The goal of the newly created Rally the Regions tournament that was held in Anchorage on December 27-30 is to attract the best small school teams from all parts of rural Alaska for an early season matchup, and it certainly did that.
In the first three days, the Cordova boys met the three other teams that advanced to the semi-finals of last year’s State 2A tournament, including eventual State champs Unalaska and State runner-up Petersburg.
“It was a great tournament,” said CHS Coach Mike Adams. “Not only was it a wake up call for us, especially the first day, but it also served as real motivation to make us get better and see what we must do to compete at that level.”
Cordova fell to traditional Southeast power Petersburg 54-28 in their first game. “We were rusty, made way too many turnovers, and just couldn’t put anything together”, said Adams.
Freshman newcomer Christian Adams led Cordova with 14 points.
Run and gun Unalakleet poured in 86 points to defeat CHS by 10 in the second game. “They love the up-tempo game, and can really shoot the ball from outside”, said Adams. “It was more the style of game we want to play, and helped us get untracked.”
Four Wolverines finished in double digits: Cody Sjostedt with 19; Adams with 18, Andrew Muma with 17, and Jacob Werner with 15.
Unalaska combined deadly 3-point shooting with physical defense to top Cordova 64-49 in game three. “Although not super big, they are just a very strong group of athletes and will undoubtedly be a contender to repeat as State champs”, said Adams.
Muma and Werner led Cordova with 23 and 13 respectively.
Cordova picked up their first win of the season on the last day, topping Bristol Bay 70-55. Adams, Sjostedt, and Werner each had 17 points.
After the first three days, Unalaska, Unalakleet, and Petersburg were all undefeated, so a coin toss was used to determine who would play for the championship game on the fourth day. Petersburg lost the toss, and Unalaska topped Unalakleet handily to win the final game.
