After travel delays, the Unalaska Boys and Girls basketball teams made it to Bethel yesterday to compete in the Donlin Gold Classic tournament.
The boys team put up a tough fight against the Bethel Warriors last night, ultimately losing the match 39 to 43. However, the Raiders did rally during the fourth quarter, shrinking Bethel’s 16-point lead to just four points in the final minutes of the game. JJ Fernandez was the Raiders’ top scorer, with 13 points.
After solid wins at their home tournament last weekend, the Unalaska Raiders lost three in a row this weekend at the Dimond Prep Shoot-out in Anchorage.
In the last game of the tournament the Raiders faced off against the Kenai Cardinals. The final score was 56-27.
Coach Jim Wilson says the kids played well against some of the biggest and best schools in the state.
"The Dimond Prep Shoot-out is probably the most prestigious, if not, one of the most prestigious tournaments in the state. So, for our kids to come in and compete in a tournament with schools ranging from a thousand to two thousand kids was a tremendous experience for our kids. And they certainly got better as the week went along."
South Anchorage High School beat Unalaska in the second day of the Alaska Prep Shoot-Out.
The final score was 72 to 43. The Raiders boys basketball team led in the first quarter, but then South came up from behind in the second half and held their lead.
JJ Fernandez was Unalaska’s high scorer, with 23 points.
The tournament wraps up tomorrow at Dimond High School. The Raiders will be facing off against the loser of tonight’s match between Ketchikan and Kenai. That game kicks off at 1:45pm.
Unalaska Raider boys basketball team lost to Monroe Catholic in the first round of the Dimond Prep Shootout Tournament.
The final score was 34-68. Monroe Catholic has not lost a game this season, and prior to this match, the closest score against their team was a 40-point split against North Pole.
Raider Boys closed the game strong, scoring 21 of their 34 total points in the second half.
The Unalaska Raiders men’s varsity basketball team cleaned up over the weekend against the Cook Inlet Eagles.
The team won games on both Friday and Saturday evenings by 20-point margins. Both games started with slow first halves, but picked up in the third and fourth quarters. Friday’s game ended 54-34 and Saturday’s game wrapped up 52-33.
Senior Andrew Seman and sophomore JJ Fernadez were high scorers in both matches.
Unalaska's high school basketball season kicked off on Friday with a home game against Cook Inlet Academy.
Junior Varsity Coach Steve Flannery said before the game that the players were excited to get out on the court and show off their skills for a home crowd.
“The kids are excited to have a big crowd there and show what 27 practices worth of work has brought them to.”
Flannery says he expects their hard work to pay off.
While plenty of Unalaskans were outside this weekend enjoying the sunny weather, some people were a little more intense about it. Sixteen runners and cyclists toured the island’s roads on Sunday for the 3rd Annual Bobby Johnson Summer Bay Classic.
At 13 miles, the race is Unalaska’s longest and arguably the most challenging. Competitors start at the PCR and then run or bike through town, up through Overland Pass, down to Summer Bay, and then back to town again. This year, seven people biked the course, and nine people ran it.
It was a damp and blustery Saturday, but 36 men, women and children came out for this year’s Ballyhoo Run. While the race is only 1.8-miles long, adult competitors must make it up and down the 1,600-foot peak in under an hour to have their times counted, and ideally do it without falling down.
KUCB's Alexandra Gutierrez has more on the winners.
