It took three games at the Interior Conference playoffs at Lathrop High School in Fairbanks for the Cordova boys to punch their ticket to the State 2A Tournament.
On March 5, the Wolverines faced Effie Kokrine. Effie clogged the middle and Cordova was cold from long range. Cordova trailed 16-11 at halftime.
The Wolverines started hitting their threes, and pulled away to win 45-39.
Eli Totemoff led Cordova with 17 points; Blake Bailey added 12.
The win put the Wolverines in the championship game on March 6 against Tok.
CHS led 27-21 at halftime, but managed only 4 points in the third quarter.
The Wolverines rallied and the fourth quarter was a rollercoaster. At 5:32, the score was tied 36-36; with 4:20, it was tied 39-39, at 1:37 it was tied 42-42. But Tok scored the last points to win 51-42 and become Interior Conference champions.
So Cordova faced Glennallen at noon on March 7, with second place and a trip to state on the line.
The Wolverines defeated the Panthers in a calm measured fashion. Glennallen played a methodical ball-control offense to keep scoring low, and Cordova gradually pulled away to win 43-34.
The Cordova boys and girls teams, who had just finished an unusual Saturday morning back-to-back sweep to advance to state, gathered for the Awards Ceremonies.
Awards for the boys were presented following this last game:
- Second Place
- Team Sportsmanship
- All Conference players: Blake Bailey, Eli Totemoff
- All Academic athletes: Micah Pearson
The State 2A Tournament runs March 12-14, at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage. Seeding was announced today: The Cordova boys are seeded No. 8 and will play No. 1 seeded Ninilchik at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 12.
