For the first time since Carlos Boozer roamed the court 18 years ago, the Juneau Crimson Bears are Class 4A boys basketball state champions.
After spending most of the tournament coming from behind, Juneau jumped out to an early lead and fought off a Dimond rally in the second half to defeat the Lynx 38-31 Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center. Before Saturday, the last time Juneau won a state title was 1998 when Boozer boosted the Crimson Bears to its second straight championship.
Saturday's championship victory was the culmination of a long tournament road that included two wins in the closing seconds for the Crimson Bears.
"It means a lot for everyone — our town, our fans," said Juneau's Kaleb Tompkins, who scored eight of his game-high 13 points in the fourth quarter.
"We just pulled through in the end."
Going into the tournament, none of the Juneau players had ever played at state, but it was Dimond that came out looking nervous. The Lynx missed several shots at the rim that they normally make.
Dimond's Josh Fosi scored the first two buckets of the game, but the Lynx didn't score again until the closing seconds of the first quarter and by then Juneau had built a 12-6 lead.
"There were a few times today we just got outside of what we really wanted to do," Dimond coach Brad Lauwers said. "It's kind of the magnitude of the moment.
"I thought over the course of the tournament we played with a lot of poise and without being nervous and I thought we were a little nervous tonight in the championship game."
Juneau maintained its six-point lead in the second quarter and led 19-13 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Dimond finally fired back. The Lynx scored five quick points before Kylan Osborne flew in for a put-back to give Dimond a 20-19 lead.
"I told them that Dimond was gonna make a run, I told them that we had to be ready for that," Juneau coach Robert Casperson said. "I'm proud of how our guys responded to that run and just kept working."
Juneau caught momentum again later in the quarter with a steal and dunk by Erik Kelly.
In the fourth quarter, Dimond ran out of steam, scoring a measly three points.
"We caught a few breaks," Casperson said. "We used our size on the boards ... Fortunately, they missed a few shots down the stretch."
In the low-scoring game, Guy Bean was second in points for Juneau with nine. Kelly added six.
Bryce Swofford finished with four points and several big blocks, including two in one possession.
Fosi poured in 10 for the Lynx a day after scoring 28 against East in the semifinals. Anthony Parker contributed eight points and Eric Jenkins tallied seven.
For Dimond fans, Saturday was rough for multiple reasons. Both Lynx teams lost in the state finals with the Dimond girls falling to Wasilla 44-40 earlier in the day.
"It's like the Super Bowl, it's hard to be the runner-up in the Super Bowl," Lauwers said. "The reality is we had an outstanding season. We're going to try to build on it … We'll be motivated."