The Unalaska boys’ basketball team (6-0) has extended their undefeated streak to six games. This weekend they downed the visiting Petersburg Vikings twice.
On Friday night, the team scored 64 points to Petersburg’s 38 – including double digit contributions by senior John Voung. Saturday’s game was a lower scoring affair with the Raiders winning decisively 48-27.
On the girls’ side, the Raiders split the weekend with the Vikings. On Friday night, Unalaska narrowly pulled off the win 26-24.
In the first half Saturday, it was as if there was a lid on the basket keeping Unalaska from scoring.
“The girls rushed a few shots," said Coach Casey Clausius. "I think they were wishing [the shots] would go in rather than knowing they would go in.”
At halftime the Raiders were down by 14.
“I just told them it could be a lot worse," said Clausius. "Down 19-5 going into the second half. We’ve played in worse before. A lot of these girls knew what if felt like being in those games when we lost by a lot and couldn’t come back.”
Clausius says past experience helped the team start the second half strong. With tenacious defense, the Raiders pressured Petersburg, forcing turnovers and creating opportunities to score helping the team slowly chip away at Petersburg’s lead.
During the second half, Petersburg coach Dino Brock used timeouts to control the tenure of the game.
“I kept calling time outs to say stay calm, stay calm, stay calm," Brock said. "We’re ahead. Look at the score. We’re fine.”
Ultimately, Petersburg weathered Unalaska’s late rally with strong free throw shooting. The Vikings took the win 35-30
“Just playing in two tight games like we did and battling against a good team is going to make us better," Brock said "That’s a very big reason of why we do this.”
After the weekend’s games, the Unalaska girls team is 4-2 for the season.
The girls’ and the boys’ teams will head to Bethel for games at the end of the month. The Raiders will play their last home games of the season Feb. 23 and 24 when they host Cordova.