Spring break is over and practices for springs sports are already in full swing.
But winter seems to be trying to hang on in Ketchikan, with snow continuing to fall. The season not wanting to change is fitting as the winter sport season is not done. It won’t be finished until the end of the ASAA/First National Bank Alaska 4A State Basketball Championships, which this year features the Ketchikan Kings.
The fifth-seeded Kings open state tournament play on Wednesday against No. 4 Dimond at 4:54 p.m. in the Alaska Airlines Arena auxiliary gymnasium.
Four of the Kayhi starters are multi-sport athletes and were engaged in pre-state basketball practices this past week, as well as preseason practices for baseball (Jonathan Scoblic and Gage Massin) and track and field (Edward Dela Cruz and Jozaiah Dela Cruz).
Without classes to attend, the players were able to catch up on some rest, despite having daily practices for multiple sports.
“It has been kind of nice to have spring break,” Scoblic said. “We get to sleep in until it is time for (basketball) practice. But then, once practice starts we are really kind of in go-mode. We have a little break in-between and then we are off to baseball practice. We’re kind of just going to baseball practice to try to get our arms going, be able to see the ball a little, but we’re not doing too much because we are trying to focus up and save ourselves for basketball.”
After an intense Region V basketball series against Juneau-Douglas Yadaa.at Kale that followed closely on the heels of a four-games-in-four-days stretch to end the regular season, the state prep for the Kings hasn’t been physically taxing, but a lot of run-through as the team prepares for what it might see from Dimond.
“It has just been spring break for the guys with a couple hours of light and happy basketball,” Kayhi coach Eric Stockhausen said. “We are going heavy on the intellectual stuff, but their bodies were so beat up from how physical the end of the season was. You know we played four games in four days and played two very physical games versus Juneau. And our guys, you know Gage hasn’t come out of a game since Christmas and Marcus (Stockhausen) hasn’t been out very much.”
The Kayhi practices last week in an empty gym in an empty school were about as different as you could get from the region tournament where raucous fans filled every seat and the thunderous pep bands shook the building. The nets the Kings cut down had been replaced by new nets, and the stream of people on the court celebrating as the Kings finished off Juneau with a 74-54 victory on March 7 were nowhere to be seen.
“We had this big feeling of joy until about Tuesday,” Marcus Stockhausen said. “And then we were like, ‘OK, we need to focus.’ We have a new task on hand now. That is in the past. It was an awesome experience, but now we have more work to do. Our job is not yet done.”
“It is quiet now,” Massin said after practice on Friday. “But it doesn’t really get into our heads. We are loud in the gym and that is all that matters. We bring the energy ourselves and are loud. It is all about having the right mindset.”
For Massin, the wrestling season bled over into the basketball season — he missed Kayhi’s first three games of the season to compete in the state wrestling tournament, where he finished third — and now the basketball season is bleeding over into the baseball season.
The multi-sport star hopes to use some of his other skills and experience to help the Kings win at state.
“Going up there for wrestling was a great experience, competing in that big gym. Getting to go there for another sport is special,” said Massin, who will be tasked with guarding Dimond star, and University of Alaska Anchorage bound guard, Marek Hajdukovich. “I am going to guard Marek so that is really something I will have to stay focused on and not sag off too much. He is a lot like Marcus. He is a shooter and he can attack, and he can hit some crazy shots. I know how to guard Marcus so I know how to guard Marek. I like defense more than offense. I just want to be out there hustling and working. I’m a wrestler. I like getting in their face, getting under their skin, you know just pushing them.”
The activities calendar might say it is time for spring. But for one Kayhi team, it is still winter and the Kings are ready to grapple with seven other teams for a state championship.
ASAA/First National Bank Alaska State Basketball Championships
4A Boys
Wednesday
First round
No. 1 Grace Christian (23-3) vs. No. 8 West Anchorage (13-15), 6:15 p.m.
No. 4 Dimond (17-8) vs. No. 5 Kayhi (18-8), 4:45 p.m.
No. 3 Wasilla (18-9) vs. No. 6 Monroe Catholic (18-8), 7:45 p.m.
No. 2 East Anchorage (24-2) vs. No. 7 Palmer (18-9), 4:45 p.m.
4A Girls
First Round
No. 1 Colony (20-4) vs. No. 8 West Anchorage (15-10), 7:45 p.m.
No. 4 Bartlett (23-2) vs. No. 5 Juneau-Douglas (19-6), 3:15 p.m.
No. 3 Wasilla (23-2) vs. No. 6 Dimond (17-7), 3:15 p.m.
No. 2 Mountain City (20-5) vs. No. 7 North Pole (15-9), 12:30 p.m.