The Mariner Men started the Region tournament with a tough matchup against the top-ranked and eventual South Central Region 3A Champion ACS Lions March 7. The Lions, led by five first team all-regional players Augustus Simmers, Nate Simmers Jalen Terry, Calvin Hoffman and Colton Arnes defeated the Mariners 69-32 in a tale of two halves.
The Lions came out of the gates stronger than ever, netting three three-pointers and holding Homer to just two points in the first quarter. The 19-point lead began to take a snowball effect when ACS poured in another 36 points alone before halftime, the most in any quarter during the weekend tourney. The 42-point lead gave the Lions a reason to press on the brakes a bit, but even when the Mariners tried to score, the ball just wouldn’t fall in the following half.
Senior Sam Reinert scored all 12 points for Homer in the third quarter while holding the Lions to 10. Just two points were put up by ACS in the final quarter while the Mariners had only one field goal of their own, but got to the line for three more points in a second half that the Mariners looked to build off in their consolation game the following morning.
The Mariners were matched up against the Skyview Panthers, a team they’re familiar with, having lost their last bout due to a missed shot as time expired. Homer shared the wealth in the first as Filip Reutov nailed a three pointer on the Mariners’ way to a 12-5 lead early while Skyview missed four free throws in the first quarter alone.
Homer scored 13 in the following quarter behind Reinert’s 12 first-half points, holding the Panthers off 25-14 at the half. Senior Willy Deaver admits that the Mariners were too complacent coming out of the halftime break and should have kept pouring on the score but instead they were held to two field goals in the third quarter making it a nine-point game while approaching the final period.
Reinert was held scoreless in the last quarter and the Mariners put up five points while giving up 14 to knot up the score at 35 apiece. Skyview’s Captain DJ Collier took the potential game-winning three-pointer just before the final buzzer sounded and as the shot was in the air, Reinert tripped into the shooter while defending, causing the whistle to be blown for a foul.
The shot didn’t fall but with no time remaining in the game, Collier had a chance to eliminate the Mariners by making just one of his three awarded free throws. The first two shots were no good, and in a do or die moment, Collier sunk the final free throw, ending Homer’s hoops season with one shot.
The Panthers went on to lose to the Grace Grizzlies in their next game and did not place. The Grizzlies took third place at Regions beating the Houston Hawks 54-35. The Seward boys’ team took second place, losing to ACS 76-30 in the 2013 3A South Central Regional Championship game.
John Walsworth received the boys sportsmanship award for the Mariners. Sam Reinert, No. 23, was named to the Boys Second All Region Team.
Boys Region Tournament
ACS 1st place
Seward 2nd place
Grace 3rd place
Boys Coach of the Year: Curtis Berry, Seward
Boys Sportsmanship Awards
Homer John Walsworth
Skyview Brandon Rice
Nikiski Lincoln Johnson
Cordova Daniel Adajar
ACS Alex Brown
Grace Kyle Markel
Houston Jace Taylor
Seward Tannen Berry
Boys 1st team all region
Augustus Simmers #15 ACS
Calvin Hoffman #3 ACS
Hans Karlberg #20 Grace
Jalen Terry #32 ACS
Matt Barron #12 Houston
Jeff Buchanan #3 Seward
Nate Simmers #12 ACS
Eric Johnson #11 Grace
Colton Arnes #10 ACS
Seth Carstens #32 Nikiski
Matthew Moore #24 Seward
Luke Offord #15 Grace
Boys 2nd team all region
Alex Fancher #31 Grace
Dylan Cheshier #32 Cordova
Kaleb Henderson #30 Skyview
Alex Brown #11 ACS
Jacob Carlson #22 Skyview
Sam Reinert #23 Homer
Sam Brandt #11 Houston
Immanues Lopez #13 ACS
Josh Thomas #12 Grace
Boys
ACS 1st place
Seward 2nd place
Grace 3rd place
Boys Coach of the Year: Curtis Berry Seward
Photo by M Tougas: Seward City News….(I found this online)
Seward at the line in the championship game against ACS on Saturday.
