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It was a late-night affair at Sullivan Arena, and West stole the show.
Led by the quick hands of senior forward Tom Feeney the Eagles finished with 22 steals, turning away a second half run by Wasilla to win the 4A boys state title 80-58. "It feels awesome ... it feels awesome. All of our hard work paid off," said West senior guard Justin Kauffman, who finished with 16 points and six steals. In a game that didn't tip off until 9:32 p.m., the high-octane Eagles kept the pressure on until the final seconds. When the clock ran out, Gatpan Panoan tossed the ball high into the air at Sullivan Arena as West celebrated the end of a fabulous 25-3 season. The Eagles forced 14 turnovers early in the game in building a 13-point lead, but Wasilla started taking better care of the ball and ran an efficient halfcourt offense that got the Warriors back into the game before West erupted with another turnover-induced run. "They're so deep," Wasilla coach Ryan Engebretsen said. "They start four guys who are quick, play unbelievably hard and are skilled." Feeney was the quickest Eagle on the court, bringing flash and excitement, scoring and defense to go along with a loose style that had fans on the edge of their seats waiting to see if he would make a dynamic play or one that might leave you scratching your head. He finished with a game-high 31 points, hit 14 of 15 free-throw attempts and grabbed four steals. "That's how we have to be," Feeney said of the Eagles relentless pressure defense. "We have the type of guys that we just go for broke. Defense wins for us, that's what definitely wins games." But while the West full-court pressure disrupted Wasilla early, the Eagles halfcourt defense was less than impressive as four Warriors reached double figures in scoring. West also committed 22 turnovers of its own. "We played a pretty shaky game, it wasn't our best," said West coach Chuck White. "We turned the ball over too much and we played rotten defense. We won with talent, not with execution." The win was the 18th state title for a White-coached team, including four in seven seasons at West. White has compiled 921 wins in his 45-year coaching career. He won his first state title in 1972. Asked if he'll return to push the Eagles toward another state title, White said, "You're asking the wrong person. You have to ask my wife." The high-flying Eagles have routinely blown out teams this year with their pressure defense and appeared to be heading in the same direction when they built a 13-point lead in the second quarter off a 33-15 run. But Wasilla, which stunned the top-seeded Eagles in the first round of the state tournament last year, didn't back down. The Warriors calmly worked their way back into the game, cutting the lead to three points on a 3-pointer by Ford late in the third quarter. "We knew we belonged here," Engebretsen said. Braydon Kuiper led Wasilla with 17 points while Drew Ford added 14, Cody Pfeifer had 12 and Connore Devine finished with 11. "We just had to find adjustments, find seams, find gaps and keep playing together," Engebretsen said. "We worked hard and got it down to three, and they're a quality team and made a few shots and got back a lead on us." West's decisive run was sparked again by defense. After compiling 14 steals in the first 10 minutes of play, the Eagles didn't have another steal until the fourth quarter. But the Eagles pressure sparked a 17-2 run that put West back up by 18. "We'd been leading the whole game, so we still felt pretty confident," Kauffman said. "We had a lot left in the tank." Devon Bookert added 16 points for the Eagles while Jalil Abdul-Bassitt added 11 points. West made 26 of 28 free throws as a team while Wasilla was 18 of 22 from the free-throw line. Wasilla shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first quarter but still wound up trailing 25-17 on the scoreboard as West grabbed 11 steals in the opening frame and forced 15 turnovers with its relentless pressuring defense. Feeney sparked the defensive attack with four steals and on the offensive end alternated the spectacular with the questionable. After going for a dunk on a break and missing the basket when he was fouled, Feeney found White yelling at him, "We need those two points." A driving layup by Feeney followed by a free throw by Bookert gave West a 35-22 advantage and the Eagles were off and running, but with a vocal crowd of supporters on the south side of the arena cheering them on the Warriors slowed down the West attack the rest of the half. The Warriors weren't even safe from the West attack when they were on the bench. Senior guard Justin Kauffman dove through the Wasilla coaching staff to save a loose ball in the first quarter, spilling chairs and coaches to the floor but getting the ball back in safely. In the second quarter senior center Marquis Harris nimbly jumped over the Wasilla players on the bench while chasing a loose ball. Wasilla stunned West 67-64 in the first round of the state tournament last year, the first time a No. 8 seed had ever beaten a No. 1 seed at state. The Eagles came back to crush Lathrop and Juneau by a combined 81 points to finish fourth in the state, but they had to watch as Cook Inlet Conference rival Dimond beat Soldotna in overtime for the crown. The Eagles outscored their opponents by a total 850 points during the regular season before being stunned by Bartlett 71-69 in the semifinals of the Cook Inlet Conference tournament, their only loss against Alaska competition this season. They rebounded to beat Service by 55 points and continued to cruise at state. West won 16 games by 30 or more points this year and four times by 50 or more points. "A loss is a loss," Feeney said. "We took it earlier this year and knew we just had to come back and win three straight at state."