With five seconds left to play on Friday night the Haines Glacier Bear boys trailed the Petersburg Vikings 54-53. Hudson Sage inbounded the ball to fellow senior co-captain Dylan Swinton, who exploded up the court on a last- chance power drive. He was fouled hard in the act of shooting. With less than a second on the clock, he drained both free throws to give his team another dramatic come -from-behind victory.
When these teams met two week before in Petersburg, they battled through four overtimes. This one was even closer. Haines led 24-23 at halftime and 40-39 after three quarters. With less than five minutes left in regulation, Swinton snatched a loose ball in the lane and scored to tie the game at 47. Petersburg called timeout to set a play, but it ended in a blocked shot by Swinton. With three minutes to go, Cade Clay hit two free throws to give the Glacier Bears the lead, 49-47. Petersburg tied the game on their next possession and then came up with a defensive stop. With two minutes left to play, Swinton blocked a shot, grabbed the ball, drove the length of the floor, made a layup and was fouled. He hit the foul shot to give Haines their largest lead of the quarter, 52-49.
Again the Vikings battled back and took the lead after Thomas Durkin nailed a clutch 3-pointer with five seconds on the clock. Haines called a timeout to set a play. After taking a look at the formation that Haines came out in, Petersburg coach Rick Brock called a timeout of his own. Haines coach Steve Fossman won the chess match by placing the ball in the hands of his two captains and the Glacier Bears emerged from the fray with a thrilling 55-54 victory. Swinton finished the game with 27 points, including 10 in the fourth quarter.
Haines fans breathed easier the next night. Thanks to the Glacier Bears’ aggressive, man-to-man defense, Haines took a 13-7 first quarter lead.
Early in the second quarter, the Vikings briefly caught the Glacier Bears off guard when they switched into a full-court press. Fossman called a 30-second timeout and his team came out in a press break offense that led to a Swinton corner three- pointer, and then several more open buckets in the Haines front court.
Petersburg refused to surrender and after a low scoring third quarter, Haines led by only eight points. They widened that margin at the outset of the final period.
Sage led the Haines offense with 21 points, becoming the fourth Glacier Bear to score over 20 in a game this season. Swinton had 16 and was dominant on defense with three blocked shots and four steals.
The Glacier Bears girls came out in dynamic form on Friday, showing the Vikings that despite their losing record, they are not a team anyone can afford to take lightly. Moving the ball crisply on offense, Haines jumped out to a 12-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Petersburg went on a 12-1 run to start the second quarter, but then Haines busted out some of the offensive skills they’ve been honing. Marirose Evenden got open with a nifty backdoor cut and scored on a layup. Becca Wheeler fooled her defender with a ball fake, drove to the hoop and scored. Working for the last shot of the half, Megan Whitermore caught the ball at the top of the key and quickly fired off a buzzer -beating three-pointer. Haines went into the locker room down 25-20 with seven different players having put points on the board.
After starting the season playing mostly a 2-3 zone, Haines was using what Coach Greg Brittenham refers to as a “man principled 3-2 zone”. It seemed to rattle the Petersburg players. Early in the game one of their guards went to the sideline and asked Coach Dino Brock, “Are they playing zone or man to man?”
The Glacier Bears worked hard in their recently adopted offensive configuration, teaming up for steals and diving for loose balls. At the top of the zone, Haley Boron pressured the ball handler and at the bottom, Makayla Crager and Brittney Bradford blocked multiple shots apiece. After Bradford blocked the last shot of the third quarter, Haines trailed by two, 30-28, and had put themselves in a position to try to pull off the upset victory.
In the fourth quarter, the Glacier Bears defense continued to befuddle the Vikings, swarming the ball and briefly switching into straight up man-to-man coverage. In the end, Petersburg managed to hold on for a 41-34 win. Crager led the Glacier Bears’ scoring with 12 points.
On Saturday night, the Haines girls rallied for a good cause, hosting their annual “Pink Game”. The game was played with a pink ball for breast cancer awareness. All gate proceeds and donations were earmarked for the Haines Uglys Cancer Travel Fund.
Haines took an early lead but trailed by 10 points at the half. Bradford had the hot hand with two 3-pointers and 13 points in the half. Debby Cheng came off the bench and grabbed a pair of rebounds. After hustling for the steal, Cheng pushed the ball up the court to Crager who nailed a jumpshot, was fouled and completed the three point play.
Despite the effort, Petersburg won the game, 44-28.
Haines winds up its regular season at home against the Wrangell Wolves this Sunday at 4:30 and Monday at 5:30.