Grace Christian, Bartlett, Dimond and Wasilla reached the semifinals of the Alaska Prep Shootout boys' basketball tournament Thursday at Dimond High. In other tournament action Thursday, the South boys earned a win at the Palmer Invitational, while the host Palmer girls crushed North Pole.
Another Southcentral tournament, the Joe Floyd in Kodiak, was forced to postpone several games because teams from Anchorage were unable to fly to Kodiak due to inclement weather that included freezing rain in Kodiak. The East boys and girls had been scheduled to fly out Thursday, but the teams were stuck at Ted Stevens International Airport all day while waiting for a flight that never came. The long delay caused some players to take to social media.
"12 hours in the airport will make you appreciate fresh air," tweeted T-birds guard Clayton Washburn.
Games at the tournament were rescheduled until Friday in hopes the weather would clear up in time
ALASKA PREP SHOOTOUT
Dimond 59, Kenai Central 25
Dimond played rude hosts in the nightcap of the Alaska Prep Shootout on Thursday night, clobbering Kenai Central 59-25 to advance into the semifinals.
Josh Fosi scored 12 points to lead Dimond and Eric Jenkins added 11 for the Lynx, who got points from 11 different players.
Josh Jackman (11 points) and Keith Ivy (9) combined for 20 of Kenai's 25 points.
Dimond will face Grace Christian at 8:30 p.m. in the semifinals.
Grace Christian 70, Juneau 63
Grace Christian advanced into the semifinals of the Alaska Prep Shootout with a 70-63 win over Juneau on Thursday.
The Grizzlies got 27 points from Trevor Osborne, 23 from Tobin Karlberg and 11 from Brogan Nieder to set up a Friday night semifinal showdown against Dimond.
Guy Bean led all scorers with 28 points for the Crimson Bears, who will face Kenai on Friday afternoon in the loser's bracket.
Bartlett 80, Lathrop 76
Anthony Camacho scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Bartlett boys basketball team to an 80-76 win over Lathrop in the opening game of the Alaska Prep Shootout on Thursday at Dimond. Bentiu Panoam added 14 points for the Golden Bears, who got 12 from Duol Yat and 10 from Kage Freelove.
Bartlett survived a furious Lathrop rally that saw the Malemutes close on a 34-15 run.
Cole Berner had 17 points to lead the Malemutes, Jaden Whiteside and Kobe Titus-Milk had 15 each and Curtis White scored 14.
The Golden Bears will face Wasilla in Friday's 7 p.m. semifinal, while Lathrop plays ACS at 3 p.m. in the consolation round.
Wasilla 73, Anchorage Christian 55
Alex Baham scored 31 points on 11 of 14 shooting to lead the Wasilla boys to a 73-55 opening-round win over ACS in the Alaska Prep Shootout.
Reilly Devine added 12 points and Justin Lee had nine for the Warriors, who will play Bartlett at 7 p.m. on Friday.
ACS guard Levi Auble shared the Player of the Game award with Baham after scoring a team-high 29 points.
PALMER INVITATIONAL
South boys 56, Thunder Mountain 52 (OT)
South earned a 56-52 boys basketball win over Thunder Mountain at the Palmer Invitational basketball tournament on Thursday at Palmer High. In other Invite action, the Palmer boys downed North Pole 53-45.
Palmer girls 63, North Pole 4
Palmer allowed just two points in each half to cruise to a 63-4 win in the opening round of the Palmer Invitational on Thursday. Katy Bowman scored 12 points to lead the Moose. Also on Thursday in Palmer, the West Valley girls defeated Juneau 59-26.
Alaska Prep Schootout
Friday's games
3 p.m. -- Lathrop vs. ACS
4:45 p.m. -- Kenai vs. Juneau
7 p.m. -- Bartlett vs. Wasilla
8:30 p.m. -- Dimond vs. Grace Christian