Basketball mayhem was unleashed Saturday when 32 basketball teams from every conceivable corner of Alaska converged on Anchorage for the first day of the Class 1A state basketball tournament.
The massive tournament attracted thousands of fans who packed the Wells Fargo Sports Complex and Alaska Airlines Center on the UAA campus for 16 play-in games.
The stakes were high: The winners are still in the running for a state championship and will play Monday at Sullivan Arena, the same day the Class 2A tournament begins. The losers dropped into a consolation tournament.
It was a full day of hoops, with the first games tipping off at 8 a.m. and the last starting at 8:30 p.m.
Action was intense from the start. Anaktuvuk Pass snuck past Akiachak by three points in the first boys game, and two of the first three girls games were decided by a single point.
The Class 1A teams represent the smallest classification of Alaska high schools, with enrollments of 100 or fewer students.
Because there are so many of them – 131, scattered from Klawock in Southeast to Kaktovik on the North Slope – the 1A tournament starts with 16 boys teams and 16 girls teams. At the Class 4A, 3A and 2A levels, eight girls teams and eight boys teams qualify for state.
March Madness takes a break Sunday before resuming full speed Monday at Sullivan Arena. The championship games for both 2A and 1A are Wednesday on the main court of the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Class 4A and 3A tournaments run Thursday through Saturday at Sullivan.
Saturday's scores
Boys
Anaktuvak Pass 64, Akiachak 61
Noatak 51, Klawock 41
Scammon Bay 59, Newhalen 42
Elim 62, Toksook Bay 55
Seldovia 67, Kotlik 47
Manokotak 59, Teller 43
Nikolaevsk 50, Noorvik 33
Angoon 50, Fort Yukon 44
Girls
Newhalen 52, Minto 32
Wainwright 44, Cook Inlet 43
Shishmaref 59, Kipnuk 39
Buckland 41, Yakutat 40
Selawik 53, Scammon Bay 49
Nikolaevsk 51, Akiak 21
Teller 50, Manokotak 45
St. Mary's 63, Kake 58
Monday's pairings
Sullivan Arena
Boys
11:20 a.m. – Anaktuvak Pass vs. Noatak
1 p.m. – Seldovia vs. Manokotak
6:50 p.m. – Scammon Bay vs. Elim
8:30 p.m. – Nikolaevsk vs. Angoon
Girls
8 a.m. – Newhalen vs. Wainwright
9:40 a.m. – Teller vs. St. Mary's
3:30 p.m. – Shishmaref vs. Buckland
5:10 p.m. – Selawik vs. Nikolaevsk