinals just weren't able to fight through this one.
Trailing by two when senior Nate Byrd (nine points) canned a pair of free throws, quelling a span of 3:44 without a point, Stearman used the glass to stake his team to a four-point lead with 3:15 to play.
Once again, though, Kenai squandered its many chances.
Amidst a stretch of five missed free throws by the Knights in the final 1:11, Kenai missed two wild shots and turned the ball over twice, once on a travel by Byrd and again when Toombs dribbled the ball off his own foot and out of bounds with 6.6 ticks remaining.
"Those are just things that happen," Beeson said. "The law of averages work out that we're not always going to be successful. It's unfortunate that at least we didn't get a good shot and a good look at the basket, but I'm not going to question what the kids did. Their effort all year long is the reason we're here in the first place."
Colony finally converted on its final two free throws, sealing its third win over Kenai this season, as well as a third-place finish after taking second last year.
"We still had plenty of opportunities," Beeson added. "We had the ball three times, we're down two, two of the three times we didn't get a shot. We just turned the ball over."
Colony opened the game looking like the top-ranked team in the state, quickly jumping in front 11-3 behind four points from Doug Gray and three from Josh Moseley.
But after changing balls because the one they had been using was losing air, Toombs punctuated an 11-0 run spanning the first and second quarters with three of his 11 first-half points in staking the Kardinals to a 14-11 lead with 6:53 to play in the second quarter.
But the Knights responded with a 7-0 spurt of their own, including a spinning, one-handed layup by Jaron Murphy (nine points), which sent the teams into the break knotted at 20.
Friday's game with Bartlett followed an eerily similar track.
Stunning the Golden Bears and their fans, the Kardinals owned a 17-9 advantage after eight minutes by shooting a blistering 58 percent (7-of-13) in the first, including seven points from Toombs and four from Byrd.
But Bartlett's player of the year candidate Kevin Winford and the Golden Bears promptly took over.
Winford jump-started a 9-2 spurt with a breakaway dunk and gave his team its first lead since 6-5 when he used the glass to convert a one-handed lay-in with 1:12 left in the half. But a Toombs put-back and two free throws by Byrd sent the Kardinals into the break with a 26-25 lead despite hitting just 2-of-11 shots in the frame.
"They didn't expect us to come out and play the way we played and it took them awhile," Beeson said. "If we would have just kept playing within ourselves and playing hard we'd have been all right."
Bartlett then altered its strategy in the second, attempting to drain the clock while holding the ball at midcourt. At one point, Winford spun the ball on the tip of his finger as if he were a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.
It didn't matter, though, as the Golden Bears stretched the lead to six and eventually led by three after the third.
"It was kind of crazy because they would come out and hold the ball and then the fans would react and then they would start trying to run something again," Beeson said with a grin. "I mean, if you're going to do it, do it and stick with it regardless of what people say about it. Just do it.
"That was to our advantage. I just thought it shortened the basketball game," he added. "When you have two teams that one's more athletic than the other, I want the game to be as short as possible."
It nearly cost Bartlett a date with South in Saturday's championship game.
Byrd opened the fourth with a tremendous rebound and a put-back in trimming the deficit to one, but Bartlett's Sergio DeVoe (two points, five rebounds), Winford (22 points), Damon Newsome (nine points, 12 rebounds) and Efhraim Manumaleuna (eight points, four rebounds) all scored in making it 42-35.
Things just got progressively worse for Kenai.
Toombs „ who scored 12 points „ fouled out with roughly four minutes remaining when he tried taking a charge near midcourt. Instead, he was whistled for a foul, one of many questionable calls against the Kardinals in a second half that saw Kenai called for 15 to just six against Bartlett.
"I didn't like that call. It was huge because instead of us having the basketball and turnover, Cory fouls out and is sitting on the bench and he's our best defensive player, obviously, and one of our best offensive players. It took the air out of us," Beeson said. "But you have to respond. ... You've got to move on. ... If it had gone our way it would have really given us a lot of momentum."
A trey by Gustkey trimmed it to 44-40, but the Kardinals wouldn't score again for two minutes while the Golden Bears hit 7-of-8 from the foul line in sealing their first finals trip since 2004, when they failed to capture their third straight state crown in an overtime loss to West.
When it was over, Bartlett, just like Dimond, most likely developed a newfound, deserved respect for the Kardinals, who will lose nine seniors, including their entire starting lineup, to graduation.
"I'm sure they were excited that they were playing us instead of Dimond (Friday). I think we came out in the first half and we showed that we belonged and we played well," Beeson said. "We've played Dimond and we've played Bartlett now and we've played South and we've played Eagle River and we played all of them. And we haven't been blown out by any of them.
"If you had told me at the beginning of the year we were going to be playing Bartlett to an eight-point game in the state semifinals," he added, "I'd have told you, you were crazy anyway."
Friday
Semifinals
GOLDEN BEARS 54, KARDINALS 46
Kenai 17 9 5 15 „46
Bartlett 9 16 9 20 „54
KENAI (46) „ Ferguson 2 1-2 6, Rabung 0 0-0 0, Saltzgiver 2 0-0 6, Kiefer 0 0-0 0, Chimphalee 1 0-0 2, Byrd 3 5-6 11, Toombs 5 0-1 12, Libert 0 0-0 0, Beeson 2 0-1 4, Lazaro 1 0-0 2, Gustkey 1 0-0 3, Duke 0 0-0 0. Totals „ 17 6-10 46.
BARTLETT (54) „ May 1 5-7 7, Roan 1 4-7 6, Winford 7 7-8 22, King 0 0-0 0, Newsome 4 0-0 9, Manumaleuna 3 2-4 8, DeVoe 1 0-0 2, Rollins 0 0-0 0, Yatchmenoff 0 0-0 0. Totals „ 17 18-26 54.
3-point goals „ Kenai 6 (Saltzgiver 2, Toombs 2, Ferguson 1, Gustkey 1); Bartlett 2 (Winford 1, Newsome 1). Team fouls „ Kenai 21, Bartlett 15. Fouled out „ Toombs, Saltzgiver.
Saturday
Third-place game
KNIGHTS 42, KARDINALS 38
Colony 11 9 11 11 „42
Kenai 9 11 11 7 „38
COLONY (42) „ Zagars 1 1-1 3, Huggins 1 0-0 2, J. Murphy 3 3-4 9, Palmer 1 0-0 2, Scott 1 0-0 2, Niver 2 0-4 5, Gray 2 4-6 8, C. Murphy 0 0-0 0, Moseley 3 1-5 7, Stearman 2 0-0 4. Totals „ 16 9-20 42.
KENAI (38) „ Rabung 0 0-0 0, Saltzgiver 2 2-2 7, Chimphalee 0 0-0 0, Byrd 2 5-6 9, Toombs 7 4-6 21, Libert 0 0-0 0, Beeson 0 0-0 0, Lazaro 0 1-2 1, Gustkey 0 0-0 0. Totals „ 11 12-16 38.
3-point goals „ Colony 1 (Niver), Kenai 4 (Toombs 3, Saltzgiver 1). Team fouls „ Colony 15, Kenai 17. Fouled out „ none.
High School Sports