By JEFF HELMINIAK
Peninsula Clarion
The visiting Ninilchik boys basketball team defeated Kenai Central 70-37 on Saturday in nonconference action to finish the regular season 21-0.
“It means a lot to our kids and to our community,” Ninilchik head coach Nick Finley said. “But honestly, we played over 40 games this offseason, and it’s just another time they can go out and battle and play with each other.
“It’s fun to watch because they legitimately enjoy playing basketball together.”
Ninilchik, which is the size of a Class 1A school, opted to play up at the Class 2A level, but nine of their victories came against Class 3A teams and one came against a Class 4A team. Ninilchik beat Class 3A teams Seward and Kenai twice this season, and also toppled Class 3A Homer and Class 4A Soldotna.
“They’re undefeated for a reason,” Kenai Central head coach Nolan Rose said after his squad finished the regular season 6-16 overall. “They’ve got a really good team.
“They have an elite guard who makes it really difficult with his ability to defend in the full court. He has the ability to speed you up and turn you over. In the first half, he had a major effect on the game. We couldn’t get in the offense.”
That elite guard is Landon Colburn. He had 13 of his game-high 23 points in the first quarter as the Wolverines took a 23-6 lead that would not be challenged the rest of the game.
“I think all of our success kind of stems from our defense,” Finley said. “We have great on-ball defenders and we have great help side, and we’re able to pressure and tire out our opponents throughout the entire game.”
When Ninilchik gets the ball on offense, balance makes the Wolverines hard to stop, as Seward head coach Al Plan noted after a loss to Ninilchik on Friday.
“A compliment that Al had given us last night is he said we are the most unselfish team that he has ever coached against,” Finley said. “He said that we have kids that can go out and score 40 a night if they want to.
“They don’t, and they come out and everyone on our team scores double figures. Our starters are all averaging double figures.”
Cole Moore and Lukah Kalugin added 13 for Ninilchik on Saturday, while Jaylin Scott had 11 and Justin Trail had 10.
Finley said he’s thankful the larger peninsula schools were all willing to schedule the Wolverines this season. Nikiski was on the schedule, but that game was canceled due to weather.
“We have very good coaches on this peninsula,” Finley said. “They know that by playing us — it doesn’t matter what level we are — it’s making their team better as well.”
Finley said he was impressed with the way Kenai kept playing hard even as the Wolverines opened up a big lead.
“We scored more points in the second half and played better defense in the second half,” said Rose, whose team lost the first half 36-13 and the second half 34-24. “We didn’t throw in the towel. That’s a positive.”
Wade James paced the Kardinals with 10 points, while Jakob Kvasnikoff and Caleb Litke had eight, Luke Armstrong had four, Bridger Beck had three, and Eli McCubbins and Hayden Hanson each had two.
Kenai starts play in the Peninsula Conference tournament at Kenai Central on Thursday, while Ninilchik travels to the Interior Conference tourney in Tok starting Thursday.
“We want to keep getting better and we’re going to continue getting better every time we take the floor, whether it’s practice or in a game,” Finley said. “We really don’t want this thing to end.”
Ninilchik’s Landon Colburn drives on Kenai Central’s Eli McCubbins on Saturday, March 5, 2022, at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikolaevsk’s Lukah Kalugin drives between Kenai Central’s Luke Armstrong and Wade James on Saturday, March 5, 2022, at Kenai Central High School in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
