The Seward boys basketball team lost the fourth-place game 66-42 to Barrow on Friday in the Class 3A state tournament at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
The No. 4 Whalers used a height advantage to make things tough on the No. 6 Seahawks (20-8).
Seward head coach Al Plan said Van Shank is 6-foot-2, but everybody else on the Seahawks is at 6-0 or below.
The Whalers have five players on their roster at 6-foot-2 or above, and that led to a 44-21 advantage on the boards.
Barrow freshman Alex Fruean is 6-foot-5 and had 18 points and 7 rebounds on 7 of 14 shooting. Senior Jaziah Tivao is 6-6 and had 16 points and 6 rebounds on 7 of 9 shooting.
Senior Uatahouse Tuifua is 6-3, but he’s also the two-time defending Division II state wrestling champion at 285 pounds. He had 8 points and 9 rebounds on 4 of 5 shooting.
“We don’t have a lot to counter that 6-4 and 6-5,” Plan said.
The Seward coach said the plan on defense was to make Barrow shoot tough 2-pointers. Plan said the Seahawks did a solid job executing the game plan, but the problem came when Barrow started hitting 3-pointers.
The Whalers canned four 3-pointers in the first quarter to take a 22-14 lead. Barrow was 6 of 27 from 3-point land, but had been 2 of 18 on 3-pointers in an opening round loss to Valdez.
“It really becomes problematic because you have to pick your poison,” Plan said. “If they’re going to shoot that well outside, then that stretches you out.
“And once they stretch you out, they expose you down low because you really don’t have the size.”
Plan still felt good about where the team was at halftime. The Seahawks trailed 32-25 even after shooting just 9 of 25, including 2 of 10 from 3-point land, in the first half against Barrow’s zone.
“I felt like we had not shot the ball well yet at all and that that was probably going to start happening,” Plan said. “It just never did.
“They sat back in that two-three zone and the looks we got just didn’t fall for any of our guys who are seniors. At least not in the volume you need to stay competitive against a team like that.”
The Seahawks were 15 of 48 from the floor in the game.
After not hitting a 3-pointer in the second quarter, Barrow hit one at the end of the third and another early in the fourth to start to separate from the Seahawks. A fourth-quarter trey from Fruean put the Whalers up 50-35 and Seward would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.
The biggest reason the Seahawks were able to stay in striking distance through the start of the fourth quarter is senior Ben Ambrosiani, who was named state all-tournament team.
In his final game, he had 19 points on 7 of 11 shooting.
“He kept us in it, that’s for sure,” Plan said. “He was able to get on the glass and do what he normally does.
“The rest of us were having a hard time getting there and creating enough extra-chance opportunities for us to really make a difference when shots aren’t falling.”
Ambrosiani is one of five seniors who closed his career for the Seahawks. Also, Nick Ambrosiani had 8 points, Bergen Davis had 6 points and Kupono Albino was held scoreless. Jerick Senecal did not play due to injury.
“I’m super, super proud and thankful to have had the opportunity to coach those five seniors,” Plan said. “I think they’re a great group of guys and a good fit for Seward basketball.
“They’ve done a lot to lead and mentor the guys that are coming up behind them.”
Plan said the group won boroughs in eighth grade and showed they are still on top by getting the Seahawks to state for the first time since 2013 and getting Seward’s first victory at state since 2011. Seward had qualified for state in 2020 but that tournament was canceled due to the pandemic.
The group also became the first to wear Seward jerseys at the Alaska Airlines Center, which started hosting the state tournament in 2015.
“That’s something that none of these guys will ever forget, just to get out there and play on that floor,” Plan said. “We’ve gone through two full classes of graduates that have never been to the state tournament.
“For them to get there and get a win despite a couple of tough matchups, they’ve got to be pleased.”
Plan, in his 10th season as head coach, led his team at a state tournament for the first time.
Normally when a team loses a great group of seniors after making a rare trip to state, the prospect of another lengthy absence looms.
Seward returns a talented group, headed by sophomore Emerson Cross, who started all season and had 4 points Friday.
Juniors Jack Lindquist, Noah Price, Shank and Talon Lemme, and sophomores Mason Elhard and Lane Petersen also return. Elhard had 3 points, while Petersen had 2.
Those returners will get to play in Class 2A next season, which is for schools with 61 to 150 students.
Seward is right on the edge. The Alaska School Activities Association had the school at 144 students last year. Kenai Peninsula Borough School District numbers from Feb. 21 show 154 enrolled at the school.
An enrollment of 150 has an average class size of 37.5. Seward Middle, as of Feb. 21, has 38 sixth-graders, 26 seventh-graders and 41 eighth-graders.
“We just decided to opt in and not up, and then see what happens for three years, and then see how much looks different,” Plan said. “If it’s not a great fit, we can always go back up, or we may have to go back up.”
Seward will be in a conference with Ninilchik, Susitna Valley, Lumen Christi and Unalaska. Susitna Valley is the only of those teams not to play in a state tournament this season.
“We’re not going to go in there and waltz through 2A like a hot knife through butter,” Plan said. “There’s some very competitive teams there.”
