The Ninilchik boys basketball team was eliminated from the Class 2A state tournament after a 46-39 loss to Wrangell on Friday.
The No. 6 Wolverines (18-11) and No. 7 Wolves were playing for a spot in Saturday’s fourth-place game. Ninilchik had won the last two Class 2A state titles, which gave coach Nick Finley four state titles in eight years.
The Wolverines had lost 44-42 to No. 3 Petersburg to open the tournament. Petersburg went on to defeat No. 1 Hooper Bay 41-33 for the title.
Finley said the close game with Petersburg shows how close another state title was. The coach said Ninilchik’s side of the bracket was loaded. He figured the champ would emerge from that side.
“I will say it was a good season,” he said. “I wish it would have ended differently, as everyone would, but at the same time, we had a great time.
“We played a lot of 3A and 4A schools, and that was a great experience. We traveled all over the state — went to Cordova, Nenana, Seward, Homer.”
Against Wrangell on Friday, after taking a 15-9 lead after the first quarter, Ninilchik, began to have trouble scoring the basketball.
The Wolverines held on to a 20-15 lead at halftime, but Wrangell led 28-24 after three quarters.
After Ninilchik cut the lead to 28-26 to start the fourth, Wrangell heated up from the field. The Wolves hit a pair of 3-pointers to go on a 10-2 run for a 38-28 lead. Ninilchik would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.
After going 6 of 18 from the floor in the first half, including 1 of 7 from 3, Wrangell went 10 of 21 from the floor in the second half, including 4 of 10 from 3.
Ninilchik had a sizzling game from behind the arc, but struggled elsewhere. The Wolverines were 14 of 35 from the floor in the game, including 8 of 18 from 3-point range. Ninilchik also was 3 of 12 from the charity stripe.
Wrangell’s other big edge was a 30-17 performance on the boards.
Sophomore Kade McCorison had a big night for Ninilchik. He finished with 23, going 7 of 12 from 3-point range but 1 of 6 from 2-point range.
Finley said McCorison scored the 1,000th point of his career in the Friday game.
“That’s phenomenal,” the coach said of McCorison hitting the mark as a sophomore. “I don’t know how many kids in the state have ever done that.
“He can score the basketball very well, from all three levels. Inside, midrange and outside. He does it all.”
In their final games for the Wolverines, senior Rowan Mahoney had 7 points and 7 assists, while Carter Lemons had 2 points. Junior Max Russell added 7 for Ninilchik.
Finley said he has coached Mahoney since the second grade. The coach said Mahoney had to fill a tough role this year. Before this season, his main role was defense, but this season he had to be a leader, make decisions on offense and score more.
“It’s been fun having him and being part of this ride he was able to go on,” Finley said. “Some of our younger kids have learned good habits from him on defense — pressuring the ball and causing turnovers.”
Finley said Lemons didn’t get much varsity playing time in his first three seasons, then started this season.
“Defensively, he averaged like three, three and a half steals a game,” Finley said. “He did a good job, but not having all that game time the last three years is tough.
“It’s tough to come in and know exactly what to do and how to make an impact.”
Senior Jachin Sanchez moved to Ninilchik from Costa Rica and was playing organized basketball for the first time.
“He said this was legitimately his dream, being a part of this,” Finley said. “No matter what happened, just being part of a team like we have.”
Daniel Harrison also scored 23 for Wrangell, going 6 of 12 from 2 and 1 of 4 from 3.
Also for the Wolves, Aadyn Gillen had 9 on three big second-half 3-pointers, Lucas Schneider had 6, Boomchain Loucks had 5 and Keegan Hanson had 3.
Finley said in order to get back on top next year, the key is finding players to help McCorison.
“We obviously, in my opinion, have the best player in 2A on our team,” he said. “He can’t just do everything. And that was evident in the tournament.
“He had a great tournament, and we still lost.”
The Wolverines are young. Russell was the only junior on the roster this year and started this season.
Finley said the program currently has six freshmen, three sophomores and four eighth-graders led by promising point guards Eric Rader and Onyx Allen.
Sophomore Kannon Hughes also started this year, while sophomore Noah Kalugin provided nice state minutes off the bench.
The freshmen on the varsity roster are Brandt Mill, Gabriel Kerrone, Holden Corwin, Benjamin Hand and Nate Jaworski.
Finley said all the youth let Ninilchik play 16 junior varsity games. He said the program has not had JV games previously.
“We told them right after the game that every starting spot is open,” Finley said of his team. “So whoever wants to work for it, let’s see where we go.”
Finley said the team has responded well.
“All these kids are just hungry,” the coach said. “We got back from Anchorage last night, and they want to have an open gym.
“They’re ready to start playing already.”
