Toksook Bay takes 1A boys State Championship

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - The Toksook Bay Islanders were the sixth seeded team in the 1A state basketball tournament, but completed their Cinderella story by beating the top seeded Tanana Wolves 51-47 in front of what could have been nearly matched the entire population of the village of Toksook Bay.

The Islanders fans nearly filled up the bottom bowl of the Alaska Airlines Center and were as loud on the first basket as they were on the last. Toksook Bay senior Abraham Julius earned Player of the Game honors.

“It is a pretty good feeling, I missed the crowd. This pandemic hit and we missed all year last year” Julius aid.

The Islanders took down the number two seeded Lumen Christi in the semifinals and rode that momentum into the State Championship game, showing no fear going up against the top seeded Tanana. The Islanders quietly and calmly built a 10 point lead with just four and a half minutes left in the fourth.

Then, they had to show some championship resolve as the Wolves started to heat up from beyond the 3-point art, even cutting the lead to just five points with with just nearly a minute and a half left in the game. Then Julius took the spotlight by sinking not only a huge floater to push the lead back to seven, but making clutch free throws when the Islanders’ lead was cut to just two points with less than 30 seconds left. Julius helped control the ball to put the game out of reach.

While his team celebrated and embraced each other after the final buzzer, head coach Simeon Lincoln took a second to soak in the moment.

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