The Haines boys’ basketball team split a pair of games against visiting Wrangell last weekend, losing Friday, 49-52, but resurging Saturday for a 48-41 victory.
With a 3-19 record, the boys face Craig this weekend to close out the regular season. The team will travel to Juneau for the Region V basketball tournament March 7-12.
Foul trouble made the difference between winning and losing last weekend. On Friday night Haines started strong with a full-court defense against Wrangell. The advantage came to a halt when junior Hudson Sage committed his third personal foul midway through the second quarter, prompting coach Steve Fossman to send him to the bench.
With Sage out, Haines struggled to grab rebounds and establish any offense besides junior Dylan Swinton’s repeated attacks to the rim. Sage fouled out of the game with 1:32 remaining in the third quarter, eliminating any semblance of an inside game.
“Having an inside presence contributes to our team success because then the other team has to focus everywhere on the court,” Sage said. “They can’t just send their inside guy to the perimeter and start harassing our outside guys.”
Swinton single handedly kept Haines in the game in the fourth quarter by making deep three-point shots and repeatedly attacking the rim en route to 15 of his game-high 31 points.
“When they started bringing two guys out on me it was difficult. You can’t do as much when you’re being double or triple teamed; it’s harder to get passes off, but I just kept playing ‘em and doing what we had to do,” Swinton said.
Haines returned Saturday with Sage and an aggressive defense. Entering the fourth quarter trailing 34-27, Haines used full-court defense which took a noticeable toll on Wrangell, and tied the score at 38 with three minutes left to play.
Haines pulled away, frustrating Wrangell at nearly every turn to end 48-41.
Swinton led the team with 21 points and Sage had 14. Patrick Cunningham added 6 and Marty Fowler contributed 3. The team’s defense was led by the swarming on-ball pressure of senior Jacob Stigen and sophomore Cunningham, both of whom harassed Wrangell’s guards into numerous forced passes and turnovers.
Before the opening tip on Saturday night, Wrangell’s longtime and retiring coach, Ray Stokes, was honored for his 30 years of coaching service. Haines High seniors on the cheer squad Allison Stuart, Anna Fullerton, and Mori Hays and senior pep-band members Madeline Andriesen and Rachel Haas were also honored.
This weekend’s boys’ games against Craig are Friday night at 5:30 and Saturday night at 7.
The Haines girls’ basketball team lost a pair of games in Wrangell last weekend. The losses, 42-32 and 51-25 respectively, dropped the team’s record to 2-14 for the season. Despite the losses, coach Greg Brittenham was very pleased with the level of intensity his team showed.
“The girl’s play, over the last 10 quarters, has been extremely high intensity and we hope to carry that intensity right through the series against Craig and then into the regional tournament,” Brittenham said.
Brittenham expressed optimism about the team’s progress. “As a coach, you like to see the drills in practice come through in game situations, and that was never better demonstrated than by the way Marissa Haddock and Makayla Crager dominated their positions this weekend, until foul trouble took them out of the game.
The girls close out their season at home this weekend against Craig with games beginning Friday night at 7 p.m.and Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
Pre-game ceremonies will honor the team’s seniors. There will be a homecoming dance after the game. The team will travel to Juneau on March 7-12 for the Regional V Basketball Tournament.