Thursday hoops roundup: CIA boys knock off Soldotna

The Cook Inlet Academy boys, Kenai girls and boys, and Soldotna girls all recorded victories Thursday at the Revolution Sport and Spine Therapy Al Howard Shootout at Soldotna High School.

The tournament is named for Al Howard, the former SoHi athletic director who is in the Alaska High School Hall of Fame for lifetime achievement.

Howard took in the game between the CIA and Soldotna boys and saw a dandy.

Eagles senior Ian McGarry scored 38 points, including 29 in the second half and 19 in the fourth quarter, to lead Class 1A CIA to a 69-58 victory over the Class 4A Stars.

The Eagles are 9-3 overall, while SoHi is 6-8.

The game had been back-and-forth when CIA took a 47-45 lead into the final quarter.

McGarry then scored the first seven points of a 9-0 run that gave CIA a 59-49 lead with 4:52 to play. Soldotna would not get closer than 7 points the rest of the way.

CIA head coach Ben McGarry said there were three keys to Ian’s performance — mentality, teammates and offseason work.

Ben, who used to play for Skyview High School, has been telling his son about an old rival in Eli Wilson, who was the Gatorade Player of the Year for Colony in 1997.

Wilson would always take over the games when it mattered.

“Just win the game and be the man,” Ben said. “I think sometimes he will defer and get everyone involved.

“I thought tonight he kind of locked in, in the second half and decided he was going to do it.”

Soldotna had no answer.

“One thing I talked about all week is situational awareness and understanding who the best player on the other team is and where he’s at,” Soldotna head coach Darren Zibell said. “We did a terrible job at that in the second half, and he played a great game.”

McGarry made two plays in the decisive 9-0 run that showcased his strength and athleticism. He converted a lob while getting fouled, and missed twice but got a second rebound and converted.

“He’s just gotten stronger,” coach McGarry said. “I think last year he would have gotten pushed around more.

“He’s been in the weight room. He’s worked hard.”

Being in the weight room is not a foreign concept at Soldotna, where strength and conditioning class fuels success across sports programs.

Coach McGarry said the Eagles needed more than Ian. CIA needed the whole team to stand up to the physicality of the Stars.

“We knew it was going to be a physical game,” coach McGarry said. “So for our guys to come out, and just match that and be tough, was really good for us.”

Zibell, who coached at the Class 1A and 2A level with Noorvik for six years, was impressed with CIA’s defense.

“We were terrible on the inbounds,” Zibell said. “For two timeouts, I drew plays out of the timeout, and they picked it off both times.”

CIA has already lost to Class 1A rival Shaktoolik twice this season. Zibell said Shaktoolik provides a unique test due to pace and volume of 3-pointers, but the coach said the Eagles are certainly capable of a state title.

“They clearly wanted it more than we did,” Zibell said. “We were afraid to lose and they wanted to win.”

Coach McGarry said this was a great experience for his team.

“I call it the bright lights of Soldotna, right?” he said. “That’s why I told them I wanted to be in this tournament when they invited us in.

“I want to go to state and win. I don’t want state to be the first time we’re under the bright lights again.”

Alek McGarry added 15 for CIA. McGarry hadn’t run in 12 days and got ill during the game due to physical exertion. Coach McGarry said Ian is always more comfortable with Alek on the floor, so Alek pushing through was key.

The coach also loved the effort of Silas Barnes and his 3 points. Also, Zach Armstrong had 5, Brandt Rollman had 4, and Lucas Oyoumick and Hyrum Henderson had 2.

Izaiah Gilbert paced Soldotna with 15 points. The game was shaping up to be a duel between Ian McGarry and Gilbert until Gilbert got a technical foul in the third quarter and didn’t see the floor the rest of the game.

Zibell said he is tired of his players talking to referees.

“I told the boys at this point to go to the locker room if they get a technical,” he said. “We’ve got to grow up. We’ve got to mature.”

The coach said the biggest bright spot was sophomore Damari Adams, who threw down two vicious two-handed dunks en route to 14 points.

“That was his best game by far, just the energy, rebounding, aggression — all the things we wanted to see from him throughout the season,” Zibell said.

Also for SoHi, Jayden Stuyvesant had 8, Bryan Berg had 7, Easton Hawkins had 5, Owen Buckbee and Josh Babcock had 4, and Will Klein had 1.

The Soldotna girls defeated West Valley 57-33 to snap a four-game skid and move to 8-6 overall.

For Soldotna, Anika Jedlicka, Alyssa McDonald and Hope Hillyer all had 10. Also, Laurel Johnson and Jillian Duncan had 6, Rebekah Pieh had 5, Anaulie Sedivy had 4, and Brooke Walters, Cassidy Kruse and Ryan Queen had 2.

For West Valley, Arianne Derrickson had 16, Brooke Pearson had 8, Ayla Weller had 5, Aaliyah Hildebrand had 3 and Tessa Thompson had 1.

The Kenai girls defeated Eagle River 32-20 to move to 7-5 overall.

Bryleigh Williams pumped in 11 for the Kardinals, while Willow Graham had 7, Evelyn Cooper, McKenzie Spence and Ellsi Miller had 4, and Sierra Hershberger had 2.

For the Wolves, Gabby Palazzini had 8, Beverly Reed had 6, Adelaide Maismer had 4 and Katherine Christy had 2.

The Kenai boys defeated Eagle River 53-47 to even their record at 6-6.

Miles Metteer had 21 points to pace the Kardinals, while Reid Titus had 12, Riel Castillo, Eli Smith, Caleb Litke and Mason Tunseth had 4, Carter Felchle had 3 and Ben Harris had 1.

For Eagle River, Jameson Skinner topped the scoring column with 22.

Friday at the tourney, the Eagle River girls play West Valley at 3 p.m., the Eagle River boys play CIA at 4:30 p.m., the Soldotna girls play Kenai at 6 p.m. and the Soldotna boys play Kenai at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, the West Valley girls play Kenai at 11 a.m., the CIA boys play Kenai at 12:30 p.m., the Soldotna girls play Eagle River at 2 p.m. and the Soldotna boys play Eagle River at 3:30 p.m.

Barrow tournament

The Nikiski girls and boys basketball teams lost Thursday at the Karl Derek Ahgeak 2nd Annual Invitational at Barrow High School.

The Bulldogs girls took a 61-40 loss to Lathrop to fall to 2-7 overall.

Blakeley Jorgensen put up 18 points for Nikiski, while Abby White had 10, Avery Ellis had 5, Kailey Stynsberg had 4 and Madison Iyatunguk had 3.

The Bulldogs boys took a 75-27 loss to Lathrop to fall to 0-9.

Carter Eiter had 10 for the Bulldogs, while Lynn Deveer had 8, Kameron Bird had 6, Kevin Love had 2 and Ryder Maguire had 1.

For Lathrop, Luke Skinner had 20, Alfred Parker had 16, Devonte Hall had 12, Khalil Jackson had 11, Eli Beard had 9, Israel Beard had 4 and Jaycee Brooks had 3.

Friday, the Nikiski girls play Barrow at 6 p.m., while the boys face the Whalers at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, the Nikiski boys play Hutchison at 12:30 p.m., while the Hutchison girls play Nikiski at 2 p.m.