The Ninilchik boys basketball team will look to cap a perfect season with a title at the Class 2A state basketball tournament today through Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.
The top-seeded Wolverines, who enter the tournament 23-0 overall, start the tournament by facing No. 8 Hooper Bay at 11 a.m. today.
Ninilchik head coach Nick Finley led the Wolverines to their only two previous boys state titles in 2016 and 2017, but this is the first time the boys could go undefeated.
Hooper Bay, located on the West Coast, is a regular at the Class 2A tournament and won a state title in 2013.
“They have a tradition out there of playing basketball, and we have a tough task in our first game,” Finley said.
Even up until a few years ago, scouting potential opponents at the Class 1A and 2A levels was tough because the schools are spread out across the state.
The pandemic, and the trend of streaming games, changed that.
“Coaches can go online and find anyone, and scout them,” Finley said. “Being prepared nowadays is pretty easy if you put in the time.”
Finley has put in the time. He said a couple of weeks ago, he put together a projected state bracket. He said the actual state bracket is identical to his projected bracket.
“These teams are evenly matched,” Finley said. “It’s going to be a great weekend of basketball.”
At the same time, Finley said his club plays a brand of basketball that is hard to beat.
“There isn’t another team out there that plays defense like we do,” he said. “I think our defensive intensity is next level. Our kids have bought into that type of basketball and really enjoy it. It’s going to be fun to watch.”
The defensive pressure is driven by senior guards Landon Colburn and Lukah Kalugin. With the way those two create turnovers and push the ball up the floor, Finley said his team is somewhat immune to shooting slumps.
In winning the Interior Conference championship last weekend, Finley said his squad went cold from 3-point land and still defeated Tok 87-43 and Effie Kokrine 77-35.
“We generate such great offense with the ability to push the ball down the floor and create layup after layup,” Finley said. “Whether you’re in the Alaska Airlines Center or in Ninilchik’s gym, a layup is a layup.”
Thanks to the team’s offensive system, all five of the squad’s starters — Colburn, Kalugin, Cole Moore, Jaylin Scott and Justin Trail — are averaging in double figures.
Finley said this team has been fueled by a controversial 72-71 overtime loss to Lumen Christi in the championship game of the Peninsula Conference tournament last season. Due to disagreeing with two calls by the referees in the final seconds, Ninilchik believes it won that game to such a degree that a 2021 Peninsula Conference title banner hangs in the Ninilchik gym.
Seven of the 10 players return from last year’s team.
“These kids haven’t forgotten what happened and they’re on a mission to hopefully go out and win a championship,” Finley said. “These kids have put in so much time during the season and offseason.”
Finley said the Wolverines played more than 40 games together in the offseason.
The head coach also said the team takes pride in representing three basketball communities.
Ninilchik is where girls coach Dan Leman won eight state titles.
Scott is from Seldovia, while both Kalugin and Trail are from Nikolaevsk. Finley said all those players have sacrificed to the extent that missed practices are rare.
Nikolaevsk went to a coed team in 2021 and didn’t have a team this year. But through 2020, the boys had eight straight state berths and the girls had eight state berths in nine seasons.
Kalugin and Trail have the chance to take care of a little unfinished business, as no Warriors team ever won a state title. Both the girls and boys lost a title game, with the Ninilchik boys topping Nikolaevsk in the 2016 1A state title game.
Seldovia won a Class 1A boys state title in 2015 but is currently unable to fill a team.
Finley said the team meshed together quickly during summer ball.
“These kids have been battling each other since elementary school,” he said.
Finley said the team would love to send seniors Kalugin, Trail, Colburn and Blake Lemons out winners.
“Our entire team had its last practice here (Tuesday) night and it was a little emotional,” Finley said. “The seniors were realizing it was their last practice in the gym, and they didn’t want it to end.”
