Unalakleet boys, Lady Huskies win Subway Showdown in Nome
The Subway Showdown over the past weekend at Nome-Beltz High gave some basketball teams the opportunity to show what skill and hard work can do. The Unalakleet Wolfpack boys literally ran away with the championship with their intense, never-slow-down play. And their shooting was deadly.
On the girls’ side Kotzebue came out on top after three teams finished with 2 and 1 records. The winner was decided on point differentials.
“No, I don’t think we expected to be as dominant as we were,” replied Unalakleet coach Thurman Jack to a question about the team’s dominance of the tournament. “We just came to run and run and play hard. Yeah, we shot all right. We were in the 40s.”
The Wolfpack boys downed Kotzebue 68 to 54, Nome 69 to 48, and Point Hope 90 to 61. Arctic Ivanoff was named MVP for the boys. He and Aiden Ivanoff were named to the All-Tournament team.
The Nome boys finished second with a 2 and 1 record. They defeated Kotzebue 56 to 34 and Pt. Hope 76 to 65.
“We played well,” said Nanook coach Patrick Callahan. “We scored a lot of points tonight which we need to be able to do. But we’ve got to play better defense. Shots were going in. We were taking open shots. The guys were making them. “ Asked if he planned on changing anything about the defense Callahan responded, “I generally try to keep pounding away at what we do and try to get better at it. I don’t like to change a bunch of stuff mid-season.”
Nanooks Gareth Hansen and Bob Koezuna were named to the All-Tournament team.
The Lady Nanooks lost to Kotzebue on the first day with a score of 54 to 42. They downed Unalakleet 78 to 45 on Friday and on the final day defeated Pt Hope 76 to 65. Their points placed them second in the tournament.
“I feel that we did great, actually,” said Lady Nanooks coach Joseph Musich. “Things are starting to look up for us. We had a few tough games but we held out composure here tonight and things worked in our favor.”
“The girls have been working really hard and they’re keeping their attitudes up. It’s a whole new mentality and they’ve got things to look forward to this year.
“Next we’ve got Bethel so we’re really excited about that. It’s a regional game so we want to come out of there with a couple of wins if we can,” said Musich.
Lisa Okbaok was named to the All-Tournament team.
In the skills competition Taeler Brunette of Nome won the Girls Hotshot. Bridget Oviok of Pt. Hope won the 3-point competition and Brianna Ivanoff of Unalakleet took the Free Throw championship.
On the boys’ side Jaylen Cannon of Point Hope won the Hotshot, and Gareth Hansen of Nome won both the 3-point and Free Throw competitions.
Next basketball action sees Bethel girls coming to play at Nome and Nome boys going to Bethel on Jan. 12 and 13.
