The big news on the basketball court at the Crescent City Tournament of Champions was the Weimar Hills Warriors capturing the AA division title. But the bigger news off the court was the Weimar Hills contingent being awarded first place out of 56 schools for the prestigous poster competition. The winning poster will be featured in next year's tournament program. Shown front from left are poster designers Tim Stuck, Clay Southerland, Paul Ramseth, Dan Cassilagio and Evan Critchfield.

March 10, 2009

Weimar Hills rallies for Crescent City TOC Crown

Saying that the Weimar Hills 8th grade boys basketball team had a banner season may be the understatement of the just completed junior high basketball campaign.

Playing 400 miles from home last weekend, the Warriors saved their best basketball of the year for the biggest tournament of the season and in the process bagged the local middle school its first ever championship banner from the prestigious Crescent City Tournament of Champions.

Not since the the 1994 Weimar Hills team - which compiled a 32-5 record and captured the Nor Cal Tournament of Champions in Sacramento - had a Warriors squad garnered a TOC title.

And the Warriors did it in exciting fashion.

Trailing No. 2 seed Ferndale by eight points midway through the third quarter, No. 1 seed Weimar Hills held the Mustangs to just one field goal over the game’s final 10 minutes and in the process out-pointed the Mustangs 15-4 during that span to emerge with a hard-earned 43-40 AA division championship game victory.

The win capped an exciting two days of basketball action in the North Coast city which saw the 41st annual tournament played in Del Norte County bring together 56 teams from Northern California and Oregon in a seven division format.   

“The kids did a super job,” said Weimar Hills coach Mike Ray. “We ran into some obstacles and had to overcome some adversity but they willed their way to win this tournament.”

The Warriors, who played all three games without starting point guard Taylor Dorsey who didn’t make the trip because of illness, defeated No. 8 seed McKinleyville,  49-36, in their opening game and then overcame another late deficit in the semi-finals to take down No. 5 seed Robert Louis Stevenson of St. Helena, 43-37, in overtime.  

The Crescent City TOC win was the fourth tourney won this season by the Warriors who  finished with a record of  28-5, the most wins at Weimar Hills since the 33-win season by the Scott Krizman-Joel Iventosch led 2004 team. The Warriors also won tournament titles at their own Warrior Classic, the Eagle Peak Classic and the season ending Nevada County Athletic League tourney.

Here’s a recap of the Warriors’ TOC games:

Championship

Weimar Hills 43 Ferndale 40 - In a tightly played title contest, the Warriors led 11-9 after a quarter of play and 21-20 at at halftime before falling behind 36-28 with just three minutes left in the third quarter.

However, Weimar Hills rallied late in the third quarter using a pair of Devon Loomis treys and four more points from Ryan Glazner to whittle Ferndale's lead to 36-33 heading into the fourth quarter.

In the tell-tale final seven minutes of the game, the Warriors used their stingy man-to-man defense to limit the Mustangs to just one field goal and received four key points apiece from Will Buell and Matt Larson and another big basket from Glazner to grab the lead for good.

Glazner scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead Weimar in the finals while Larson added 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Buell, facing an aggressive box and one defense by Ferndale, added 10 points while Loomis finished with eight and Austin Mulderrig two.

Also supplying critical minutes for the Warriors in the title game were Wade Lewis, Paul Ramseth and Clay Southerland.

Glazner was selected as the AA division MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by Buell and Larson.

In other tournament news, Buell was winner of the AA division Hot Shot competition while Weimar Hills' school poster composed by Evan Critchfield, Clay Southerland, Dan Cassilagio, Paul Ramseth and Tim Stuck captured first place honors for the entire 54-team tournament.

Semi-Finals

Weimar Hills 43 St. Helena 37 (OT) - The Warriors gained Saturday night's finals by defeating Robert Louis Stevenson of St. Helena, 43-37, in overtime in Saturday morning's AA division semi-finals.

 Buell and Glazner tallied 15 points apiece for the winners while Mulderrig added seven and Matt Larson six.

Weimar Hills trailed 11-9 at the end of the opening quarter but came back behind eight second quarter points from Buell to take a 21-19 halftime lead. The second half was a see-saw affair that saw Weimar Hills lead 29-27 at the end of three quarters before the Warriors miss two shots in the game’s final six seconds that left the contest tied 34-34 at the end of regulation.

In the extra session, Weimar Hills outscored the Blue Devils, 9-3, with Buell connecting for a big trey, Glazer hitting a key hoop and two big free tosses and Mulderrig contributing another important steal and ensuing basket. 

First Round

Weimar Hills 49 McKinleyville 36  - Paced by Buell's 15 points, 14 from Larson and 13 points and 21 rebounds from Glazner, the Warriors led from start to finish in subduing McKinleyville of Humboldt County, 49-36.

Weimar Hills picked up the pace on both ends of the court and led 11-8 after one quarter and extended it to 24-14 at halftime.

However, in the third quarter, the Warriors took control of the game has six points from Buell and four from Larson keyed a surge that moved the Warriors to their biggest lead of the night at 35-17.