Bartlett High basketball coach Greg Fullmer fully enjoys the annual trip down to the Kenai Peninsula each winter when his boys team faces local competition. It’s especially gratifying when his team wins.
The Bartlett boys left no doubt who the supreme team was Friday night at Soldotna Prepatory School when they defeated Soldotna 62-38 in nonconference play.
“It’s always fun to come to Soldotna and Kenai because the people here treat us like a million dollars,” Fullmer said after the game. “We come down every year and we’re already planning on coming down next year.”
With the Soldotna High School gym out of commission due to a high school dance, the Golden Bears put on a dazzling display of blocking, stealing, shooting and even dunking in the slightly smaller gym at the prep school.
Even more impressive was the stat sheet. Even with 62 points of offense, no Bartlett player scored in double digits. Sophomore team captains Latraviaus Kingsland and Anthony Camacho both notched nine points, the highest on the team.
Hunter Phillips led Soldotna with 13 points, while senior teammate Nate Spence chipped in 10.
“We played at a higher speed than normal,” said Soldotna coach Mark Tuter. “We played a very athletic team, so that’s going to bode well for us later.
“We realized that we can’t miss a bunch of shots to begin with and get down against a good team.”
Bartlett burst out of the gate with a 29-4 run that lasted into the middle of the second quarter. The Bears were getting post shots from Kajae Mader and 3-point sniper shots from Kage Freelove, which left the Stars defense scrambling.
Soldotna was able to hold its own on offense as well, but seemingly every close-range attempt was swatted away by the long, spindly arms of Duol Yat or Bentiu Panoam, who stand at 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-3, respectively. Both players had several big blocks on the backboard that had the crowd in a frenzy.
“Every team has a signature, in the way they play,” Fullmer said. “It’s dictated a lot of times by the personality you have. We’re an athletic team, so we like to pressure the ball.”
By the time halftime rolled around, Bartlett held a 40-16 lead.
“We stopped the ball early, and we really got after it,” Fullmer said about what impressed him the most. “The pressure made the difference there early.”
Bartlett also is rolling in with a hot streak in the new year after capturing the Alaska Prep Shootout with a win over the Dimond Lynx last Saturday.
“It was really good for our morale to do that,” Fullmer said. “But the season is a long one, there’s a long way to go.”
After the sluggish start, the Stars began to etch away at the deficit with a mix of jumpshots and breakaway layups from Spence and Phillips.
SoHi scored six straight points in a 40-second span late in the first half to cut Bartlett’s lead to 31-13.
In the second half, the closest SoHi managed to get to the lead was 18 points on two separate occasions in the third quarter. However, the Bears’ depth was too much to overcome.
“We came out with a zone (defense), we knew they were more athletic than us,” Tuter said. “But they hit two or three 3’s and were off and running, and we missed a couple layups, and that was the problem.”
Dimond girls 55, Soldotna 36
Due to a venue change, the Soldotna girls were playing a home game not located in their usual gym. Instead, the colors were more suited for the visiting Dimond Lynx, and the visiting team ran away with a close game in the second half to score a win.
The game was a rematch of last spring’s fourth-place contest at the Class 4A girls state tournament, which SoHi won.
This time around, the Lynx (8-2) got the last laugh. Senior Rohyn Huss led the way with 20 points, including an 8-for-10 performance from the freethrow line.
Dimond coach Jim Young said winning games too early in the season can actually backfire on a team, creating a false sense of comfort, but Friday’s win confirmed his squad is headed in the right direction.
“I had some kids that contributed off the bench today that normally don’t play as much,” Young said. “I thought they came in with a lot of energy and sparked the team effort.”
Lindsey Wong led Soldotna with 12 points — including hitting all six free throw attempts — while Haley Miller added nine and Daisy Nelson scored seven with a pair of 3’s.
After a closely-matched first half that saw the Stars stay mostly step for step with the Lynx, Young said he told his players to deliver a harder press in the second half.
“When we bring the energy, we’re such an up-tempo team, and so a lot of teams will play zone against us to try and slow us down,” Young said. “But a lot of times, if we slow the ball down and play to their tempo, it’s hard for us to be successful.”
Miller brought SoHi to within a bucket of Dimond early in the second quarter, then pushed the Stars to an outright lead with 2:27 remaining in the first half with a steal and a driving layup that left Dimond trailing 16-15.
After a layup from Justine Anderson put the Lynx back into the lead, Wong was fouled and hit both ensuing free throws to leapfrog Dimond once again with 1:47 to go.
Dimond ended the first half on a spurt, however, getting six quick points in the final 1:25 from Lauren Hines and Huss to stake out a 23-18 lead.
Turnovers cost SoHi in the third quarter, as Dimond committed several steals that led to points on the other side of the floor to boost its lead.
The Stars clawed back to within four points — a jumpshot from Wong with 1:03 to go in the frame left SoHi trailing 31-27 — but Dimond immediately responded with 11 unanswered points to distance themselves.
“You gotta work and you can’t be comfortable with any lead, and that’s what I told the girls,” Young said.
Nikiski girls 60, Kotzebue 34
Nikiski outscored Kotzebue 28-10 in the second half to ease to the win on the second day of the 26th Annual Nikiski Tip-Off tournament in Nikiski.
Senior Rachel Thompson scored a game-high 25 points for the Bulldogs, who are 2-0 in the tournament, which began Thursday.
Nikiski started hot with 19 points, but still led by only five over Kotzebue, which continued to stay close until the halftime break. Nikiski led 32-24 at half, and Thompson had 14 points at that point.
The ‘Dogs then broke the game wide open in the third quarter with an 18-5 run.
Ayla Pitt and Avery Kornstad chipped in seven points each for Nikiski.
Cassidy Kramer led Kotzebue with 10 points.
Nikiski boys 55, Kotzebue 48
The Bulldogs rallied in the fourth quarter to claim a victory over Kotzebue at the Nikiski Tip-Off tournament. Nikiski is 2-0 so far in the tournament.
Hunter Holloway scored eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter to help the home team to the win, while Nathan Carstens led the team with 14 points, including six in the final quarter. Javon Pamplin chipped in nine as well.
Nikiski led 26-23 at halftime, but faltered in the third quarter. The Bulldogs trailed the Huskies 38-37 heading into the fourth.
Bish Gallahorn scored a game-high 22 points for Kotzebue.
Houston girls 45, Dillingham 25
Kimberly Quincy led the Hawks to a convincing win over Dillingham with 16 points Friday at the Nikiski Tip-Off tournament.
Dillingham boys 56, Houston 51
Kenneth Savo scored 22 points to lead the Dillingham boys to a close win over the Hawks, Friday at Nikiski.
Kade Taylor scored a game-high 24 points for Houston in the losing effort.
Seldovia boys 54, Ninilchik 49
The Seldovia Boys came out on top with a second win over Ninilchik in the span of a week.
Ninilchik led 26-24 at the half, but by the end of the third quarter Seldovia had tied it up at 40 apiece, before pulling away in the final frame.
One week earlier, Seldovia edged Ninilchik in another close contest 57-54.
Aidan Philpot led the Sea Otters with 18 points and teammate Calem Collier had 17.
Ninilchik’s Sam Mireles lead the Wolverines with 19 points, followed by Austin White’s 16.
Nikolaevsk boys 52, Wasilla Lake 49
The Warriors eked out a close win over Wasilla Lake Friday afternoon in Nikolaevsk.
Leading 28-22 at halftime, Nikolaevsk used a 16-9 third quarter surge that was enough to hold on for the win.
Jonah Fefelov scored eight of his 16 points in the fourth quarter to lead Nikolaevsk, while teammate Nikit Fefelov notched 12. Neil Gordeev and Felemon Molodih added 10 points apiece.
Braden Thorn scored a game-high 19 points for Wasilla Lake, including 13 in the first half.
Seward girls 37, Bethel 33
Jasmine Perea scored nine of her 16 points to lead the Seahawks past the Bethel Warriors, Friday in Bethel.
Leading 18-14 at halftime, Seward suffered a sluggish third quarter that resulted in the Seahawks trailing 28-25 after three periods of play.
However, Seward rallied past Bethel in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Warriors 12-5 on the strength of 5-of-6 shooting from Perea at the free throw line.
Kiana Clemens added eight points for Seward. Katie Crow led Bethel with 14.
Seward boys 54, Bethel 50
Five shots from beyond the arc by Seward in the fourth quarter helped rally the Seahawks past the Warriors, Friday in Bethel.
Seward trailed 26-21 at the half, and 38-33 after three quarter, but poured on the speed to outscore Bethel 21-12 in the final eight minutes.
Michael Wolfe hit two 3’s in the final quarter to lead Seward with 15 total points, and Alex Pahno hit a pair of treys as well to score 12. Paxson Berry added the other fourth-quarter 3-pointer that resulted in eight points for him, and Ronnie Jackson ended with nine points.
Taylor Hoffman poured in 26 points for Bethel.
Friday
BOYS
Golden Bears 62, Stars 38
Bartlett 18 22 8 14 —62
Soldotna 4 12 12 10 —38
BARTLETT (62) — Kingsland 4 1-2 9, Camacho 3 0-0 9, Trailer 2 0-0 5, Panoam 4 0-0 8, Nyak 1 2-2 4, Freelove 3 0-0 8, Yat 3 1-2 7, Hunter 1 0-0 2, Faliniko 2 0-0 4, Boyer 1 0-4 2, Mader 2 0-0 4. Totals 26 4-10 62.
SOLDOTNA (38) — Kuntz 0 1-2 1, Becher 0 0-0 0, Furlong 1 1-2 3, Phillips 5 2-2 13, Casey 0 0-0 0, Spence 3 4-5 10, Duke 1 1-2 3, Gibbs 0 0-0 0, Fowler 2 1-4 5, Trammel 1 1-2 3. Totals 13 11-19 38.
3-point goals — Soldotna 1 (Phillips); Bartlett 6 (Camacho 3, Freelove 2, Trailer 1). Fouled out — none.
Bulldogs 55, Huskies 48
Nikiski 15 11 11 18 —55
Kotzebue 10 13 15 10 —48
NIKISKI (55) — Anderson 2 1-3 6, Johnson 4 0-1 8, Holloway 3 3-5 11, Malston 1 0-0 3, Tauriainen 0 1-2 1, Carstens 5 3-4 14, Jackson 1 0-0 3, Pamplin 4 1-2 9, B. Carstens 0 0-3 0. Totals 20 9-20 55.
KOTZEBUE (48) — Nelson 0 0-0 0, Baldwin 0 0-2 0, Kenworthy 0 2-2 2, Schaeffer 7 1-3 15, Phillips 0 0-0 0, Reich 3 2-3 9, Gallahorn 6 10-13 22. Totals 16 15-23 48.
3-point goals — Nikiski 6 (Holloway 2, Anderson 1, Malston 1, Carstens 1, Jackson 1); Kotzebue 1 (Reich). Fouled out — Johnson, Nelson.
GIRLS
Lynx 55, Stars 36
Dimond 10 13 12 20 —55
Soldotna 5 13 9 9 —36
DIMOND (55) — Thompson 0 0-0 0, Jackson 1 0-0 2, Huss 6 8-10 20, Martinez 0 0-0 0, Hines 3 0-0 6, Wingert 3 0-2 6, Jones 3 0-1 7, Canty 2 0-2 4, Anderson 3 1-2 7, Forrey 1 1-2 3. Totals 22 10-19 55.
SOLDOTNA (36) — Nelson 2 1-3 7, Shaw 1 0-0 2, Jackson 1 0-0 2, Wong 3 6-6 12, McDonald 0 0-0 0, Ramsell 0 4-6 4, Miller 4 1-2 9, Glaves 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 12-17 36.
3-point goals — Soldotna 2 (Nelson 2); Dimond 1 (Jones). Fouled out — none.
Bulldogs 60, Huskies 34
Nikiski 19 13 18 10 —60
Kotzebue 14 10 5 5 —34
NIKISKI (60) — Parrish 1 2-5 4, Perry 0 1-2 1, Riddall 1 0-0 2, Vollertson 0 0-0 0, Pitt 3 1-2 7, Litke 2 0-0 4, Kornstad 3 0-1 7, Thompson 9 7-9 25, Jackson 2 0-1 4, Litzen 3 0-1 6. Totals 24 11-21 60.
KOTZEBUE (34) — Nelson-Loya 0 2-2 2, Sieh 2 0-0 5, Viveiros 1 0-0 2, Kramer 5 0-4 10, Mills-Bain 0 1-2 1, McConnell 0 0-0 0, Conwell 1 3-10 5, Schaeffer 3 1-2 9. Totals 12 7-20 34.
3-point goals — Nikiski 1 (Kornstad); Kotzebue 3 (Schaeffer 2, Sieh 1). Fouled out — Parrish.
