By Van Williams
Classic Media Director
The East T-birds unleashed relentless pressure and lights-out 3-point shooting on their way to a 70-34 victory over Juneau-Douglas on Day 1 of the Alaska Airlines Classic at West High.
East’s hallmark defense put Juneau ballhandlers in a mixer from the jump, causing havoc and creating turnovers to set up a transition game that looked like a layup line.
With the win, the T-birds (9-0) extended their 34-game, three-year winning streak and advanced to Friday’s Classic semifinals against West.
East’s Kyler Johnson pumped in 16 of his game-high 21 points in the first quarter alone, all of them coming on layups as he wore out the right-side of the lane. All but one came directly off a turnover.
The T-birds dialed it up from long-range and drained six 3-pointers in the second quarter, including three in a row in about 45 seconds; first a NBA-range bomb by Daion Doughty followed by back-to-back 3s by Damarion Delaney.
Delaney, the team’s leading scorer at 15 points a game, did not score in the first quarter and barely played in the fourth quarter but still managed to net 16 points.
Johnson went 9-for-12 from the field as East shot 55 percent from the floor, including 9-of-23 from 3-point land. Delaney was 6-of-9, including 4-of-6 from deep.
Juneau (3-5) got nine points from Porter Nelson and eight from Sean Oliver. Oliver scored the game’s first five points and later added a nice layup where he switched shooting hands in the air.
Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears 9 7 7 11 – 34
East Anchorage Thunderbirds 22 27 12 9 – 70
Juneau – Nelson 9, Carney 1, Carrillo 6, Harris 6, Bohulano 0, Oliver 8, Sleppy 0, Dybdahl 2, Aline 0, Hargrave 2.
East – Delaney 16, Doughty 15, Zimmerman 4, Carpio 5, Johnson 21, Cooper 0, Rushmeyer 2, Henry 2, Reed 2, Sabally 1, Thurjath 2.
Alaska Airlines Classic 