The Glacier Bears boys basketball team is off to a good start this season, defeating the Metlakatla Chiefs twice at home, the Juneau Douglas varsity team at the Capitol City Classic in Juneau, and slew of teams at competition in Skagway.
Head coach Steve Fossman said the win against Juneau was significant, and hasn’t occurred in many years. He said his squad will be competitive in a conference full of talented teams.
“We’re playing well, but our conference is pretty strong. Petersburg is going to be really tough. They’ll be as tough as any team we play this year. It’s going to be about who’s playing best at the end of the season. I don’t think I’m seeing anyone who’s going to separate themselves from the crowd.”
Fossman said his team is shooting the ball well and is able to get out on the fast break. He said the team lacks height, and will struggle with rebounding throughout the season. “I think we’re not one of the bigger teams. Rebounding we need to really work on.” Fossman said. “That’s going to be an ongoing focus for us the rest of the season but we match up well in all the other areas.”
Four freshmen have joined the boys team including Eric Gillham, Jacob Weersasinghe, Owen McPhetres and Luke Davis, brother to junior and starting player Mark Davis.
“We know what the other one’s going to do in different situations and we feed off that,” Mark Davis said of playing with his little brother. “That’s pretty fun. I’ve been looking forward to playing with Luke (in high school) for a long time.”
New this year to the girls team are freshmen Grace Long-Godinez, Mackenzy Dryden, Natalie Crager, Alison Benda, Malia Jorgeson-Geise and Sophia Cunningham.
Mark Davis and senior Kirby Faverty made the Capital City Classic all-tournament team in late December. Luke Davis won the three-point competition and Faverty was the slam dunk winner. The Glacier Bears boys were invited to the tournament after another team dropped out. They placed second in the tournament after defeating Juneau-Douglas and North Pole, but falling to Soldotna. Faverty led the team in scoring against North Pole and Soldotna and Davis led with 32 points against Juneau-Douglas.
Last weekend, the team traveled to the Don Hather Tournament in Skagway where JV players got court time. The Bears fell to Juneau’s JV team and defeated Skagway the following two games.
The boys’ first home game wins against last year’s state championship winners, the Metlakatla Chiefs, kept the crowd glued to the action, especially on Saturday with a come-from-behind win.
With 1:37 left in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game, the Haines Glacier Bear boys found themselves down, 42-31. The boys rallied, taking their full-court pressure up a notch and coercing the Chiefs to throw away their inbounds pass. The Bears found Kirby Faverty for a three-pointer. Carson Crager stole the ball at mid-court and hit Mark Davis in stride for a breakaway lay-up.
Metlakatla answered with a transition jump shot, but was unable to slow down the pace. With 33 seconds remaining, Faverty grabbed his own rebound and scored. Down by four, Haines quickly fouled. Metlakatla missed the first one-on-one and the Glacier Bears raced down the court. Davis penetrated the zone, was fouled, and converted a three-point play.
With 1.1 seconds to play, Faverty was fouled in the act of shooting a baseline jumper and stepped to the foul line, his team trailing 46-45. He swished the ball and the Glacier Bears began their Region 5 series with two home wins over last year’s regional champion.
Friday night’s game also went down to the wire, ending in a 42-39 Haines victory.
The girls team had a pair of losses to the hot-shooting Metlakatla team. Despite facing large deficits on the scoreboard, the Glacier Bears kept up a relentless attack throughout the series, with many first-time varsity players showing poise on offense and hustle on defense.
The girls also competed in Don Hather Tournament and lost both games to Skagway.
Both the boys and girls teams will face the Petersburg Vikings this weekend in Haines. The girls will play at 4 p.m. on Saturday night and the boys will play at 5:30 p.m. The boys will play Sunday at 8 a.m. and the girls will play at 10 a.m.