With the end of the regular season drawing near, the boys from East High and the girls from Bartlett High remained unbeaten in Cook Inlet Conference basketball by picking up wins on Tuesday night.
Everyone has three regular-season games left before heading into the CIC tournament, and the final stretch will pit the East boys against the second-place Dimond Lynx twice.
East ran its record to 9-0 with Tuesday’s win over South, but the T-birds have yet to face Dimond, which is 8-1 after a win over Eagle River. East and Dimond meet twice in the next several days — Friday at East, and next Friday, March 12, at Dimond.
This Friday is a big night for the girls teams in the top half of the CIC standings. The Bartlett girls will try to run their record to 10-0 when they host third-place Chugiak, and second-place Dimond heads to East, which shares third place with Chugiak.
Boys games
Chugiak 68, Service 48 — Service’s Ron Childress hit six triples and pumped in 27 points, but it wasn’t enough to take down Chugiak, which grabbed sole possession of third place in the conference.
Chugiak countered with 25 points from Jackson Wall, including 17 in the second half when the Mustangs outscored Service 41-19 after training by two at the half. Owen Lewis added 14 points, Zach Cole had 12 and Kellen Beam 10 for the Mustangs.
East 80, South 61 — Elijah Reed knocked down five 3-pointers and four T-birds scored in double figures to subdue South. Reed tossed in a team-high 17 points, Damarion Delaney added 16, Jayden Voliva had 15 and Jahbez Sellers 11 for the winners.
Reece Ivanoff chalked up 25 points for South, with 15 of them coming in the third quarter as South tried to recover from a 43-20 halftime deficit.
Dimond 62, Eagle River 29 — Dimond limited Eagle River to two points in the first quarter and enjoyed balanced scoring throughout the game.
Luke Johnston tallied 17 points, McGuire Hamey had 16 and six others contributed points for the Lynx, who led 17-2 after one quarter. Eagle River got a boost from Mekhi Womack (12 points) and Marcus Andrews (11).
West 61, Bartlett 55 — The West Eagles outbattled Bartlett to vault past the Golden Bears in the standings. The teams were tied for sixth place coming into the game, and the victory moved West into a tie with Service for fifth place.
Bishop Tosi lifted Bartlett with 20 points and 11 rebounds. No statistics were reported for West.
Girls games
Bartlett 42, West 25 — Amelia ‘Uhila and Adam Kaganak sparked the Golden Bears, who roared to a 20-8 halftime lead. ‘Uhila piled up 13 points, eight rebounds, six steals and five assists, and Kaganak chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds.
Dimond 69, Eagle River 23 — Eleven players contributed points for the Lynx, with two of them scoring in double figures. Caitlyn Brower scored 13 points and Hailey Seunteni had 11. Eagle River was led by Amaya Hudson’s 11 points.
East 49, South 33 — East held South scoreless in the second quarter to pull away after a close first quarter.
Krista Anderson poured in seven points to help East outscore the Wolverines 12-0 in the second quarter, turning a 12-11 lead into a 24-11 lead. Anderson finished with 10 points, Angel Ioane had 15 and Nyathiel Wal added 12 for the Eagles. Paige Noble topped South with 13 points.
No information was reported from Chugiak’s 57-43 win over Service.
CIC boys standings
East 9-0
Dimond 8-1
Chugiak 6-3
South 5-4
West 3-6
Service 3-6
Bartlett 2-7
Eagle River 0-9
CIC girls standings
Bartlett 9-0
Dimond 7-2
East 6-3
Chugiak 6-3
West 5-4
South 2-7
Service 1-8
Eagle River 0-9
Friday’s games (girls at 5:30 p.m., boys at 7:30 p.m.)
Chugiak at Bartlett
Dimond at East
Service at South
Eagle River at West