Published with permission from the Ketchikan Daily News

Kayhi senior Alex Williams does a dribbling drill during Eric Stockhausen's basketball camp Wednesday at the Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium. Staff photo by Hall Anderson

Basketball season is more than three months away, but the hardwood will always be king in Ketchikan.

At least that’s the way it seemed at Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium this week, where Kayhi boys basketball coach Eric Stockhausen hosted the First City Cage Camp – his second basketball camp of the summer.

Put together with only about a week’s notice, the camp nevertheless drew about 45 players ranging from second graders to seniors in high school.

I caught two days of the action, watching as Stockhausen ran drills and taught specialized skill sets with the help of videos made by recognizable NBA players. He turned the campers loose in a scrimmage atmosphere for the final hour Thursday, then closed the camp by having each player demonstrate one thing learned during the week.

In that same vein, here are four things I learned at camp.

1. After 20 years of coaching, Stockhausen is still learning.

Stockhausen – who celebrated his 40th birthday Wednesday – picked up a few new tricks when he took a group of six Kayhi players to a basketball camp in Minnetonka, Minn., in mid-July.

After working with Ken Novak, his former high school coach and the leader of Minnesota prep powerhouse Hopkins, Stockhausen completely revamped his camp to put Kayhi on what he believes is basketball’s cutting edge.

“It was just working and focusing on a lot of things that I had really never seen before,” Stockhausen said. “It’s stuff that nobody was teaching back when I played.

“A majority of what we were doing (this week) is either directly from, or based on, what we learned.”

The biggest change has young players practicing, and mastering, high-level moves used by NBA players.

In one drill, campers watched San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobli perform a walk-through drive – using one big step left at the hoop to get a defender off balance before bounding back right for an easy layup – and mimicked that move. Another had them drive past a defender, only to slow down and read the play while sealing off the defender with their back.

If those moves sound familiar, it’s because they worked so well for Kayhi seniors Jeff Whicker and Tyller Bell last season.

“That camp was basically like a camp to learn how to play like Jeff and Tyller,” Kayhi senior Chas Allen said. “It was exactly what they do.”

Kayhi senior Chas Allen takes a jumper during the First City Cage Camp Wednesday at Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium. Staff photo by Hall Anderson

2. It’s a small world.

It’s no secret that the Kayhi boys and girls basketball teams were undersized last season, and that isn’t likely to change soon. But by gearing this camp toward guard play, Stockhausen gambled that speed, ballhandling and fundamental play will trump sheer size more often than not.

Dribbling drills took up a large portion of Wednesday’s camp, and players who will spend most of their careers looking up at taller defenders worked on an array of nifty offensive moves designed to free up space around the basket all week.

And if some size happens to fall into Kayhi’s lap?

“We’re really trying to open it up so all of our (players), all the way down to grade school, can start to learn how to create their own shot and get space,” Stockhausen said. “Even if we have a legitimate post player, for their benefit, we’re going to want them to be able to handle the ball.”

3. Allen and Alex Williams got the most from the Minnesota trip.

Allen averaged 7.3 points per game while shooting only 39 percent from the field for Kayhi last season, but Stockhausen said something clicked for the streaky spot-up shooter in Minnesota.

Since then, the leaner Allen has committed himself to attacking the basket and creating scoring opportunities, and during camp he carried himself like a player who knows he’s the best on the court.

“I’ve been a set shooter, not really creating anything,” Allen said. “I create a lot more for everybody now, and a little bit more for myself.”

The trip also did wonders for Williams, who looks like he’ll snap up a good portion of the minutes left behind by Whicker and Bell. A reserve guard last season, Williams has improved his ballhandling and should be a more reliable scoring threat.

“I haven’t been a very good dribbler, and I’m doing these (drills) as much as I can,” Williams said. “I’m getting better. People can see it. … It just feels better.”

4. Replacing the Lady Kings’ talented seniors will be tough, but Kayhi is trying.

Melissa Elliott, Inga Christensen, Bayley Lindgren and Lucy Ortiz – four probable members of Kayhi’s girls varsity unit – all attended this week’s camp.

It’s still early, but the Lady Kings already are working hard to fill the gap left by last year’s crop of seniors. That group went to the state tournament in 2009 and punctuated their stellar four-year careers by posting a 21-6 record last season.

“Everyone in Ketchikan thinks that girls basketball is pretty much over,” Lindgren said. “We’re just trying to prove to everyone else that it’s not.”

Like the Kayhi boys, the Lady Kings will struggle with size this season and have to find more players capable of handling the ball and creating shots. Elliott said she’s already seen progress.

“Stockhausen has showed us some of the things he learned, and I think it’s useful for our shooting. He’s teaching us different kinds of shots,” she said. “All our girls that graduated were good ballhandlers, so that will be something helpful for us to work on.”

Daily News Sports Editor

Kayhi senior Jeff Whicker goes up for a layup over North Pole's Luke Demientieff (24) and Michael Hale (44) during a game at Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium Dec. 29, 2009. Staff photo by Hall Anderson

After turning in the most prolific scoring season in Kayhi boys basketball history, Jeff Whicker was ready for a new challenge.

The Kayhi senior got his chance Wednesday, signing on to play basketball next year for Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minn.

“I really like the coaches and really like the program they have,” Whicker said. “It seemed like a good fit for me. … I’m going to have to work pretty hard, that’s for sure.”

Whicker, who will have a partial scholarship, is joining a rebuilding program that has increased its win total in each of the last three years.

The Division II Beavers won just five games in 2006-2007, coach Matt Bowen’s first season with the school, then won six games the next year, eight games the year after that, and finished 12-15 in 2009-2010 to finish 11th in the difficult 14-team Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

Bemidji State is only graduating one player from last year’s team, but that player is leading-scorer Seth Haake (18.6 points per game). As of Wednesday, the Beavers had eight freshmen and sophomores on their roster, and only one junior.

“The entire team, with the exception of one of our guards, is coming back,” Bowen said. “It’s a pretty big jump. There’s no doubt in my mind that (Whicker) will be successful at it, but you’re not just going to jump right out of high school and start chewing up minutes.”

It was Bowen’s father, Rick Bowen, who first turned the coach onto Whicker. Rick Bowen coached Kayhi boys basketball coach Eric Stockhausen at the University of Wisconsin at River Falls from 1988-1991, and led a basketball camp in Ketchikan last summer. Whicker was at the camp, and made an impression.

“My father … came back, and immediately told me that there was somebody I should probably keep my eye on, which was Jeff,” Matt Bowen said. “We’re excited about it.”

Whicker led Kayhi to a 19-7 record his senior season, averaging 26.5 points and 2.5 assists per game while shooting 53 percent from the field. His 662 total points broke Kayhi’s single-season scoring record – breaking the mark of 657 set by Damen Bell-Holter in 2008. He was selected to the Southeast All-Conference team, and named to the All-State second team. Whicker scored 11.9 points per game in his junior year, his first at Kayhi after transferring from Craig following his sophomore season.

“One of my reasons to come (to Ketchikan) was to get some more exposure and bring my game to the next level,” Whicker said. “It paid off.”

Stockhausen said Whicker – who made the honor roll all four years of high school – is a perfect fit for a Bemidji State program he said rewards hard work and intelligence.

“We want a good fit. Jeff’s a great kid, a good student, he’s got a good head on his shoulders,” Stockhausen said. “I don’t think there’s any limit to what Jeff can do.”

Whicker excelled at getting to and finishing around the rim at Kayhi – he shot 60 percent from inside the 3-point line this season – but Matt Bowen said he envisions the 5-foot-11 guard as more of a facilitator in Bemidji State’s offense.

But before he sees major minutes with the Beavers, Whicker has a long list of ways he wants to improve his game.

“I’m going to need to get bigger and stronger because everyone at the next level is bigger and stronger,” he said, “and just work on quickness and shooting and just really work on getting better defensively as well.”

Daily News Sports Editor

Published with permission from the Ketchikan Daily News

Kayhi junior Chas Allen shoots over Juneau-Douglas’ Evan Gross during a game against the Crimson Bears at Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium Jan. 16. Staff photo by Hall Anderson

When Kayhi boys basketball coach Eric Stockhausen looked at his roster before the 2009-’10 season, it didn’t look like much.

Eight seniors were gone from the year before. Not one player stood taller than 6-foot-2. Only senior Jeff Whicker – who averaged 11.9 points per game as a junior – had any meaningful varsity experience.

“I didn’t think we’d be able to score,” Stockhausen said. “I always joked that if Jeff scored 30 (points), we would get at least 50 a game.”

Everything changed once the season started.

Kayhi opened the year with a six-game winning streak and never looked back, finishing with a 19-7 mark and coming within three points of a Southeast Regional title before losing to rival Juneau-Douglas in the championship March 6.

“Everybody was a little bit better than we initially thought they would be,” Stockhausen said. “We just had a great variety of contributions on a given night.”

The result was a surprising year in which Kayhi went from inexperienced also-ran to Southeast Conference force in a matter of games.

The regular-season highlights were numerous:

- Kayhi only lost consecutive games once all year – a three-game hiccup to close December and open January.

- The Kings dropped their first conference game to Thunder Mountain Jan. 8, then rattled off seven consecutive conference wins to close the year with a 7-1 record against Southeast foes. That gave Kayhi a four-game regular-season sweep of Juneau – its first in more than 30 years – and the No. 1 seed in the region tournament.

Kayhi’s Jeff Whicker shoots a free throw in the final seconds of a game against the Thunder Mountain Falcons Thursday in Sitka during the 4A Southeast Tournament. Kayhi beat the Falcons 77-67. Photo by James Poulson, Sitka Sentinel

- Whicker almost hit Stockhausen’s exaggerated 30-point goal, averaging 25.5 points per game and earning All-State second team honors. Senior Tyller Bell averaged 12.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game to earn an All-State honorable mention.

“It was a lot of fun,” junior Chas Allen said. “We had no experience coming into this year, and toward the end everybody was pretty well good to go.”

But disappointment ruled the postseason.

Kayhi entered the region tournament as the hands-on favorite to win the title and the conference’s lone state tournament berth. Two crushing losses to Juneau – by a combined three points – sandwiched wins over the Crimson Bears and Thunder Mountain and brought Kayhi’s season to a close.

Now, the Kings have to recreate last year’s offseason improvement.

Seven seniors – including Whicker and Bell, who accounted for more than 38 of Kayhi’s 65 points per game this season – are graduating. Left behind is Allen and a crop of juniors who, if nothing else, now have varsity experience.

“The math seems kind of difficult to understand, how you can keep having so many seniors,” Stockhausen said. “But I’m really encouraged by how this group, immediately after the region tournament, they were coming up with plans for how they’re going to approach next season.”

Kayhi’s game plan figures to change a little.

This season, the Kings employed an up-tempo, attacking offense coupled with a high-pressure defense. Stockhausen said the absence of Bell and Whicker, two penetrating scorers, might cause Kayhi to play a little slower, utilize more screens and alter its defensive approach.

Kayhi senior Tyller Bell (22) drives to the basket around Juneau-Douglas’ Colin Gozelski (15) in Juneau over the weekend. Bell and the Kings beat Juneau twice to earn a 4-0 sweep of the Crimson Bears on the season. Juneau Empire photo/Klas Stolpe

“We’re just going to be very different,” he said. “If we were trying to do the same things, you wouldn’t have a chance of replacing (Whicker and Bell). … The skills that they come to me with will dictate the type of game that we have to play.”

But the Kings will still have some talented – if unpolished -pieces.

Allen averaged 7.3 points per game this season, and will likely be Kayhi’s main offensive and defensive threat next year. Junior Jesse Lindgren averaged 3.9 points per game while shooting 62 percent from the field, and Kayhi missed his versatility when he suffered an ankle injury during the region tournament. Junior Alex Williams and sophomore Kyle Day are both deadeye shooters who can help stretch defenses with 3-pointers.

Stockhausen said picking JV contributors at this stage in the year is “a pure guess,” but mentioned sophomores Travis Taylor, Mark Dulay and Frederick Seludo.

Still, Stockhausen has a laundry list of things the Kings need to improve before the start of next season, which means Kayhi isn’t far from where it was at this time a year ago.

The Kings “see what everybody else sees – that next year might be a struggle if we don’t improve quite a bit,” Stockhausen said. “There’s not an aspect of the game we don’t need to focus on, we don’t need to improve on.”

Daily News Sports Editor

Published with permission from the Ketchikan Daily News

Kayhi senior Crystal Blair drives against Juneau-Douglas forward Sarah Tarver during a game at Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium Feb. 20. Blair was named to the Alaska Newspapers Inc./Alaska Coaches 4A All-State Basketball first team after averaging 13.8 points per game this season. Staff photo by Hall Anderson

Crystal Blair was the best player on the Kayhi girls basketball team all season. The Alaska Newspapers Inc./Alaska Coaches 4A All-State Basketball Team results, released Thursday, confirm the Kayhi senior is among the best in Alaska.

Blair was named to the All-State first team, leading a group of five Kayhi girls and boys basketball players given All-State recognition.

Alexis Edwardson was named to the All-State Second Team by the The Alaska Newspapers Inc./Alaska Coaches.

Kayhi senior Alexis Edwardson was named to the girls second team, while senior Kathleen Reno was given an honorable mention. For the Kayhi boys, senior Jeff Whicker made the second team, and senior Tyller Bell was given an honorable mention.

Blair was given first-team honors after a stellar season in which she averaged 13.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 steals per game. She was nominated as a McDonald’s All American, but didn’t make the final 24-player cut. Brittany Fenumiai (Juneau-Douglas), Keiahnna Engel (Dimond), Adrina Lavern-Tosi (West Anchorage) and Kelsie Cottle (Wasilla) joined Blair on the first team.

Kathleen Reno was named Honorable Mention by the The Alaska Newspapers Inc./Alaska Coaches. kayhibasketball.com photo by Jen Whicker.

Edwardson averaged 11.1 points per game this season, and shot 80 percent from the free-throw line while running the point for the Lady Kings this season. Reno averaged 4.6 points per game, shot 45 percent from the field, and provided valuable minutes as a defensive stopper for Kayhi.

Blair, Edwardson and Reno – along with senior Ciara Patton, who wasn’t honored despite averaging 9.2 points per game, 2.9 rebounds per game, and shooting 49 percent from inside the 3-point line – led Kayhi to a 19-5 regular season before the Lady Kings fell short against rival Juneau-Douglas at the Southeast Regional.

Aside from Fenumiai, Juneau placed Taylor Larson on the second team and Karli Brakes and Annette Highley on the third team. Dimond’s Engel was named player of the year, and West Anchorage coach Tim Helvey was named coach of the year.

Kayhi senior Jeff Whicker blocks a shot by Chugiak's Dustin Theis (23). Whicker was voted to All-State second team. Staff photo by Hall Anderson

Kayhi girls basketball coach Kelly Smith did not respond to requests for a comment on the results Wednesday.

For the boys, Whicker was named to the second team after a spectacular season in which he often played like the best player in the state. Whicker averaged 25.5 points and 2.5 assists per game, shot 53 percent from the field – a number that jumped to 60 percent on shots inside the 3-point line – and averaged 27 points during four games at the Southeast Regional.

Tyller Bell was voted All-State Honorable Mention by the The Alaska Newspapers Inc./Alaska Coaches kayhibasketball.com photo by Jen Whicker

Bell averaged 12.8 points per game this year, and added 8.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.4 steals per game. Whicker and Bell led Kayhi to a 17-5 regular-season record – including a 7-1 mark in conference – and had the Kings seconds away from a state tournament berth before they eventually fell to Juneau.

“I’m excited for the kids – for both Tyller and Jeff – and their teammates,” Kayhi boys coach Eric Stockhausen said. “I think any time you see individual awards, that’s a reflection on the whole team. That’s something that’s been great about these kids all year, is that they really embrace the team concept. Within those parameters, to get recognition statewide, is great for those guys and great for the program.”

Thunder Mountain’s Cody Grussendorf was given second-team recognition, and Juneau’s Alex DeRocher was given an honorable mention.

Travis Thompson (Dimond), Devon Bookert (West Anchorage), Damon Sherman-Newsome (Bartlett), Justin Kauffman (West Anchorage) and John Palmer (Colony) made up the first team. Thomson was named player of the year, while Dimond coach Rob Galosich earned coach of the year.

Daily News Sports Editor

Published with permission from the Ketchikan Daily News

Ketchikan’s Jeff Whicker, center, waits to shoot in the final minutes of the Southeast Region 4A boys championship game against Juneau Saturday in Sitka. Juneau won by 2 points. Photo by James Poulson/Sitka Sentinel

SITKA – In a 4A Southeast Regional filled with surprise performances, sudden twists and photo finishes, Juneau-Douglas’ Lance Ibesate provided the most shocking moment of all.

He also gave the Juneau boys basketball team its fifth consecutive region title, and a trip to the state tournament.

With 10 seconds remaining in the region final against Kayhi Saturday, Ibesate forced a turnover, racing the length of the court for a layup to break a 59-59 tie with three seconds to play.

“I wouldn’t expect a 5-foot-4 sophomore guard to hit a game-winning shot at regions,” said Ibesate, grinning ear-to-ear as his teammates began cutting down the nets at Mt. Edgecumbe’s B.J. McGillis Gymnasium. “It was a good shot.”

It was also a fitting end to a thrill-a-minute tournament where no lead was safe until the final buzzer sounded.

Juneau, Kayhi and Thunder Mountain combined to play five region games – the most possible – and those games were decided by an average of 4.8 points. Two of those games were decided by two points or less, and one went to overtime.

Juneau and Kayhi were responsible for the two closest games, and the Crimson Bears prevailed both times.

In the second round, Juneau senior Alex DeRocher hit a baseline jumper with eight seconds left to give the Crimson Bears a 59-58 victory over the Kings. Kayhi responded by beating Thunder Mountain 77-67 Thursday and Juneau 58-52 Friday to set up Saturday’s winner-take-all affair.

Kayhi led for most of the finale, taking a 41-36 advantage into the fourth quarter. The Kings built that lead to nine points at the 6:29 mark of the fourth, but Juneau hung around.

Ketchikan's Tyller Bell drives the lane against Juneau's Eric Sele in the Southeast 4A boys championship game Saturday at Mt. Edgecumbe High School. Photo by James Poulson/Sitka Sentinel

The Crimson Bears trailed 59-56 when guard Tony Yadao stepped into a 3-pointer on the right wing to tie the game with 22 seconds left.

On Kayhi’s next possession, Whicker drove into the lane, cut left, and – as he did so often for the Kings this season – gathered himself for a layup. Before he could finish, Ibesate forced the ball loose and went streaking down the court. He juked right, and then came back to his left hand to curl the game-winner in over Kayhi senior Tyller Bell.

Ibesate scored five fourth-quarter points after having just eight in his previous 10 quarters against Kayhi.

“Lance was 1 for 9 (Friday), and that included some missed layups,” Juneau coach Steve Potter said. “That was a big step up for him to rebound off a poor shooting performance and to make that shot.”

For Kayhi – the tournament’s No. 1 seed after going 7-1 in conference play – disappointment reigned.

“I wish (the Kings) could’ve won this game and had a little better ending to what’s been an absolutely great year,” Kayhi coach Eric Stockhausen said. “But we had a few too many mistakes here tonight.

“Our kids have played very good basketball all year, and I’m very proud of them. Especially considering nobody gave us a chance to win a conference game.”

The Kings lost their opening game of the tournament to Juneau after digging out of a 19-point hole only to be turned back by DeRocher’s late jumper. Kayhi rallied again – successfully, this time – to beat Thunder Mountain in the playback game, then withstood a late Juneau charge to earn a shot at the region title.

Whicker was stellar throughout the tournament, averaging 27 points per game and finishing his Kayhi career with 27 points Saturday. Whicker was named to the all-conference team, along with Bell.

Whicker “is a big-time player,” Stockhausen said. “He put his heart into it and it shows with all of his hard work. He had a great group of guys around him Every single kid here deserves credit for how hard they play.”

Thunder Mountain, in its first year of varsity athletics, went 0-2 in tournament play. The Falcons gave Juneau all it could handle, though, taking the eventual champions to overtime in round one behind 20 points from seniors Cody Grussendorf and Reese Saviers.

That scare against the Falcons – plus three tough games with Kayhi – had the Crimson Bears feeling relieved after Saturday’s win.

“We’re pretty much exhausted,” Potter said. “We’re very close.”

Daily News Sports Editor

Published with permission from the Ketchikan Daily News

SITKA -Kayhi boys basketball coach Eric Stockhausen has a few more gray hairs, but his Kings have another hand-wringing win.

The result was another tight finish, as the Kings built an 18-point third-quarter lead before hanging on to beat the Crimson Bears 58-52 at B.J. McGillis Gymnasium in Sitka.

“We seem to have two patterns this year – get way down and come storming back or get way up and let (the opponent) storm back and try to stave it off,” Stockhausen said. “Either way, we’ve got 19 wins now, so our kids are doing something right.”

Kayhi stayed alive at the double-elimination regional, evening what has become a best-of-three series with Juneau at one game apiece. The teams play Saturday at 8:45 p.m., with the winner taking the tournament championship and the region’s lone state 4A boys tournament berth.

The Kings led by 18 points with 2:10 left in the third quarter Friday, but Juneau came roaring back.

Tony Yadao opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to trim Kayhi’s lead to 48-37. Kayhi built the advantage back to 16 points, but a three-point play by Juneau’s Alex DeRocher made it 54-42.

DeRocher hit another layup to pull the Crimson Bears within 10 points with five minutes to play, and when Yadao hit another 3-pointer three minutes later Juneau was within seven. DeRocher hit yet another layup to make it 55-50 with 47 seconds left, but Kayhi senior Jeff Whicker hit a free throw to keep a two-possession advantage 20 seconds later.

Juneau’s Lance Ibesate hit a fullcourt layup with 13 seconds left to make it 56-52, but Whicker hit two more free throws and Yadao missed a long 3-pointer to seal Juneau’s fate.

“I don’t know that our offense ever really got on track,” Juneau coach Steve Potter said. “We scored some more in the second half, but most of it was off transition. Ketchikan did a really good job of pressuring the ball and getting out in the passing lanes.”

Whicker finished with a game-high 24 points for the Kings. He’s just 22 points away from Kayhi’s single-season scoring record of 657 points, earned by Damon Bell-Holter in 2008. Tyller Bell added 14 points and 13 rebounds for Kayhi, and senior Dave Klein hit two more 3-pointers- giving him five in two days after he made one during the regular season.

But for all the offensive efforts, it was Kayhi’s suffocating defense that gave the Kings an early advantage.

Defense “was a big focus for us,” Bell said. “We had a (points allowed) goal to meet and we met that goal very well. We actually overachieved a little bit. I’m very happy for our team.”

DeRocher led Juneau with 19 points, 13 in the second half. Yadao and Sele had eight points each.

Kayhi won despite only hitting 19 of 36 free throws and struggling at times with Juneau’s defensive pressure. The Kings have won five of six games against the Crimson Bears this year, sweeping regular-season series and splitting two region tournament games.

Kayhi’s next win over Juneau would give the Kings a trip to the state tournament in Anchorage.

“It takes a lot of guts, a lot of heart to play on the third day – it’s going to take even more” Saturday, Stockhausen said. “These kids have proven all year that strong character can take them a long way.

“I just hope we can win the next one, and give ourselves a chance to show the state of Alaska that we can play some decent basketball.”

Daily News Sports Editor

Published with permission from the Ketchikan Daily News

Kayhi’s Jeff Whicker shoots a free throw in the final seconds of a game against the Thunder Mountain Falcons Thursday in Sitka during the 4A Southeast Tournament. Kayhi beat the Falcons 77-67. Photo by James Poulson, Sitka Sentinel

SITKA – Dave Klein hit only one 3-pointer in the regular season, but that hasn’t stopped the Kayhi senior, or Simon Brooks, from tossing up a few bombs at practice this year.

That just might be the reason the Kayhi boys basketball team is still alive at the 4A Southeast Regional.

Klein scored a season-high 15 points – including three 3-pointers – and Jeff Whicker dominated another fourth quarter as the Kings beat Thunder Mountain 77-67 Thursday at Mt.Edgecumbe’s B.J. McGillis Gymnasium.

“We always kind of joke around, me and Simon, shooting threes. It’s kind of funny,” Klein said. “He keeps telling me to shoot when I’m open, so I took some shots.”

Kayhi’s win puts it back in the championship bracket of the double-elimination tournament. The Kings play Juneau-Douglas at 4:45 p.m. Friday, and must beat the Crimson Bears two days in a row to win the region title and nab the only boys 4A berth in the state tournament.

Thunder Mountain was eliminated after its second loss in three days. The Falcons lost a first-round game to Juneau in overtime Tuesday.

Whicker scored a team-high 31 points and dominated the final period with 16 of Kayhi’s 25 points, but Klein’s scoring surge – his previous game-high was six points against Sitka Dec. 18 – gave the Kings all the momentum.

“We told (Klein) he’s got to go out and hit a couple 3-pointers for us,” Kayhi coach Eric Stockhausen said. “Thank goodness he did it.   He’s a senior, he realizes what’s at stake here.”

Klein’s first 3-pointer, early in the opening quarter, was a surprise. The second, late in the third quarter, kept Kayhi afloat.

The third tied the game at 59-59 with 5:40 left in the fourth quarter, set the stage for Whicker’s go-ahead 3-pointer seconds later, and kicked off a 10-0 Kayhi run that transformed the Kings’ 59-56 deficit into a 66-59 lead at the 3:54 mark.

Stockhausen “told me that I had a few more (3-pointers) in me,” Klein said. “He always seems to be right about basketball stuff  so I just listened to him.”

Thunder Mountain, which led for most of the game, rallied quickly behind a free throw from DeAndre “Jazz” King and a layup by Brian Koenig. Kayhi senior Tyler Elliot hit a cutting Whicker with a perfect pass for a layup that pushed the Kings’ lead back to six, but Koenig answered with another layup.

Whicker drew a foul with 1:35 left and hit two free throws, part of a streak in which the senior guard hit eight consecutive freebies to ice the game for Kayhi.

“I was looking to take over and do exactly what I did – go to the bucket, get to the line and make it a free-throw game,” Whicker said. “We found a way to get it done.”

Cody Grussendorf led Thunder Mountain with 31 points. The senior guard almost single-handedly propelled the Falcons to a 24-16 lead after one quarter, scoring 15 points in the period.

Grussendorf “is an amazing player,” Thunder Mountain coach John Blasco said. “He wanted to help us succeed and get on to that next round. For a while I really thought he was going to do it.”

Thunder Mountain led by five points at halftime, then pushed its lead to 40-33 early in the third quarter on a layup by Torey Franzen.

The Kings cut that advantage to 55-52 by the start of the fourth and, after King made it 57-52 with a pair of free throws, Whicker had a putback, Elliot forced a steal and drilled a fastbreak layup and Klein hit the game-tying 3-pointer.

“Our senior leadership, that’s what we’re relying on,” Stockhausen said. “They have that sense of urgency. It’s win or go home.”

During its 7-1 conference season, Kayhi beat rival Juneau-Douglas four times to sweep the Crimson Bears for the first time since 1973-’74.   After losing to Juneau 59-58 in the tournament Wednesday on a late jumper by Alex DeRocher, the Kings will have to pull off a similar Juneau-sweep feat over the next two days.

“We know we still have a lot of work to do,” Whicker said. “We’ll celebrate tonight, but then we’ve got to get to work tomorrow.”

Daily News Sports Editor

Published with permission from the Ketchikan Daily News

SITKA – The Kayhi boys basketball team’s path to the 4A state tournament just got a little rougher. The path of Juneau-Douglas – Kayhi’s Southeast Conference rival – looks pretty good.

Juneau’s Alex DeRocher hit a jumper with eight seconds left in the fourth quarter at Mt. Edgecumbe High’s B.J. McGillis Gymnasium Wednesday, preventing the Crimson Bears from wasting a 19-point first-half lead and giving them a 59-58 win over the Kings in the second round of the 4A Southeast Regional.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Juneau coach Steve Potter said. “I knew (Kayhi was) going to come back. They came back a little faster than I would like, but the guys stuck together and they believed in what we were trying to do.

“That’s certainly our biggest win all year.”

Juneau’s win puts the Crimson Bears in Friday’s region championship game. Kayhi will have to beat Thunder Mountain in the consolation bracket at 4:45 p.m. Thursday, then beat Juneau twice in a row, if it hopes to nab the title and the region’s lone 4A state tournament berth.

DeRocher, Juneau’s leading scorer, propelled the Crimson Bears to within one win of a ticket to state on a baseline jumper with eight seconds left that gave him a team-high 17 points.

Kayhi inbounded the ball immediately and senior Tyller Bell brought the ball downcourt in a hurry before passing off to senior Jeff Whicker. But Whicker’s off-balance 3-pointer as time expired came up well short.  “I’ve got two of the best players in the state in (Whicker and Bell) and I’ve got a smart group” of players, Kayhi coach Eric Stockhausen said. “I told them if there was five seconds or less we were going to call a timeout; if not, we were going to let them make a play.”

Kayhi trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half, but staged a furious rally after the intermission.

The Kings outscored Juneau 18-10 in the third quarter, then continued their second-half dominance in the fourth. Whicker hit a pair of free throws to make it 54-50 with 3:28 left, then tipped in his own missed shot on Kayhi’s next possession to pull the Kings within two points.

Bell hit a free throw to make it 54-53, and a few possessions later, junior Jesse Lindgren found a cutting Bell for a layup with 22 seconds remaining that gave Kayhi its first lead of the game at 58-57.

That’s when DeRocher stepped up, atoning somewhat for an awful shooting performance the last time Kayhi and Juneau met.

“He’s worked hard at it. He puts the time in the gym,” Potter said. “He’s putting the hours in and it’s paid off for him. Especially after he struggled in Juneau. I think that refocused him.”

Whicker finished with a game-high 26 points, dominating the final three quarters after scoring four in the first. Bell had 16 points for the Kings, who must now must beat Thunder Mountain Thursday for another shot at the Crimson Bears.

Kayhi did lose to Thunder Mountain once this season, in its conference opener, but has beaten the Falcons three straight times since then. Thunder Mountain has lost nine consecutive games, including a 78-73 overtime decision against Juneau Tuesday.

Daily News Sports Editor

Published with permission from the Ketchikan Daily News

Juneau's Colin Gozelski drives to the hoop while being guarded by Kayhi's Tyller Bell during second quarter action at the Clarke Cochrane Gymnasium, Jan. 15. Staff photo by Hall Anderson

The Kayhi boys basketball team is 17-5, has won 11 of its last 13 games, and enters the 4A Southeast Regional Tuesday as the unquestioned favorite to punch the conference’s lone ticket to the state tournament in Anchorage.

Talk about March madness – even Kayhi players wouldn’t have bought that scenario last season.

“A year ago, I didn’t think we would be” in this position, senior guard Jeff Whicker said. “But starting in the summer, after we went to our first team camp, that’s when I realized that this team could be pretty good.”

Kayhi has been much more than “pretty good.”

Despite losing eight graduating seniors from a year ago, and returning just one player with varsity experience – Whicker – the Kings have carved out an identity as an unselfish, energetic team with a high-pressure defense and an offense capable of scoring in bunches.

That blueprint has been good enough to earn Kayhi the No. 1 seed at this week’s double-elimination region tournament at Mt. Edgecumbe in Sitka, where the Kings will meet No. 2 Juneau-Douglas (10-9, 4-4 Southeast) and No. 3 Thunder Mountain (7-12, 1-7) with a region championship and a berth in the state tournament on the line.

“We know Southeast is going to be a dogfight from the beginning,” Kayhi coach Eric Stockhausen said. “The more you play teams, the closer games get. … So now it comes down to execution.”

Kayhi is 7-1 in conference play and has won seven consecutive games against Southeast foes since dropping its conference opener against Thunder Mountain Jan. 8. That includes a pair of road wins over rival Juneau Feb. 19 and 20 that gave the Kings a rare series sweep.

Kayhi hasn’t played since then, and awaits the winner of Tuesday’s Juneau-Thunder Mountain matchup for a second-round game at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday.

“We ought to be fresh,” Stockhausen said. “Hopefully the other two teams tire themselves out very much, and we’ll go from there.”

Juneau should be favored in that first-round game after sweeping Thunder Mountain in four games during the regular season. The Crimson Bears closed their season with a pair of wins over the Falcons Friday and Saturday.

Senior guard Alex DeRocher leads Juneau with 13.6 points per game and has scored in double digits in eight of the last nine games. The Crimson Bears are much bigger than Kayhi and rely heavily on their inside game, bolstered by junior forward Colin Gozelski (10.7 points, 7.9 rebounds per game).

Thunder Mountain presents a more guard-oriented attack, led by seniors Cody Grussendorf and Reese Saviers. Forward De’Andre “Jazz” King is big – he’s listed at 6-foot-4, 245 pounds – but isn’t always a factor.

Both teams can create matchup problems for Kayhi.

“We’ll always have a little bit of a matchup problem,” Whicker said. “We can adjust to what they do and take advantage of not being as tall. … We have certain defenses for each team, but there’s not really a difference.”

Whicker leads the Kayhi offense with 25.2 points per game, and has four 30-point games in conference play. Senior Tyller Bell leads Kayhi in rebounds (8.5), assists (3.5) and steals (3.4) per game while averaging 12.6 points.

The Kings have shed their inexperienced label during the season as players like seniors David Klein and Tyler Elliot, juniors Chas Allen and Jesse Lindgren and sophomore Kyle Day have started to contribute regularly.

“We just play as a team and we play strong together,” Bell said. “We have a lot of confidence in all our players. We’re not selfish … we don’t really care who takes the shots as long as we do it as a team.”

That’s the formula the Kings are looking to continue as they enter a region tournament known for producing games that test teams both emotionally and physically.

“There’s not a lot of great shooting nights that occur in region tournaments. It’s a grind-’em-out, physical, one-possession game in most situation for region titles,” Stockhausen said. “It’s a high-intensity, high-pressure situation, which I think is perfect for our kids.”

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