Two-time defending state champion Dimond and West both secured berths in next week's boys state hockey tournament by winning their quarterfinal games Tuesday night in the Cook Inlet Conference tournament.
Dimond beat Bartlett, 8-2, at Ben Boeke Arena, and West edged Eagle River, 2-1, at the McDonald Center in Eagle River.
South, which tied Dimond for the regular-season title and claimed the No. 1 CIC tournament seed on a tie-breaker, and Chugiak both earned state berths with quarterfinal wins Monday. The season is over for quarterfinal losers Service, East, Bartlett and Eagle River.
In Thursday's semifinals, South plays Chugiak at Ben Boeke at 6:30 p.m., and Dimond plays West at the McDonald Center at 7:15 p.m.
West led 2-0 in the final minute Tuesday before Chugiak gave it a scare on Kyle Johnson's goal off a Kory Cain assist with just 48 seconds left. But Eagles goaltender Joe Chekan (20 saves) and his crew held off the Wolves.
Ilya Turchaninov's first-period goal off a Ryder Schwamm helper opened the scoring for West and Kevin Hodson furnished a 2-0 cushion midway through the third period when he scored off an assist from Alex Bardsley.
Eagle River goalie Justin Lopez made 33 saves.
Dimond advanced behind a two-goal, two-assist effort from Aidan Teilborg, and a goal and two assists from Drake Glover. Josh Larson, Jonathan Roth and Brandon Sakumoto all delivered one goal and one assist for the Lynx, who also received goals from Tyler Briley and Jordan Clevenger.
Cody Bell scored a goal for Bartlett and Joel Johnson added the Golden Bears' other marker on a penalty shot. Bartlett goalie Malakye Felix stopped 50 shots.
Semifinal opponents Dimond and West split their regular-season series. Dimond won the first meeting 2-0 and West answered with a 3-2 victory.
South swept the regular-season series with its semifinal opponent, Chugiak, winning 3-2 and 9-1.
GIRLS PREP HOOPS
Houston 36, Grace 32
Savannah Wells' 11 points, all from the field, helped the visiting Houston girls basketball team overcome hitting just 4 of 12 free throws Tuesday night, when it beat Grace Christian, 36-32.
Sasha Baird led Grace with 10 points and Mikayla Shamburger added nine.
BOYS PREP HOOPS
Grace 61, Houston 49
Eric Johnson's 14 points led four Grace Christian boys basketball players in double figures and helped turn back visiting Houston, 61-49, on Tuesday night.
Hans Karlberg furnished Grace with 12 points, Trevor Osborne added 11 and Luke Offord chipped in 10.
All that production helped offset a game-high 23 points from Houston's Matt Barron.
Anchorage Daily News