Saturday night’s Alaska Airlines Classic title game between Hoover and Bettye Davis East Anchorage at West Anchorage High pitted the two-time defending champions from Alaska and Alabama’s highest level of competition against each other.
Both teams entered the game undefeated and while the Thunderbirds' winning streak against in-state opponents remains intact, they suffered their first loss of the season in lopsided fashion as the Buccaneers cruised to a 62-30 victory to improve their overall record to 29-0.
“Our motto at the beginning of the year was ‘business as usual’ and we approach every game like it’s the most important game,” Hoover head coach Scott Ware said. “We got a really good win last night, we didn’t play our best, give them a lot of credit. I thought (Heritage) did a good job kind of gritting it out, and we came in tonight and took care of business.”
East’s last defeat came at the hands of last year’s tournament champion, St. Joseph of Santa Maria, California.
“We play a really good schedule, we wish them nothing but the best for the rest of the season,” Ware said. “I know they’re coming off back-to-back like we are, so we’re kind of in the same boat. We have a lot of respect for them and I think (East coach Chuck Martin) does a really good job with them. I think we kind of overwhelmed them with our size.”
The Thunderbirds drew first blood with a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Jamal Ozuna but their lead was short-lived and their offense dried up as the Buccaneers went on a 17-0 run and never trailed again.
“Alaska has some tough competition, but I just feel like we come out here, we play hard and we play a little bit tougher and we were able to come out with the win,” Hoover senior power forward DeWayne Brown said. “Overall, it was a good tournament and a good experience.”
He led the team in scoring with a game-high 17 points on his way to receiving tournament MVP honors.
“Of course we came to have fun and bond and stuff, but we always knew it was a business trip,” Brown said. “We just kind of came out, knew we were going to play hard. Coach Ware got us a good game plan and he always tells us most times that if we just handle us and handle our business, we’ll be able to win.”
Brown, a star post player who is committed to play at the collegiate level at the University of Tennessee, was honored to be named tournament MVP but believes “at the end of the day, it’s a team collective to win each game.”
Brown played the final with the same graceful dominance he exhibited throughout the tournament. There was a point in Saturday’s game against East where his own teammates booed him from the bench because he passed up a prime opportunity to throw down a vicious dunk.
“He’s kind of got an old-school game,” Ware said. “He can dunk and stuff but a lot of his work is done early with his feet and hands. He’ll finish some around the rim, he could probably dunk it but he’s so crafty with his feet and his body and the way he does his work early, but the guys are going to get on him some when he has opportunities and doesn’t slam one home.”
The most memorable part of their journey off the court has been the camaraderie and getting to experience everything for the first time together.
“We only had one assistant coach who had ever been to Alaska before, so it was something we’ll always remember,” Ware said. “We’ll bump into each other 10 or 15 years from now and this will be something that comes up.”
Brown’s fondest memories of his first trip to the Last Frontier outside of basketball was the cuisine he got to enjoy.
“We ain’t have no bad food yet,” he said. “Everywhere we’ve been to eat has been good.”
Since the team stayed at the Captain Cook Hotel during their time up here, they frequented some of the popular eateries downtown, including 49th State Brewing and Snow City Café.
“If they’ll have us back in the future, it could be something we could definitely see ourselves doing for sure,” Ware said.
As dominant as East has been against in-state competition over the past two and a half years, pulling off an upset of one of the best teams in the country that is ranked in the top 10 nationally was a task head coach Chuck Martin acknowledged was too daunting to realistically happen. Nevertheless, he expected his team to compete and execute at their best.
“I’m not disappointed we lost, we just didn’t play very well,” he said. “We’re not beating that team. Even if we played perfect, we’re not beating that team. They just do too many things well, are really gifted and well-coached. I’m disappointed that we didn’t do a good job executing initially defensively with the ball screen stuff.”
The Thunderbirds knew it would be tough sledding trying to attack the rim against the Warriors giant post players in Brown and junior center Jackson Sheffield, both of whom are 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds.
“I felt like we could run some offense,” Martin said. “I wasn’t so much concerned with whether we could consistently score, but I thought we could consistently execute to get the kind of shots we wanted.”
East was doing just that, but their shots weren’t falling after Ozuna made the first bucket of the game.
“I thought we got impatient early and hoped the ball went in instead of trying to create good shots, and we didn’t do that very well,” Martin said. “That’s what I’m disappointed in. I didn’t think we represented ourselves very well tonight, both in our preparation and how we played.”
With the loss, the Thunderbirds fall to 10-1 overall on the season, leaving reigning 3A state champion Nome-Beltz as the only undefeated boys team in the state with an overall record of 11-0.