Metlakatla girls, Bethel boys win Rus Hitchcock tourney

The Bethel boys and Metlakatla girls finished undefeated runs through the 35th Annual Rus Hitchcock Tip Off Tournament to win tournament titles Saturday.

For the boys, Metlakatla was second at 2-1, Homer was third at 1-2 and Nikiski was fourth at 0-3. For the girls, Bethel was second at 2-1, Homer was third at 1-2 and Nikiski was fourth at 0-3.

Homer’s Sydney Shelby and Lucas Story were named the Most Valuable Players at the tournament.

Also on the girls all-tournament team were Metlakatla’s Ryley Booth, Metlakatla’s Bree Chavez, Bethel’s Allie Alexie, Nikiski’s Maggie Grenier and Bethel’s Isabel Lieb.

Also on the boys all-tournament team were Bethel’s Greg Turner, Metlakatla’s Troy Russell, Nikiski’s David Weathers, Metlakatla’s Carter Marsden and Bethel’s Ethan Wheeler.

The Bethel boys finished the title with a 69-36 victory over Nikiski. The Bulldogs are 0-4 overall.

Madden Cockroft and Turner had 16 points to lead the Warriors, while Aaron Mute and Jackson Iverson had 9, Wheeler had 6, Paul Dyment had 5, and Ellis Johnson and Warren Nicolai each had 4.

For Nikiski, Seth Payne had 10, Weathers had 9, Carter Eiter had 4, Kevin Love, Dylan Hall and Lynn Deveer had 3, and Connor Ley and Gavin Ley had 2.

The Bethel girls notched a 48-22 victory over Nikiski on Saturday. The Bulldogs are 1-5 overall.

For Bethel, Payton Boney had 17, while Alexie had 15, Briella Herron had 5, Kyana Harpak and Ambrea Jackson had 4, and Malinda Simon had 3.

Shelby Burman paced Nikiski with 5, while Grenier and Mandee Roofe had 4, Avery Ellis had 3, and Alexa Iyatunguk, Brooke Abel and Kailey Stynsberg had 2.

The Metlakatla girls finished up the title by topping Homer 65-47. The Mariners are 3-5 overall.

Booth poured in 25 points for Metlakatla, while Chavez had 15, Kennedy Cook had 14, Morgan Hayward had 5, Lexi Cook had 4 and Ma’Karii Martinez had 2.

Shelby paced the Mariners with 20, while Channing Lowney, Minadora Reutov, Lillie Mae Kuhn and Gracie Miotke had 6, Mally Im had 2 and Keagan Niebuhr had 1.

The Metlakatla boys defeated Homer 67-52 on Saturday as Homer dropped to 2-6 overall.

For Metlakatla, Mason Rolando had 18, Brody Booth had 17, Marsten had 12, Russell had 9, Frank Guthrie had 6, Sebashtin Martinez and Rocco Lindsay had 2, and Gianni Hayward had 1.

Nathan Overson paced Homer with 13 points, while Story had 10, Riley Huffman had 8, Einar Pederson, Spencer Dye and CJ Burns had 6, and Benjamin Engebretsen had 3.

Friday

The Metlakatla girls and Bethel boys both won Friday to stay undefeated at the tournament.

The Metlakatla girls topped Bethel 56-43 in a battle of teams previously undefeated at the tournament.

For Metlakatla, Chavez had 22, Lexi Cook and Booth had 14 and Kennedy Cook had 3.

For Bethel, Herron had 13, Alexie had 11, Boney had 6, Harpak had 5, and Isabel Lieb and Simon had 4, Saahadia Buffalo had 2 and Sarai Buffalo had 1.

The Bethel boys defeated Metlakatla 61-45 in another battle of unbeatens.

For the Warriors, Cockroft had 15, Wheeler had 13, Turner had 12, Dyment and Iverson had 8, Mute had 3 and Johnson had 2.

For Metlakatla, Marsten had 16, Booth had 12, Guthrie had 7, Rolando and Russell had 4, and Martinez had 2.

Also at the tournament Friday, the Homer girls and boys swept Nikiski.

The Homer girls won 49-31.

The Bulldogs led 9-4 after the first quarter as Homer got off to a slow start from the floor and Nikiski was able to break down Homer’s defense.

The Mariners upped the defensive intensity for a 19-12 lead at halftime.

“We want to get everything initiated off our defense,” first-year Homer head coach Dan Miotke said. “We did kind of come out with a slow start.

“I just told them to stay positive and keep going and things were going to happen.”

The coach said his team also showed great endurance in keeping up the pressure until the press was pulled off late in the fourth quarter.

First-year Nikiski head coach Jeremy Garrett said Homer’s press kept him team from getting into any offensive flow after the hot start.

“Full-court man is something we don’t do a lot in practice,” he said. “It kind of showed tonight. We will adjust. And we will be prepared for it the next time we play.”

Homer then led 32-22 after three quarters.

Shelby pumped in 15 points for Homer, while Miotke had 8, Kuhn had 7, Lowney had 6, Im had 5, Minadora Reutov and Niebuhr had 3, and Juliann Techie had 2.

Coach Miotke said he’s actually been officiating for 10 years, but when Homer needed a coach, he decided to step up for the program.

An experienced group of three seniors and three juniors have helped ease the transition. Shelby, Kuhn and Reutov are the seniors, while Lowney, Gracie Miotke and Techie are the juniors.

“Things are going really well,” coach Miotke said. “The girls are working really hard. We’re just trying to work on our basic fundamentals and trying to stay positive.”

Coach Miotke said Grace Christian is the favorite to take the top seed to state out of the Peninsula Conference, but the second state berth is a wide-open race between Homer, Nikiski, Seward and Kenai Central.

For Nikiski, Grenier had 12, while Ellis had 7, Burman and Abigail White had 4, and Madison Iyatunguk and Roofe had 2.

Garrett said one of the biggest challenges for his program right now is that there are only 11 players.

“It’s tough to practice and it’s tough to get a good scrimmage due to low numbers,” he said.

The coach said the bright side is the Bulldogs have a lot of experience back. Seniors Burman, Maggie Grenier and Emma Weeks all started last season.

Juniors Ellis and Stynsberg also were starters last season. Senior Avery White also started last season, but will miss the season with a knee injury.

Garrett also likes the energy the team gets from junior Alexa Iyatunguk and sophomore Madison Iyatunguk. Freshmen Abigail White and Mandee Roofe also have been seeing varsity time and are learning quickly.

Like coach Miotke, Garrett said he sees a close race for the second state berth out of the Peninsula Conference.

“Overall, I’m super pleased with our energy and our effort,” Garrett said. “That’s the two main things we talked about.”

The Homer boys topped Nikiski 84-75.

The high-scoring affair saw Homer jumping to leads, but Nikiski continuously battling back.

“What a resilient game, from both sides,” first-year Homer head coach Jose Musa said. “I was just super impressed by how well coached the other team is and how disciplined they were.

“I didn’t see a guy on the court putting their head down. I didn’t see them arguing. I didn’t see them blaming or getting defensive.”

Primary ballhandler Story was able to get in the paint constantly and score 30 points for the Mariners.

Story also kicked out to shooters, and Dye took advantage by nailing six 3-pointers en route to 23 points. Also for Homer, Pederson and Justice Davidson had 8, Overson had 7, Burns had 6 and Huffman had 2.

Musa fell in love with Seward on a visit, then when someone told him to visit Homer, he fell in love even more. When he arrived in Homer six months ago, he decided to follow a dream and apply for boys basketball coach.

“I was lucky enough to be selected to lead these wonderful boys,” he said.

He said seniors Story, Overson, Huffman and Davidson have been a huge help in transitioning into the job.

“They deserve a lot of credit, because I’m a first-time coach and a new coach, and they’d have every right to treat my like a lame duck,” he said. “It’s been quite the opposite.

“They’re leaders. They’re wonderful people, and they care about each other. And they care about the community.”

For Nikiski, Weathers drove the lane in similar fashion to Story and ended up with 31 points. Doing the dirty work in the paint, Payne had 20.

Also for Nikiski, Eiter and Love had 7, Kameron Bird had 5, Deveer had 3 and Hall had 2.

Nikiski coach Reid Kornstad has two returning senior starters in Weathers and Payne. Mylan Johnson and Johnny Ralston also are seniors for Nikiski.

“Seth Payne, he led us tonight,” Kornstad said. “We nominated him for the scrappy award, which is a big honor to us, because of the way he stepped up last night defensively, and tonight he led in the same department.”

With only four games played, the Bulldogs loaded more games into later in the season. Kornstad knew he had a lot of wrestlers on the team, so is trying the delayed schedule for the first time.

“Tonight was a big breakthrough in the effort department,” Kornstad said. “We’ve really been trying to learn what it looks like to play hard, what it feels like to play hard for 32 minutes.

“I was proud of them tonight for their effort.”

Also at the tournament, the Bethel boys and Homer girls won the sportsmanship awards.

The Scrappy Awards went to Metlakatla’s Russell and Bethel’s Lieb.

The free-throw champions were Turner of Bethel and Burman of Nikiski, while Wheeler of Bethel and Burman were 3-point champs.

The hot shot competition went to the Homer boys and Bethel girls.

The post-up player competition went to Payne of Nikiski and Cook of Metlakatla.