Watching its 16-point lead evaporate, the 13th-ranked Master’s College men’s basketball team needed to be rescued to avoid an upset.
Enter Leif Karlberg.
The Anchorage junior guard netted 15 of his 18 points in the second half to highlight a 70-62 victory at Fresno Pacific in NAIA action.
Karlberg, of Grace Christian fame, connected on four 3-pointers in a six-minute span to bail out The Mustangs and keep them tied atop the GSAC with No. 16 Concordia and No. 22 Westmont.
Anchorage’s Ramon Harris reached double figures for the fourth time in eight games, helping the Fort Wayne Mad Ants beat Tulsa 94-82 in NBA D-League action.
He came off the bench to play 24 minutes and score 10 points, raising his season average to 6 ppg in 20 games.
Unlike previous games, though, Harris didn’t go wild on 3-pointers. In fact, he was 0 for 3 from downtown.
This time he took the ball to the rim and earned eight trips to the foul line, making six.
Harris, of West High fame, added 6 rebounds, 2 blocked shots and 1 steal.
He is averaging 8.7 points over the last eight games, highlighted by a career-high 20 on Jan. 15.
He’s a starter, he’s not a starter. Either way, Brad Oleson of North Pole doesn’t let the politics of Spanish League basketball slow him down.
Sunday night he came off the bench to play 22 minutes for Caja Laboral in a 73-66 victory over Cajasol. Caja Laboral is now 13-5 in league, good enough for third place.
Oleson, of UAF fame, bagged 15 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.
He also made 3 of 6 threes, keeping his season percentage at .500, which is among the league leaders.
Oleson ranks second on the team in scoring [10.8 ppg] through 18 games as a on-again, off-again starter.
When it’s all said and done, Michaela Hutchison of Soldotna will go down in history as one of Alaska’s greatest wrestlers of all-time.
It’s a no-brainer actually.
She earned All-American honors for Oklahoma City University over the weekend for the fourth consecutive season en route to winning her third national title at the Women’s College Wrestling Association championship in Bristol, Tenn.
Hutchison, of Skyview High fame, wrapped up her college career with a sparkling 140-18 record and 68 pins.
In high school, she become the first female wrestler in American history to beat the boys for a state title.
At Oklahoma City University, she took her game to another level.
A national champion as a freshman and sophomore, she earned her third title with a 2-1, 1-0 win over Sarah Hildebrandt of King College in the 123-pound final.
Hutchison also had two pins Saturday and finished her senior season 36-5.
Anna Simmers of Anchorage scored a career-high 28 points today to help the Army women’s basketball team upset Lehigh 66-64 in West Point, N.Y.
The junior guard scored 20 points in the opening 20 minutes, including her team’s final 10 to spearhead a 42-26 halftime cushion.
“Simmers had just an unbelievable first half,” Army coach Dave Magarity told the military academy’s website.
The two-time former Alaska player of the year out of Anchorage Christian School now leads the team in scoring at 13.8 points per game. This was the third time she surpassed the 20-point mark, bettering her previous career-high of 27.
Army needed every point after blowing a 16-point lead. Luckily, though, the Black Knights have Simmers.
With the score tied at 58-58, she scored four points in a 8-6 run to end the game.
“It felt more natural, like I was in a rhythm this game,” Simmers told the school’s website. “I got out of that rhythm in the second half and started forcing things. It was great to see that we were able to be in sync like that and play as well as we did in the first half. We know what we’re capable of, we just have to be smarter and execute.”
His personal numbers aren’t where he wants them to be, but Alaska’s Damen Bell-Holter is willing to sacrifice his individual success for that of the team.
And right now Oral Roberts University is one of the hottest teams in the country. The Golden Eagles won their 13th consecutive game today thanks to a 77-67 victory over UMKC.
Bell-Holter, of Hydaburg fame, grabbed 10 rebounds to go along with 7 points. He started at center and played 28 minutes.
It was the fifth time the 6-foot-9 junior grabbed 10 or more rebounds this season.
Oral Roberts is 15-4 overall, 12-0 in the Summit League.
Kodiak’s Trevor Dunbar today made a successful showing in his debut with the University of Oregon track team, teaming to win the distance medley relay at the indoor Mondo Challenge in College Station, Texas.
The Portland transfer is a two-time NCAA cross country All-American that followed in the steps of his father Marcus as a member of the Ducks.
Dunbar is the USA Junior champion at 5,000 meters.
NOTE: The next day, Dunbar won his first individual race as a Duck. The sophomore won the men’s mile in 4:06.75, well ahead of Texas A&M’s Will Barry (4:08.07).
