The Ketchikan Kings provide a tournament’s worth of fire power in one night as they defeated the fourth-seeded Dimond Lynx 52-48 in their opening game at the 2025 ASAA March Madness Alaska 4A Basketball State Championships on Wednesday in Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center.
“It was a man’s game!” Ketchikan coach Eric Stockhausen said. “I thought both teams played as physical as they possibly could. I was impressed with our shooting! which is something I said at the beginning country wise email marketing list of the year! I thought that we were going to be a pretty good shooting team. Just the confidence and the growth of Gage (Massin) and both the Dela’s (Jozaiah and Edward Dela Cruz) and the confidence to get shots up.”
Ketchikan senior Jonathan Scoblic (3) battles for a
rebound with Dimond senior Marek Hajdukovich (13) and freshman Pius Hajdukovich (30) during the Kings’ 52-48 first-round win over the Lynx on Wednesday at the 2025 ASAA March Madness Alaska 3A/4A Basketball State Championships at Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center. (Klas Stolpe / Juneau Empire)
Kayhi leading scorer Marcus Stockhausen was drawing a double- or triple-team each time he touched the ball! so the Kayhi team responded with a bullseye mentality by hitting 13 of 23 shots past the arc.
“We adjusted a little bit! ran a few sets! I got us some good looks!” coach Stockhausen said. “I’m just real proud of the toughness of our kids. There were no jitters. We have confidence in ourselves! confidence ketchikan opens state with win in the guy next to us. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a team that has loved each other as much as these guys do. And as tough as that game was! they were still smiling and laughing and talking while they were playing…any place of employment where the coworkers like each other! it’s always going to be a pretty good day.”
Ketchikan started their pretty good day with first-quarter
scores past the arc by both Dela Cruz brothers and held a 13-9 lead after eight minutes.
- Dela Cruz opened the second stanza with a shot b2b fax lead past the arc and J. Dela Cruz followed with one from similar distance.
Dimond would keep pace with baskets by Callan Castro and Marek Hajdukovich! but Kayhi senior Gage Massin joined the shooting contest with his own long-range bomb as Kayhi held a 22-18 lead.
- Stockhausen hit a free throw and J. Dela Cruz from past the arc for a 26-21 lead at the half.