Alaska Sports Blog

If he wasn’t shooting the lights out he was shutting down the opposing shooting guard.

Either way, Anchorage’s Trajan Langdon was money.

Langdon, of East High fame, scored 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and held his counterpart to just two points to highlight CSKA Moscow’s 84-71 victory today over Lithuanian power Zalgiris in the Euroleague Top 16 playoffs.

The Russian power—a two-time Euroleague champion with Langdon on its roster—won Group G with a 5-1 record and will advance to the Elite Eight.

Langdon made two of three 3-pointers and added three steals, dominating his matchup with all-league guard Marcus Brown, a former CSKA star who was making a return to the Russian capital city.

The 6-foot-3 former Duke All-American is looking to make a sixth career appearance in the Euroleague Finals.

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The college baseball season isn’t even a month old and pitcher Ben Rosen of the College of Idaho is already on the verge of match last year’s win total.

Rosen, of Chugiak High fame, ran his record to 3-1 over the weekend after tossing seven strong innings against Concordia in NAIA action.

The 6-foot-4 senior right-hander allowed six hits and three runs (two earned) in a 14-3 win, throwing six shutout innings after getting roughed up in the first inning.

The College of Idaho is 13-5 on the season.

Last year, Rosen went 4-3 with a team-leading 2.87 ERA in 57 innings to earn honorable mention all-league honors in the Cascade Conference. Then he played for the Anchorage Bucs.

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It may be snowing in Alaska, but they are already having spring football practice in Florida.

The University of Miami just concluded its second week of preseason practice and senior middle linebacker Kylan Robinson of Anchorage is evidently finally making an impression after three seasons of anonymity.

“He is playing a lot better,” head coach Randy Shannon told the Miami Herald. “Maybe the light came on.”

Robinson, a 6-foot-1, 235-pounder, was an all-state defensive player during his time at East High before moving to Florida for his final year of high school. As a senior at Chamberlain High, he led the led the county with more than 1,600 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns despite missing the first two games.

Yet since his arrival in Coral Gables, Robinson has struggled to get on the field. He has produced modest numbers in 22 career games, seeing more snaps on special teams than defense.

This year, though, Robinson seems to playing like a different person.

“His body has totally changed (from last year). The structure of his body has changed. He has more confidence. He just looks more toned,” Shannon said. “He takes things seriously. He looks better, is feeling better, playing a lot better, he’s making tackles.

“We’re excited about the way his progress is going, and he has to keep progressing. Is he where needs to be? No. But we put him in those situations now to make it tough on him and he’s accepting it.”

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Playing three games in three days took its toll on the Green River Community College, which dropped a 70-56 decision tonight to Mount Hood in the NWAACC Championships in Pasco, Wash.

Alaskan Gralin Paul scored 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting in the season finale. Paul, a 6-foot-1 freshman who went by the name Wookie Parker during his days at Lathrop High, finished with an 8.6 scoring average, although he was good for 10.4 over his final 10 games.

Green River also features Chris Plooy of Anchorage. The former Dimond High all-state player pumped in 29 points in an 80-76 win over Shoreline in Friday’s first round.

Plooy averaged a team-best 13.4 points per game, but the 6-foot-5 freshman managed only six in tonight’s loss.

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For the second time in three years, Anchorage’s Anthony Cousin has won a championship.

Cousin and his Butler Community College teammates won the Region VI title to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament, thanks to a 72-60 victory over Coffeyville tonight in Wichita, Kan.

Cousin, a double-figure scorer all season, sealed the win with a pair of free throws with 1:16 left.

The Grizzlies (29-5) will face eighth-ranked Wallace Sate College of Alabama on March 16 in the opener of the 16-team national tournament.

In 2008, Cousin led the South Wolverines to the ASAA Class 4A state title.

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Alaskan Damen Bell-Holter tonight bagged double-figures for the first time since Nov. 18 in a 69-65 loss to IUPU in the semifinals of the Summit League Tournament in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Bell-Holter, a former all-state player Ketchikan who is originally from Hydaburg, scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds coming off the bench.

The 6-foot-10 freshman came into the game averaging 4.4 points and 3.2 rebounds.

At 20-13, Oral Roberts is probably headed for the NIT.

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So apparently all it took for the Colorado School of Mines to make history in women’s basketball was to get a pair of Alaskans on its roster.

Senior starter Savannah Afoa of Anchorage and freshman reserve Allie Grazulis of Palmer have helped the Orediggers earn their first-ever berth into the NCAA Division II Championships by earning the No. 8 seed in the Central Region.

Colorado School of Mines has a 20-8 record, the program’s first 20-win season, and the 14 wins in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tied the single-season record for league victories.

Afoa, of Dimond High fame, has started 27 games and averages 4.8 points and 4.1 rebounds in 18.1 minutes.

Grazulis, a former Colony High star, has played in every game, coming off the bench to collect 2.0 points and 1.8 boards in 10.9 minutes.

The Orediggers open postseason play Friday against the fourth-ranked team in the country, Fort Lewis, the Central Region’s top seed and tournament host.

Colorado School of Mines has won eight of 10 games entering the playoffs.

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Oregon State University picked up some much-needed momentum before the Pac-10 Tournament later this week, beating Washington State 50-45 today in Pullman.

Alaskan Talisa Rhea scored eight points to go along with three rebounds, two assists and one steal in 33 minutes.

The win snapped a 17-game losing streak that started on Jan. 3.

Rhea, a 3-time winner of Alaska player-of-the-year honors at Juneau-Douglas, collected six points in the first half to help the Beavers (12-19) build a 24-19 cushion. They carried it through, giving them something to smile about entering the postseason.

Oregon State will be the No. 10 seed at the Pac-10 Tournament in Los Angeles, beginning Thursday. Washington State is the No. 9 seed.

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If Eagle River’s Kelsey Griffin doesn’t have a nickname already, maybe Huskers fans should start calling her EMT.

Or at least her University of Nebraska teammates should call her that because she saved them again Saturday.

Griffin, of Chugiak High fame, bagged 20 of her career-high 36 points in the second half to bring the No. 3 Huskers back from a seven-point halftime deficit en route to an 82-72 win over upset-minded Kansas State.

“Kelsey has the strongest will and the most mental toughness of any player I have ever coached,” Nebraska coach Connie Yori told the school’s Web site. “She was not going to let us lose that game.”

One of the five best players in the country, the 6-foot-2 Griffin made 15 of 19 field goals and 6 of 8 free throws in netting her fourth 30-point effort of the season.

Best of all, the victory lead Nebraska to the first perfect regular reason (29-0) and Big 12 Conference record (16-0) in school history.

Griffin is averaging an All-American quality 20 points and 10 rebounds.

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Foul trouble plagued Alaskan Will Egolf and that meant bad news for the Bradley University Braves.

With its starting 6-foot-9 post presence sitting on the bench, Bradley struggled through a 57-40 loss last night to top seed Northern Iowa in the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

Egolf, of Juneau-Douglas fame, managed just two points, three rebounds and one blocked shot in 20 minutes. He finished with four fouls.

The sophomore averages 7.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, although he’s had nine double-figure scoring games and two double-doubles.

At 16-15, Bradley has no shot at the NCAA Tournament but is eligible for the NIT.

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