Petersburg Vikings in the Region V 2A boys second place state
qualifying game on Saturday at Mt. Edgecumbe’s B.J. McGillis
Gymnasium. Photo by Klas Stolpe, Daily Sitka Sentinel.
After two upsets, the fourth-seeded Haines Glacier Bears battled it out this weekend at the Southeast regional tournament in Sitka and emerged with a second-place spot, qualifying them for the state championship tournament in Anchorage.
The Bears faced an uphill battle after losing to the number one ranked Metlakatla Chiefs on Thursday.
Haines played relentlessly and tamed the Wrangell Wolves on Friday, often pressing the Wolves on defense. Sophomore Carson Crager ripped the ball away from Wrangell twice in the first quarter and played aggressive offense, driving for a layup and using a screen to swish a jump shot. The Bears kept pounding Wrangell’s offense in the second quarter as Crager and sophomore Mark Davis both stole the ball. On offense, Haines junior Kirby Faverty rained three pointers. The Bears led 36-19 at the half.
“This is a different Bears team,” the tournament announcer said during the game. “They’re playing with all kinds of confidence and smoothness.”
Haines continued to dominate in the third quarter, sinking shot after shot and dismantling the Wolves’ offense. The Bears held the Wolves to six points in the third quarter and led 53-25 going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, Davis and Faverty hit back-to-back threes and further entrenched their commanding lead with a 69-35 victory over Wrangell, a team they only defeated once in the regular season.
“I don’t think anyone expected what happened in that game to happen,” head coach Steve Fossman said. “It was a momentum thing. We just got things rolling on both ends of the court and it was hard to stop us at that point.”
Faverty scored 25 points. Davis trailed with 14 points and Crager scored 13 points. The Bears’ win pitted them against the Petersburg Vikings, who fell to Metlakatla for the championship win. The competition against the Vikings was for second place and the last chance to go to state.
Saturday’s game between the Bears and Vikings was a low-scoring defensive slug throughout.
Tired from three days of basketball, the boys on both sides couldn’t get their shots to drop. Still, Haines played fast-paced basketball and pushed the ball at every opportunity. Haines blocked several Vikings’ shots and their defensive pressure again paid off as they held Petersburg to two points in the first quarter. The Bears only scored five points in the quarter after Crager drained a three and sophomore Wesley Verhamme hit a layup.
Faverty, who averaged more than 30 points a game in the first three matches of the tournament went cold Saturday. Points barely trickled in as both teams continued to miss shots, the score 9-5 with less than five minutes in the half. The tide changed as Davis bombed a long three, and Faverty hit two field goals. The Bears maintained the lead 19-11 by the half. Turnovers plagued both tired teams; Haines had 13 turnovers and Petersburg had 10.
Petersburg picked up the pace in the third quarter, reducing Haines’ lead to four points. Faverty continued to miss from the arc, a remarkable change from his shooting percentage in previous games and one the announcers noted.”Boy, if you would have told me Kirby Faverty would have no three pointers today, I would have laughed.”
Petersburg narrowed the spread to three points, but Crager wouldn’t have it. He blasted to the hoop, scoring twice and securing the Bears’ lead.
With the score at 30-23 and less than three minutes in the game, Faverty and Davis each lit up the hoop after successful drives to the basket. Petersburg had no choice but to foul and the Bears converted at the line, securing their 38-30 upset over the number-two ranked Vikings.
Kade Clay and Crager won the tournament’s Good Sport Award. Davis and Faverty were named to the all-conference team in their division for their stellar, season-long performance.
The Bears started the season off as a relatively young and inexperienced team. They lost leading scorers Dylan Swinton and Hudson Sage who both graduated last year. At the beginning of the season, Fossman said his players had sound fundamental knowledge, but was unsure how they’d stand up to other Southeast teams who have height and experienced senior players. The Bears’ performance at the regional tournament showed how far they’ve come.
“I feel really good about our team,” Fossman said. “However state works out, they’ve really improved and they’re peaking at the right time. It’s going to be a great experience to get to state. They’ll learn a lot either way. They’re in great spirits. They’re jazzed about being there and playing their first game. One day at a time, that’s the way we’ve been playing our games.”
Davis said winning at regionals and heading to state validated the team, despite their ranking going into the tournament. “It feels good. I’m really happy,” Davis said. “We knew we could beat those teams. We knew even though we were fourth seed we could go really hard and we could make it.”
Davis, Faverty and Verhamme all credit switching to a zone defense for improving their ability to work as a team and put pressure on their opponents. “I think our press has changed our whole game,” Faverty said. “Our defense, changing from a man to a zone, all the gears started clicking.”
The Bears will face the second-ranked team in the state, the Glennallen Panthers, Thursday at 3:30 p.m. KHNS will broadcast the game.