Palmer Elk’s Showdown, January 16th – 18th
Thursday, January 16th: Valdez 52, Palmer 63
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – The Buccaneers visited Palmer in the wind ravaged Matanuska Valley to participate in the Palmer Elk’s Showdown, a 4-team round-robin style tournament featuring Valdez, the Chugiak Mustangs, the Eagle River Wolves, and the host Palmer Moose.
Thursday’s evening matchup featured the Buccaneers against the hometown Moose. Palmer jumped out to an early first quarter lead of 14-8, but Valdez won the second quarter and entered the half trailing 27-22. In the third quarter, Valdez outscored Palmer 20-13 and entered the final stanza with a 42-40 lead. In a reversal from the previous quarter, the Moose controlled the fourth quarter and salted away a 63-52 victory by shooting 10-of-15 from the free throw line.
The Bucs were led offensively by Jalen Freeman and Jimmy Chavez, who netted 21 and 12 points, respectively. Douglas Cummins chipped in 6 points while grabbing 8 rebounds. Defensively, the Bucs drew 3 offensive fouls [James Letendre (2), and Storm Rohrer (1)].
Friday, January 17th: Valdez 51, Eagle River 48
The Bucs squared off against the Eagle River Wolves in the afternoon session of the second day of the tournament.
The game was a close affair throughout and saw Valdez jump out to a 16-9 advantage at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter Eagle River found themselves down 19-11 (the largest deficit either team faced throughout), but were able to narrow the halftime score to 26-30 after hitting a ⅔ court buzzer beater before intermission.
Second half action was closely matched (Eagle River 22, Valdez 20), leading to Valdez holding a 2 point advantage with approximately 7 seconds left and Douglas Cummins stepping to the line to shoot 2 free throws. A miss on the first attempt, coupled with a make on the second attempt, meant that -at most- the Wolves would only be able to tie the game with another long-range buzzer beater. Disciplined defense by Buc defenders ensured the desperation shot was unsuccessful, securing a 51-48 Valdez victory.
Jalen Freeman scored 16 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and dished out 10 assists en route to posting a triple-double. Storm Rohrer added 15, Jimmy Chavez 10, and Douglas Cummins 9. Bryce Tucker snatched 8 rebounds, while Douglas Cummins secured 7. Allen Watson successfully drew an offensive foul.
Saturday, January 18th: Valdez 60, Chugiak 73
Saturday’s midday contest saw Valdez take on the Chugiak Mustangs, who had beaten both Eagle River and Palmer earlier in the tournament.
While the game ended with a 73-60 Chugiak victory, the contest was closer throughout (17-16 Chugiak after one quarter; 36-33 Chugiak at the half). Midway through the third quarter the Bucs took a 39-38 lead. The Bucs defense and rebounding faltered, however; as they yielded 30 points in the paint and 17 offensive rebounds to the Mustangs. The foul/free throw exercise common at the end of games makes the score appear more lopsided than the bulk of the game, as Chugiak shot 8 for 13 from the free throw line down the stretch.
Jalen Freeman and Jimmy Chavez led the Bucs in scoring with 22 and 11, respectively. Douglas Cummins grabbed 8 rebounds and Allen Watson successfully drew an offensive foul.
Notes:
Jalen Freeman and Jimmy Chavez were named to the All Tournament Team. Jimmy Chavez also won the the 3-point shooting contest.
The Buccaneers next take the court in their home opener, January 31st, against Aurora Conference opponent Hutchison Hawks.
Valdez Boys J.V vs. Wasilla, Colony & Palmer
Courtesy of Coach Cronk – This past weekend the JV Boys traveled with the Varsity team to the valley for three games. We played Wasilla on Thursday, Colony on Friday, and Palmer on Saturday.
On Thursday the JV Bucs lost a close game to Wasilla. Wasilla pressed from the start and it took us a few possessions to get our- selves gathered and break the press. After starting with a small deficit, we fought back and even took the lead in the third quarter. A few turnovers late in the game were the difference as Wasilla capitalized. Leading the Bucs were Dennis Mott and Dillon Fowler.
Friday and Saturday saw much of the same. Colony and Palmer both sported some big athletic players and we struggled to stop them from scoring inside and in transition. The JV Bucs fell to both teams.
It was a fun trip, we were able to support the Varsity teams as well while they were competing in the Palmer Elks Tournament.
Varsity Girls @ Palmer Showdown
Courtesy of VHS Coaches – This past weekend the Girls Varsity Basketball competed at the Palmer Elks tournament. We were hesitant going in to the tournament, as we were without one a starter in Jade Holmes, who had twisted her ankle in practice and is out of action for a while.
On Thursday night we played Palmer and lead the game from start to finish. The final score was 49-36. Reece King had 15 points and Chloe Auble had 12 points with 8 rebounds.
Our Friday night opponent was Eagle River. This game was a tight game with multiple lead changes. Unfortunately, Jillian Fleming went down in the game with a serious knee injury, and we were without her leadership and defensive play. With 12 seconds to play, we were down 2 points. Chloe Auble hit a clutch 3 point shot from the corner to put us up by one. However, Eagle River then attacked and hit a layup with only 2.4 seconds left, putting them ahead by one. An errant pass on our full court last second play went awry, and we were unable to get off another shot, ultimately losing the game by a score of 41-40.
Saturday afternoon we played Juneau. Juneau’s team is currently ranked 2nd in 4A in the state, and are a very good team with length, quickness, experience, and all the pieces to make a deep run this year. They quickly jumped out ahead of us. We had difficulty on both ends of the court, both with stopping their relentless fast break and pick and roll sets, and with moving the ball effectively against their defense. We were defeated by a score of 65-33.
