Nome-Beltz high school boys walked away champions of the Kotzebue varsity basketball tournament last weekend, defeating Houston, Noorvik, and Galena.
Though the Nanooks won each game by at least 15 points, Coach Pat Callahan says the games were actually very close.
“The first two games, it was closer than it looked actually — I mean, we were 8 points ahead of Houston late in the third quarter, and then even in the Noorvik game that we won by 15, we were tied going into the end of the fourth quarter. So I thought it was good that we did have competitive, close games, and then we ended up extending the leads at the end.”
In Nome’s game against Noorvik, Gareth Hansen was 13 out of 13 from the free throw line, ten of those coming in the fourth quarter. He certainly earned his keep, as he was named Tournament MVP.
Nome won the Galena game 54-34. Coach Callahan details the Nanooks’ impressive performance in a few key moments:
“And then the fun part was the Galena game: we made two shots past the half court line, which is pretty unusual to see. So, that was just kind of fun to see at the first quarter buzzer and the third quarter buzzer.”
The Lady Nanooks didn’t have quite the winning streak Nome boys did this time around, but to be fair, the competition was tough.
“They lost to Noorvik and Galena… Galena was the best team of the tournament. They’re a really good team, year in and year out, and they won the tournament.”
But Nome ladies did take home a win over Houston. And Lady Nanook Kastyn Lie was named Hot Shot Champion.
This weekend, both Nome boys and girls will play Bethel: a home game for the boys, who’ll host Bethel at Nome-Beltz High School, while the Lady Nanooks will travel to Bethel this Friday and Saturday.
Image at top: photo by Mitch Borden.
