Grace Christian, Anchorage Christian headed for semifinal showdown

Grace Christian's Tobin Karlberg showed the skills that earned him Gatorade Player of the Year honors during Thursday's first round of the Class 3A boys basketball tournament.

The senior guard poured in 28 points and stole the ball six times to propel the Grizzlies past Eielson 54-30 and into a Friday semifinal game against crosstown rival Anchorage Christian.

ACS advanced to the 8 p.m. showdown at the Alaska Airlines Center with a 65-50 win over Mt. Edgecumbe.

In Thursday's other games, Monroe buried Bethel 60-28 and Barrow stopped Valdez 49-39 to claim spots in the 6:30 p.m. semifinal.

Karlberg connected on 10 of 12 shots from the field, including four of five shots behind the 3-point line, and netted four of six shots from the foul line.

Buoyed by his effort, Grace Christian shot nearly 60 percent from the field, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range. Jimmy McGovern hit 6 of 10 shots to join Karlberg in double figures with 13 points.

Christian Bolton's 12 points led Eielson.

Monroe 60, Bethel 28

Monroe came out hot after halftime to outscore Bethel 24-5 in the third quarter and put the game out of reach.

The Rams outrebounded the Warriors 36-28 and outscored them 30-12 from 3-point range.

Ten players grabbed rebounds for Monroe, an effort led by Izak Lohrke, who had nine rebounds to go with four assists.

Gavin Jackson drained four 3-pointers to finish with 16 points and Isaac Garcia added 12 points for Monroe.

John Fredericks had nine points and four rebounds to lead Bethel.

Barrow 49, Valdez 39

Anthony Fruan's 18 points and 10 rebounds carried Barrow past Valdez.

Sione Tuifua had 12 rebounds, and Travis Adams chipped in eight points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals for the Whalers.

Jalen Freeman scored 10 points to pace Valdez.

ACS 65, Mt. Edgecumbe 50

ACS forged big advantages on the boards and at the foul line to overwhelm Mt. Edgecumbe.

Fredrick Onochie grabbed 12 rebounds and Danilo Guzman had eight to help the Lions outrebound Mt. Edgecumbe 36-19. And Guzman scored 12 of his game-high 18 points on free throws, helping ACS outscore the Braves 20-7 from the foul line.

Mt. Edgecumbe got double-figure scoring from three players — Ben Exe (12 points), Emmett Dunaway (10) and Jamal Alstrom (10 points, 5 assists, 4 steals). Exe and Dunaway both fouled out.

Orlando Lozano scored 13 points and Demarcus Hall-Scriven had 11 for ACS, which grabbed a 19-7 lead in the first quarter.

An early version of this story incorrectly reported Grace Christian's semifinal opponent.