The Haines Merchants defended their court and took home the cash as champions of the Dick Hotch Memorial Basketball Tournament on Sunday.
The Merchants topped the Juneau-based Good Ole Boys, 98-92, in the title game. Kyle Fossman, the tournament Most Valuable Player, scored 30 points for the Merchants, and Andrew Friske added 24 points.
The Merchants’ line-up also included Stuart DeWitt, Michael Ganey, Ryan Harms, Zach Klein, Jesse McGraw, Harry Rietze and Jason Shull.
Organizer DeWitt said the tournament was more competitive this year. Klein and Shull’s participation in the Thursday-Sunday event was representative of the amped-up field of six teams, all chasing after the newly instituted $2,500 first-place prize.
Klein, a Mount Edgecumbe High School graduate and all-tournament honoree, made the trip from Sitka along with Friske. Shull traveled from Washington State and plans to be back in Southeast for the Gold Medal Basketball Tournament in Juneau later this month.
The Good Ole Boys, champions of Juneau’s city league, featured two former Juneau-Douglas High School athletes. Alex Heumann, last year’s MVP, repeated as the event’s top scorer and poured in 38 points during the title contest. Bubba Larson also returned, and he led the competition in 3-pointers made while again earning all-tournament recognition.
The Whitehorse squad Big Bigness finished third, with a formidable front line of Colin LaForme and Jeremy McCulloch, each standing nearly seven feet tall.
LaForme, the 2014 tournament MVP, played for Division I Youngstown State University in Ohio. He was back after a one-year absence to team up with McCulloch, a former Eastern Washington University product who made an impressive Haines debut last year.
LaForme was a first-team all-tournament honoree and McCulloch landed on the second team, but the big men couldn’t push their team into the title game.
Other teams that made earlier exits still featured impressive rosters, such as longtime competitors the Chilkat Warriors. They added Gold Medal Hall of Famer Travis Dybdahl to their line-up. Dybdahl, who suits up for Hoonah at Gold Medal but lives in Juneau, was sidelined by an injury suffered during the tournament.
Another Gold Medal Hall of Famer, Rudy Bean of Kake, was listed on the Good Ole Boys roster but did not make an appearance. Even Sunday morning, before the title game tip-off, fans could be heard discussing whether Bean would be flying in for the finale, with cash on the line.
The Chilkat Thunder and Whitehorse Generals also competed at the tournament, which opened with round-robin games before moving into bracket play. Cody Hotch made the all-tournament team for the Thunder.
The Merchants bested the Good Ole Boys in the tournament’s opening game Thursday night, but trailed much of their Saturday afternoon contest with the Juneau squad. The Merchants stormed back and took the win on a Fossman buzzer-beating lay-up that propelled Haines into the championship and the Good Ole Boys to the losers’ bracket final.
Unlike Gold Medal, the Hotch tournament has no residency requirements, meaning the silky-smooth Klein could suit up for Haines even if he had never resided here, and no age divisions, so Fossman, set for the Gold Medal “B” bracket, could share the court with “C” bracket players age 32 and up.
Fossman, who played professionally in Germany, as the event’s MVP collected a prize valued at more than $1,200 supplied by TV miner Parker Schnabel.
“Our local movie star has generously donated one ounce of gold,” announcer Larry Sweet said at the event’s awards ceremony.
Fossman’s teammate Rietze was a second-team all-tournament selection. Joe Hotch was named “Best Fan.”
Fossman was involved in a much-hyped showdown with his father Steve in the 3-point contest the morning of the championship game. Steve ended up edging his son, but Friske pulled the upset to take the trophy, draining 22 treys in a minute.
Cheryl Adams of Juneau won the women’s 3-point competition. Adams was part of a Juneau squad that faced off against Haines women in four match-ups throughout the weekend, with Haines providing some extra players to help with the visitors’ lack of post players.
The Haines women’s roster included Sarah Bell, Alisa Beske, Tiffany DeWitt, Sarah Elliott, Patricia Faverty, Lori Giddings, Krista Kielsmeier, Stoli Lynch, Lisa Shove and Paige Winge. Sam Clay helped coach the squad while out with a knee injury.
“Next year we’re going to shoot for four women’s teams, so that will be good, and hopefully eight men’s teams, so there will be a lot more basketball next year,” said tournament organizer Stuart DeWitt.
Youth free-throw contest winners were Brooklyn DeWitt and John Caleb Davis, age 9-and-under; Natalie Crager and Luke Davis, age 10-11; and Natalie Jobbins and Kirby Faverty, age 12-13.