High School Sports

State hoops: Point Hope plays short-handed; a 12-year-old hits a high note

The Point Hope boys basketball team learned it has a pretty good penalty-killing unit Friday.

The Harpooners played the final five minutes of a 73-47 loss to Wrangell with four players on the floor. During that span, the shorthanded Harpooners outscored the Wolverines 14-11.

"Four-on-five is pretty hard to do for five minutes, but they never stopped," first-year Point Hope coach Gage Blankenship said. "I'm pretty proud of them."

Point Hope started the game with seven players. At halftime, Blankenship said, Charlie Tuzroyluk, who played five minutes in the first half, left the team. Blankenship said after the game he didn't yet know why.

Early in the third quarter, Andrew Oktollik collided with another player and suffered a concussion, sending him to the bench for good.

And then with 5:09 left in the fourth quarter, Mario Casados fouled out of the game.

That left four players — Patrick Turner, Al Lane Jr., Brandon Casados and Kris Oktollik ?— to do the work of five.

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Wrangell didn't let up during its extended power play, playing aggressively on both ends of the court. Yet the Harpooners narrowed the gap during those final five minutes.

"We're fortunate enough we can play from outside," Blankenship said. "We have a plan for a box-and-one for defense, and our offense runs fine with four."

Hitting a high note

The coolest customer in the house Friday may have been 12-year-old Olivia Mashiana, a seventh-grader from Unalakleet.

Wearing a brand-new kuspuk made by a family friend, Mashiana sang the National Anthem before the first semifinal session at the Alaska Airlines Center, and she did it with a clear, clean voice that reached all corners of the arena.

And, she hit the song's notoriously high note with seemingly no problem.

"I channeled my inner Whitney Houston," Mashiana said.

Mashiana said she wasn't nervous, partly because she's done this before. She sang the anthem at last year's state tournament too, and she's due to give two more performances this year.

Fillin' it up

Akiachak senior guard Fritz Jackson delivered a milestone game earlier this season when he eclipsed the 50-point mark in a win over Aniak.

Jackson on Feb. 12 went off for 57 points. He followed it with 47 points the next night in a win over Aniak.

At this week's Class 1A state tournament, where Akiachak was eliminated in two losses, Jackson scored 15 points against Nikolaevsk and 30 against Toksook Bay. Those 30 points against Toksook Bay marked the 10th time in 18 games this season Jackson scored 30 or more points.

Jackson averaged 29.9 points per game.

Family success

Several small school teams have coaches who find themselves coaching alongside or against siblings and other relatives in the state tournament.

Petersburg brothers Rick and Dino Brock each have teams making deep runs in the Class 2A tournament. Rick coaches the Vikings boys and Dino coaches the girls.

Joining the two bothers in the state tournament is their sister, Lovie Brock, who coaches the Cordova girls.

"My sister (Lovie), once she found out she upset a couple teams and made it into the state tournament, she called me," Dino said. "I got a voicemail right before we played Ketchikan and she's screaming into the phone (about making it to state)."

"It's pretty cool. It's neat to see. There was a picture on the ASAA website today with the three of us standing together. Our parents are pretty proud."

On the 1A side, husband and wife duo Brent and Louisa Hostetter coach the Noatak teams. Brent coaches the boys and Louisa coaches the girls.

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"Having both Noatak teams here, both the boys and the girls, has been a good experience for us," Brent said.

Sock power

The Aniak girls basketball team has unique tradition that serves a purpose more than bringing flashy colors to the court.

The players each wear a different pair of multicolored socks, ranging from yellow and black kneesocks, to pink and black stripes, to neon green to crazy designs.

But the socks aren't meant to distract their opponents. Coach Wayne Morgan said it helps the players feel comfortable when they're playing.

"That was their idea to get each other going, to feel comfortable out there," Morgan said. "It definitely makes them not worry too much about what might happen at the end of a game."

It seems to work — the Halfbreeds won an overtime game in their regional final to make it to state and won another overtime game over Shismaref in the state quarterfinals.

Stephan Wiebe contributed to this report

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