Lori Giddings photo.
Fourth seed Haines Glacier Bears dominated fifth seed Craig Panthers at the Southeast regional 2A basketball tournament’s opening day at Mount Edgecumbe High School Wednesday.
Sophomore Mark Davis put the first two points on the board for the Glacier Bears and junior Kirby Faverty rained three pointers and jump shots. The Bears led 23-10 at the end of the first quarter with both teams playing at a break-neck pace. Haines kept the upper hand and led 43-24 at the half. Faverty drained five three pointers and five shots from the inside. He scored 27 points in the half.
“(Faverty’s) had his way with Craig,” the game announcer said at the half-time break.
Craig opened the second half with a 5-0 run, but couldn’t sustain the momentum. Sophomore Carson Crager picked off two Panther passes and converted with fast-break layups. The Bears led 57-43 going into the fourth quarter.
The Panthers clawed their way back in the first half of the fourth quarter, outscoring the Bears 9-2, and trailed by seven points with four minutes left in the game.
It wasn’t enough as the Bears regained control and earned their first tournament victory, 64-55.
Faverty led with 34 points. Crager scored 14.
“It’s great to get a first-round win in a tournament,” head coach Steve Fossman said Wednesday. “The guys are excited. They’re playing really well as a team right now.”
Haines will face top-seeded Metlakatla Chiefs Thursday at 1:15 p.m. The winner of that game will play Petersburg on Friday at 3 p.m. The winner of that game will win the tournament and earn the first seed at the state championship in Anchorage later this month.
The Lady Bears fell to the Lady Vikings from Petersburg on Wednesday during their first game of the tournament. They’ll play Craig in the losers’ bracket on Thursday at 3 p.m. Despite the loss, head coach Greg Brittenham said his team played the best defense he’s seen them put up all season.
“We have to build upon what they’ve shown today,” Brittenham said. “If we play this hard, then we can beat teams. They played composed. They had fewer turnovers. I couldn’t be more proud of the girls even though it’s a loss. I know it’s tough watching the girls’ games when we get beat as badly as we get beat.”
During Haines’s final home game of the season last weekend, the Bears and the Metlaktla Chiefs gave the home crowd a barn burner Saturday night as the two teams went back and forth the entire evening
The Chiefs were missing two players and the Bears took advantage. Although the Chiefs opened the contest with a 10-point lead, sophomore Mark Davis’s scrappy offense put eight points on the board for Haines bringing the Chiefs’ lead down to three points. Sophomore Carson Crager nailed a three with less than two minutes in the first quarter and Metlakatla’s Desmond King answered with his own three pointer. Sophomore Kirby Faverty was fouled and sunk both of his freethrows. With 51 seconds remaining, sophomore Wesley Verhamme muscled his way into the post and scored, tying the game at 15-15.
The Chiefs turned the ball over. Verhamme was fouled and got a bloody nose. Head coach Steve Fossman sent freshman Kai Dixon to the line who went 1-1 and gave the Bears a one-point lead going into the second quarter.
The final quarter of the half was neck and neck as the teams fought hard both offensively and defensively. The score was tied 25-25 at the half.
In a low-scoring third quarter, the Chiefs maintained a slight edge after King stole a Bear’s pass and sunk a buzzer-beater layup, giving them a two-point lead going into the final quarter.
The first minutes in the fourth saw the Bears put up a stellar defense where they stole the ball from the Chiefs several times. Haines’s pressure and shooting percentage won the day and the Bears pulled ahead, securing their win at the free throw line. The Bears emerged with a solid 52-39 win.
Haines shot 68 percent compared to the Chiefs’ 28 percent. Davis was the lead scorer with 21 points followed by Crager with 13.
The Bears defeated the Chiefs Friday, 58-51. The Lady Bears fell to the Lady Chiefs 15-53 Friday and 18-59 Saturday.