The Nanwalek boys fell to Scammon Bay 66-48 on Wednesday in the first round of the Class 1A state tournament at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage.

Nanwalek was making the first state appearance in school history.

“I’m proud of the boys and their effort,” Nanwalek head coach Kevin Seville said. “They’ve really come together. With our community losing a member, their minds could have been elsewhere. They’ve chosen to be here with each other, and I’m so proud of these young men.”

Nanwalek, the No. 12 seed, moves to the consolation tournament. That starts today with a 9:30 a.m. game against Napaaqtugmiut, the No. 13 seed. After playing at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, that means a short turnaround for Nanwalek.

“I was happy to see fans in the stands cheering for our players,” Seville said. “I think that now that the boys have their feet wet, it will be safe to start swimming to the other side of the pool.”

Scammon Bay led 13-7 after a quarter, but Nanwalek cut it to 23-21 at halftime and trailed 42-40 headed to the final quarter. Scammon Bay, which had nine players get playing time in the game, won the final quarter 24-8.

Nanwalek has just six players on the team. Seville was happy Alexander Jimmy joined the team for the tournament.

“I’m sure the rest of the team appreciated him being here,” Seville said. “I was able to rotate and sub in players. That’s something I hadn’t had the privilege of doing all season.”

Matthias Evans poured in 22 points for Nanwalek, hitting 10 of his 19 shots from the floor. Tikhon Kvasnikoff added 12 points, while Sean Moonin had eight, Cruz Kvasnikoff had four and Jimmy had two. Julius Kvasnikoff played but did not score. Moonin had 13 rebounds, while Evans and Tikhon Kvasnikoff each had nine.

For Scammon Bay, Carson Long had 22, Cassius Sundown had 17, Adam Rivers had 15, and Josiah Sundown and Stewie Sundown each had six.