PALMER — Any hope of a trip to the state tournament for the Palmer Moose disappeared with a tough loss to Soldotna during the first round of the Northern Lights Conference tournament Thursday. But even though the Moose had no shot at qualifying for the state tourney, Palmer still had one last game on the schedule.
Palmer rebounded to score a 63-55 win over Kenai Central on Friday, during the second day of the tourney at Colony High School.
“A game like that, you know it’s the last game of the season. For the seniors it’s the last game of your career. It’s fairly tough sometimes to find that motivation and desire,” Palmer head coach Brandon Blake said after the win. “Total credit to them. They played hard. The seniors played hard the entire game. We got to play a bunch of the young kids. It was a nice way to finish.”
Senior Adam Ramoth capped his Moose career with a 30-point effort. He was 8 of 14 from the field, and a perfect 3 for 3 from behind the arc. Ramoth also drained 11 of 12 free throws.
“He had an unbelievable day,” Blake said of Ramoth.
Senior Cody Wells finished with 11 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
The seniors also helped spark Palmer’s 20-2 second-quarter run.
“We made a nice run in that second quarter there. Cody Wells and Adam Ramoth made some big plays defensively,” Blake said.
Kenai used a 20-10 third-quarter run to try to get back into the game, but Palmer was able to outscore the Kards 22-18 during the final quarter to secure the win.
Trevor Shirnberg posted a double-double and led his squad with a team-high 19 points and game-high 10 rebounds. Jonah Theisen hit a pair of 3s and added a dozen points.
Palmer girls 44, Kenai 36
PALMER — With a roster than includes seven sophomores and 10 players who could potentially return to the program, Palmer is building for the future.
Friday, the Moose capped their season with something on which to build.
Sophomore Leya DePriest collected game highs of 10 points and eight rebounds to lead the Moose. Sophomore Katie Bowman added nine points and two steals, while sophomore Carly Venzke chipped in four points and four steals.
Justice English led Kenai with 10 points. Allie Ostrander hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight.
Friday boys
Moose 63, Kardinals 55
Palmer11201022—63
Kenai1522018—55
PALMER (63) — A. Ramoth 8 11-12 30, Jones 1 3-4 5, Ferris 3 0-0 6, Southwick 0 2-5 2, Wells 3 5-9 11, Christiansen 2 1-2 5, Yanez 1 2-3 4; Totals: 18 24-35 63.
KENAI (55) — Theisen 3 4-4 12, Shirnberg 8 3-4 19, McKee 1 0-0 3, Jackson 2 0-0 5, Foree 1 2-2 5; Totals: 18 13-14 55.
3-point field goals: Palmer 3 (A. Ramoth 3), Kenai 6 (Theisen 2).
Friday girls
Moose 44, Kardinals 36
Palmer141578—44
Kenai69156—36
PALMER (44) — Venzke 2 0-1 4, K. DePriest 1 3-4 5, Bowman 2 5-7 9, Osiensky 2 0-0 4, Ledger 0 4-8 4, McCall 0 2-2 2, Smylie 1 2-2 4, L. DePriest 4 2-2 10; Totals: 13 18-24 44.
KENAI (36) — Ostrander 3 0-0 8, English 3 4-6 10, Creighton 2 0-1 2, Steinbeck 2 1-2 5, Barcus 4 0-6 8, Beck 0 3-4 3; Totals: 13 8-19 36.
3-point field goals: Palmer 0, Kenai 2 (Ostrander 2).
