The Cook Inlet Academy boys basketball team defeated Shaktoolik 61-50 on Friday to move into the fourth-place game of the Class 1A state tournament at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
The No. 4 seed Eagles (24-4) will face No. 11 Lumen Christi at 8 a.m. Saturday for fourth place.
The two teams are very familiar with each other because both play in the Peninsula Conference. The Eagles defeated the Archangels 63-13 on Jan. 19, 79-51 on Jan. 26 and 52-49 on March 1.
Against No. 9 Shaktoolik, CIA was down 17-10 after the first quarter and 29-23 at halftime.
Eagles head coach Ben McGarry said the biggest factor in the first half was 3-point shooting. Shaktoolik was 5 of 9 from behind the arc, while CIA was 0 for 6.
“They were 5 for 9 from the 3-point line, so that was a huge demoralizer for our team early on,” McGarry said.
The coach also said his squad had too many turnovers in the first 16 minutes.
“We just were not awake, I guess, for the 8 a.m. game,” McGarry said. “But we had a really good halftime talk, made a few key adjustments and played a really excellent second half.”
The coach said Alek McGarry played a big role in keeping the team in the game in the first half. McGarry finished with 23 points on 9 of 17 shooting.
“He had 10 points in the first half, so we definitely would have been in trouble without that, because we weren’t doing anything good otherwise,” coach McGarry said.
Although Shaktoolik led 39-38 after three quarters, coach McGarry said the biggest play of the game may have come late in the third quarter, when Ian McGarry had a dunk to put the Eagles up by one.
It was the third dunk of the year for Ian. Coach McGarry also said it was the first dunk anyone with the team has seen at the tournament.
“That was a big play for him,” coach McGarry said. “Personally, I think it just kind of fired him up. And from then on, he had some really nice finishes.”
The Eagles started to break away from Shaktoolik in the fourth quarter as the Wolverines cooled from the field.
In the second half, Shaktoolik was 9 of 39 from the floor, including 3 of 16 from 3-point range. CIA was cooking at 13 of 22 from the floor, including 3 of 7 from 3.
Ian McGarry ended up leading all scorers with 24 points, going 8 of 12 from the floor and 7 of 8 from the line.
Coach McGarry said plenty of other players came up big for the Eagles. Brothers Jonas and Lucas Oyoumick both had big 3-pointers in the second half and finished with 3 points apiece.
The coach also said Matthew Phillips continued coming on strong with four points. McGarry said the sophomore started the season as a JV player.
“You don’t see the hustle plays that he made but he’s 6-3,” McGarry said. “He has long arms.”
With Phillips, as well as fellow sophomores Alek McGarry at 6-3 and Brandt Rollman at 6-3, coach McGarry said the future is bright. Rollman and Jeremiah Dillingham each added 2 points against Shaktoolik.
For the Wolverines, Ray Sagoonick had 16, Ryan Evan had 14, Seth Paniptchuk had 10, Dawson O’Conner had 6, and Chase Katchatag and Ricky Paniptchuk had 2 points apiece.
Coach McGarry said Lumen was physical last time and looked to get out in transition.
“We’ve just got to come out ready to play,” McGarry said. “It’s a conference rival, and we don’t want to give them a victory at state.”
