Anchorage Daily News

West's Roscoe Wyche stood at the free-throw line with two potential game-winning shots in his hands while drowning out the thundering crowd and filled his mind with sunshine Saturday night at West High.

He swished the first shot and barely made the second as his zen-like state of mind with 32 seconds left in double overtime helped top-seeded West beat the No. 2 Dimond Lynx 83-81 in the Cook Inlet Conference championship game.

"I was trying to think positive the whole time," Wyche said.

During the first overtime, Wyche clanked two free throws that would have given West the lead and perhaps a victory.

He didn't want it to happen again -- especially against the Lynx, who have sparred with the Eagles all season.

The Eagles and Lynx tied in the CIC standings and in the regular-season series, so each possession Saturday was an act of desperation to carry the momentum into next week's Class 4A state tournament.

The Eagles (21-4) own it now as they snapped Dimond's 17-game winning streak.

West's Tom Feeney Jr. collected 24 points on eight shots from beyond the arc and Dimond's Chris Plooy delivered 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting.

West trailed by 12 points with less than five minutes left in regulation. But Feeney's 3-pointer with 4:37 to go sparked an 18-6 run that ended on Mike Russell's two free throws with 16 seconds to forge overtime.

"We went the extra mile today," said Russell, who finished with a game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds. "I figured it would."

With 10 seconds left in the first overtime, a jumper from Dimond's Chris Plooy tied the scored at 74-74 and turned the game into a CIC classic.

West started the second overtime with six unanswered points for an 80-76 lead. Plooy drew back-to-back fouls and sank 3 of 4 free throws to cut the deficit to one point.

Then Plooy drew a foul on Wyche with 32 seconds left and Wyche sank both for the 82-79 lead.

Dimond answered with Tyler Bennett's layup with three seconds left and quickly fouled West's Travis Moon, who hit 1 of 2 free throws for the 83-81 lead.

Dimond had a chance to win on the inbound play with one second left, but Wyche stole Bennett's pass to seal the win.

"We lost on their home floor earlier this year," Wyche said. "But we don't loose on our home floor."

The next time Dimond and West have the chance to meet again will be on a neutral court at Sullivan Arena.

Bartlett 65, East 64

Down by two points and a bid to the Class 4A boys state tournament on the line, East had possession with 20 seconds left in regulation but were held scoreless as Bartlett held on to win the third-place game Saturday at West High.

The Golden Bears (16-9) are headed to Sullivan Arena in two weeks for the second straight season after beating the T-birds by one point for the second game in a row.

Bartlett beat East 63-62 in last week's CIC regular-season finale to lock up third place in the conference standings. But Saturday's game had more on the line as Bartlett sealed the CIC's last berth to state.

Malik King led the Golden Bears with 23 points and sank three 3-pointers, while Damon Sherman-Newsome added 14 points and nine rebounds.

Courtney May was Bartlett's statistical monster, sinking 7 of 7 free throws, dishing out five assists and adding four steals to finish with 14 points.

Tevin Timberlake had a day for East (11-13). He scored a game-high 24 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and sat for only 1 minute and 5 seconds.

Find Kevin Klott online at adn.com/contact/kklott or call 257-4335.

Boys Cook Inlet Conference Tournament

Saturday's at West High

Championship Game

Dimond 13 20 16 16 9 7 -- 81

West 14 20 13 18 9 9 -- 83

Dimond -- Thompson 22, DuPree 4, Plooy 24, Hanley 14, D. Lauwers 2, C. Lauwers 13, Bennett 2.

West -- Bookert 11, Russell 26, Moon 7, Zinck 4, Wyche 4, Rus 3, Feeney 24, Williams 4.

Third-Place Game

Bartlett 17 19 12 17 -- 65

East 15 22 12 15 -- 64

Bartlett -- May 14, Blount-O'Connor 2, King 23, Sherman-Newsome 14, Winbush 7, Rollins 5.

East -- Harris 2, Banks 15, Abello 3, Timberlake 24, Johnson 3, Goodwin 6, Lindsey 11.

ADVERTISEMENT