Caleb Holm was the lead scorer during Saturday’s game against Mount Edgecumbe.
The Glacier Bears boys went 4-1 at the Haines basketball invitational Jan. 28-30. The boys beat the Thunder Mountain junior varsity to win the championship game, 53-45.
The Bears won their first game of the tournament against the Mount Edgecumbe Braves junior varsity. Former Haines athlete David Strong helped lead the Braves. Strong was a large component of the Haines team from 2018-2020. He moved to Sitka for his senior year.
Junior Eric Gilham and Strong faced off in the tip-off. Strong won the tip to give his team possession. With two minutes left in the first quarter, junior Luke Davis passed the ball down the court to Gilham for a fast break. Strong chased Gilham down the court, and Gilham threw down a dunk on Strong.
“It felt pretty solid,” said Gilham. “I had no idea I was going to be able to do that. I’ve had some pretty bad shin issues for the past few weeks, so I was surprised that I wasn’t only able to dunk, but that I actually dunked on someone.”
The Bears led 31-17 at halftime. Gilham was the leading scorer with 12 points. Senior Zander Willard followed with seven.
Head Coach Don Nash substituted players from the bench for the fourth quarter. The Bears won the game 58-38.
The Bears took on the Sitka Wolves junior varsity Saturday morning. Coach Nash chose underclassmen to start the game. Freshman Phoenix Swaner scored the first points of the game with a reverse layup. The Bears led 19-15 going into halftime. Freshman Alex Weerasinghe led the team with nine points. The Bears were down 22-29 at the end of the third quarter.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Nash began rotating upperclassmen into the game. The Bears were down four points with two minutes left in the game. The Bears shortened Sitka’s lead to two with one minute left. Gilham inbounded the ball to Davis, who dribbled the length of the court with three seconds left. Davis drove in for a layup but was met by four Sitka players. He missed the layup and Sitka won, 35-33.
The Bears took on Mount Edgecumbe again at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The Bears fell behind 0-7 at the start of the game. They then gained momentum after senior Caleb Holm scored with 4:18 left in the first quarter.
Holm and Davis then made back-to-back three-pointers to tie the game at nine. Holm helped the Bears take their first lead of the game with a fast break layup. Holm extended the lead with another layup. The Bears won the game, 76-58. Holm was the leading scorer with 13 points.
“It was impressive what I did,” said Holm. “I was really surprised.” Holm moved to Great Falls, Montana in October 2020. He hadn’t played basketball since sophomore year. Holm moved back to graduate with his classmates. “I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I can still actually play.”
The Bears took on Sitka at 10:30 Sunday morning to determine if they would play in the championship game against Thunder Mountain.
The Bears led 16-3 at the end of the first quarter. Gilham had 10 of the team’s points. The Bears extended their lead to 30-12 at the start of the half. The Bears won the game 57-28 to advance to the championship game.
Gillham won the tip-off against TM. Davis dribbled down the court, passed to Willard in the corner, who found Gillham inside for a layup. Haines was up 10-9 at the end of the first quarter.
The Bears led 32-15 going into halftime. Gilham was the leading scorer with 13 points. The Falcons started the third quarter with full-court pressure. Haines was unable to break the press, which led to seven straight points for TM. The Falcons outscored the Bears 14-10 in the third quarter.
The Falcons called a full timeout with 4:10 left in the game. The Bears led 46-40. With two minutes left in the game, TM began fouling the Bears. The Bears made their free throws to extend their lead and win the game 53-45.
The Glacier Bears will be taking on the Petersburg Vikings Feb. 4-5 at home. These will be the first conference games of the year and will contribute to the seeding for the Region V tournament in March.