Ketchikan was in a parade to the free throw line, but could connect on only 7-18 in the stanza while JDHS, who only had eight free throws all game, were never in the bonus in any quarter.
Dybdahl rebounded and scored to trail 52-39, but Kayhi would answer with a Stockhausen basket.
Dybdahl would pull down his 12th rebound of the night and scored and Saceda-Hurt rebounded and scored but Kayhi managed to hit two free throws for the 56-43 final.
“Tonight was a big basketball moment for a lot of our guys,
” coach Casperson said. “Maybe the biggest they’ve ever played in, and even with how out of character we played, we still had a chance to cut the lead to eight with about five minutes to go. Instead of a fast-break layup, we had a turnover that led to a layup for Ketchikan and they were up by 12. We just played even from there.”
Casperson led the Crimson Bears with 12 points, Saceda-Hurt added 11, Parker six, Kuppert five, Dybdahl four, Gasga three and Sikes two.
JDHS hit 4-8 at the charity stripe, Kayhi 15-30.
Stockhausen led the Kings with a game-high 27 points, senior Gage Massin had 10, senior Jonathan Scoblic and J. Dela Cruz seven apiece, junior Edward Dela Cruz three and sophomore Zyrus Manabat two.
The teams face off in game two of their series at 7:45 p.m.
Friday, following the JD girls game against Kayhi at 6 p.m.
Wrangell’s boys’ and girls’ teams each won their opening games, and the Petersburg boys and Haines girls prevailed in the opening round of the 2025 Region V 2A/4A double-elimination tournament Wednesday.
The fourth-seeded Wrangell girls defeated fifth-seeded gold medal returns with hearty schedules Petersburg 48-30. Wrangell plays top-seeded Metlakatla on Thursday and Petersburg plays an elimination game against Craig.
In the other girls game, third-seeded Haines defeated aero leads second-seeded Craig 47-45. Haines advances to Friday’s championship and Craig plays an elimination game against Petersburg on Thursday.
Among the boys, number-five seed Petersburg defeated fourth-seeded Craig 41-34. Petersburg plays top-seeded Metlakatla on Thursday and Craig faces Haines in an elimination game.
