Valdez playmaker Tino Tucker races up court. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Tino Tucker made some big plays in the second half to help the Valdez boys basketball team do just enough to hold off Barrow 34-31 Wednesday’s quarterfinals of the Class 3A state tournament.
Wednesday’s game at Alaska Airlines Center was a one-possession contest for virtually the entire second half, so every big play was magnified.
Tucker had six points, two rebounds, one assist, one steal and one blocked shot in the second half in a do-everything performance.
He also converted two drives late in the fourth quarter, including a layup that gave Valdez a 33-27 lead with 90 seconds left as his teammates looked to put the ball in his hands at crunch time.
ASAA/First National Bank Alaska
Class 3A Boys State Tournament
At Alaska Airlines
Wednesday
Quarterfinals
Valdez 34, Barrow 31
Mt. Edgecumbe 66, Hutchison 20
Nome-Beltz 55, Houston 39
Grace Christian 51, Seward 30
Thursday
Consolation
12:00pm Hutchison (9-15) vs. Barrow (15-11)
12:00pm Houston (11-16) vs. Seward (19-8)
Semifinals
6:15pm Mt. Edgecumbe (25-0) vs. Valdez (22-5)
7:45pm Grace Christian (23-4) vs. Nome-Beltz (22-4)
Tucker finished with nine points while Jarrett Gage scored eight, Grayson Ade seven and Nicolas Alfaro seven as the Buccaneers improved to 21-5 and advanced to the state semifinals.
Tucker’s free throw gave Valdez a 23-21 lead going into the fourth quarter. He assisted on Owen Watson’s only bucket of the game to make it 25-23. Moments later his layup gave the Bucs a 27-25 edge.
Valdez’s Rylen Case hit a free throw with 46 seconds left to give his team a three-point lead.
Barrow battled until the very last second.
Barrow’s Alex Fruean lets one fly from downtown. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Freshman Alex Fruean led the Whalers with 11 points, including a free throw to pull his team within 33-31 with 53 seconds remaining. He also had a big block down the stretch before fouling out.
Twice, Barrow got post buckets to tie the game in the fourth quarter – the first one from Sasita Unutoa and the second one from Jaziah Tivao.
Unutoa’s 3-pointer pulled Barrow within 33-30 with 1:17 to play. Later, the Whalers had a chance to tie with 2.5 seconds left and drew up a good play for a corner 3 that rimmed out.
VALDEZ (34) – Gage 8, Tucker 9, Brandshaw 0, Ade 7, McCumby 0, Case 1, Alfaro 7, Watson 0, Wade 0, St. Amand 0, Boone 0, Holbrook 0.
BARROW (31) – Dias 0, Goodwin 3, Librado 0, Wilhelm 0, Adams 0, Adams-Tookak 0, Fruean 11, D.Unutoa 0, S.Unutoa 9, Tivao 4, Fields 0, Tu’ifua 4.
Barrow 8 7 6 10 – 31
Valdez 9 9 5 11 – 34
Mt. Edgecumbe 66, Hutchison 20
Strength in numbers was the name of the game for undefeated Mt. Edgecumbe as the Braves had six players score eight to 13 points to highlight a 66-20 win over Hutchison.
Mt. Edgecumbe improved to 25-0 to continue the state’s longest winning streak in large-schools basketball.
Donovan Stephan-Standifer cashed in on 6-of-8 shooting for 13 points. Tyrell Comer chipped in 10 points and Richard Didrickson Jr. bagged 10 points and eight rebounds. Kaison Herrmann and Rylan Armstrong had nine points and Kaden Herrmann scored eight.
Mt. Edgecumbe raced out to a 47-11 advantage at halftime thanks to 58% shooting.
Taggart Burkhart and Zane Robinson each scored five points for Hutchison.
MT. EDGECUMBE (66) – Brandell 2, Friske 5, Herrmann 9, Armstrong 9, K.Herrmann 8, Didrickson Jr. 10, Otton 0, Cromer 10, Stephan-Standifer 13, Mork 0.
HUTCHISON (20) – Belt 0, Horn 0, Roberts 3, Rogers 3, Lissow 0, Ake 0, Bourne 0, J.Robinson 2, Burkhart 5, Penn 2, Greist 0, Z.Robinson 5.
Mt. Edgecumbe 22 25 10 9 – 66
Hutchison 6 5 3 6 – 20
Nome-Beltz baller Richard Cross finishes in the lane. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Nome-Beltz 55, Houston 39
Richard Cross flirted with a double-double and nearly messed around and got a triple-double to lift Nome-Beltz to a 55-39 win over Houston.
Cross finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and seven steals in a commanding performance.
Not to be outdone, Finn Gregg was fabulous with 20 points, seven rebounds, three assists and five steals.
Together, this 1-2 combo was enough to outscore outmatched Houston by themselves.
Nome (22-4) ran its winning streak to eight games and improved to 21-1 against 3A competition.
Lane Schuerch dropped in three 3-pointers as Nome buried 10 long-range bombs, outscoring Houston 30-15 from downtown.
Houston got 13 points from James Taylor, who made sweet music from 3-point range with 3-of-4 shooting. Noah Whitted added nine points and seven rebounds.
NOME (55) – Gregg 20, Callahan 0, Hoogendorn 0, Smith 0, Martinson 0, Weyiouanna 0, Schuerch 9, Omedelina 0, Erickson 0, Ongtowasruk 0, Cross 23, Booth 3.
HOUSTON (39) – Taylor 13, Nicoll 3, Whitted 9, Seime 5, Bethel 2, Rusher 0, Johnson 0, Saam 2, McClurg 4, Davies 1, Sanford 0.
Nome 15 16 13 11 – 55
Houston 9 14 6 10 – 39
Houston’s Noah Whitted earned a trip to the line on this drive. Photo by Stephanie Burgoon/Alaska Sports Report
Grace Christian 51, Seward 30
Ashton Clarkson and Kellen Jedlicka each scored 11 points and Bristol Tobin grabbed 10 rebounds as the Grace Christian took command in the second quarter and cruised to a 51-30 victory over Seward.
Clarkson did the majority of his damage eith a trio of 3-pointers while Jedlicka went to work inside the arc, where he hit 5-of-10 field goals. Jedlicka added nine rebounds and five assists in a player-of-the-game performance.
The Grizzlies broke free after the first quarter ended 8-8, outscoring the Seahawks 17-9 in the second stanza. The second half was more of the same.
Tobin just missed a double-double, adding nine points to go with his double-figure work on the boards. Robert Annett added eight points and Royce Rock hit the team’s other 3-pointer.
Seward’s Nic Ambrosiani scored 10 points while Ben Ambrosiani had nine points and eight rebiounds, and hit his team’s only free throw.
Seward 8 9 8 5 – 30
Grace Christian 8 17 14 12 – 51
SEWARD (30) – Linquist 0, Elhard 0, Price 0, Peterson 0, Shank 0, N.Ambrosiani 10, Lemme 0, Cross 3, B.Ambrosiani 9, Albino 0, Senecal 0, Davis 8.
GRACE (51) – Clarkson 2, Dale 0, Clarkson 11, Tobin 9, Annett 8, Adolfae 0, Rock 0, Malone 0, Jedlicka 11, Jones 0, Beck 7.