2/23/11 South 70 - Dimond 79 
     South lost a hard fought battle against the lynx Thursday night.   In the first quarter the lynx were hot shooting 70% from the field, and the wolverines could not seem to find a rhythm.   In the second quarter, David Alston got South going with a couple of and 1 opportunities which gave the wolverines an emotional lift that they needed.   Tough defense and rebounding helped South climb to an 11 point shortfall at the break.   In the 3rd and 4th quarter things went the same way as South battled, but dimond had the answer.   All in all South had a good defensive effort, but turnovers ultimately doomed the Wolverines.   South would make a great play on defense and then turn the ball back over to dimond, again and again it would seem.   Game highlights: Louis Page lead the team with 17 points, James Lorec hustled to get 9 boards, and Grant Marciniak had 5 assists and 5 steals.   And Zach Lujan made an ill advised 3 pointer from 35 feet out while the wolverines were clawing their way back into the game.  2/19/11 - South 57 Eagle River 39
South played a good aggressive game against Eagle River on Saturday.  Both teams came out physical with bodies hitting the floor everywhere, fortunately for the wolves, their outside shooting gave them a 1 point lead after 1 quarter 10-9.  In the second quarter, the wolverines got things back on track.  Pressure defense and aggressive play helped South get easy steals and transition buckets, helping them to score 19 points in the quarter.  At the break South had a 28-17 point lead.  In the 3rd quarter, the wolves came out hungry and aggressive.  The wolves traded baskets with the wolverines the whole quarter, with South getting the slight advantage hitting 1 more basket than the wolves.  After 3 quarters the score was 40-27.  In the 4th South used their inside presence to maintain their lead, only shooting a single 3 pointer in the quarter.  Game notes: Grant Marciniak lead the team with 14 points, Louis Page grabbed 6 rebounds, and Jack Hobbs had 4 assists.  It is always a good thing when you hold your opponent to 5 made baskets in the 1st half of the game. 

2/16/11 - South 68 Bartlett 63
Following an exciting C team game the Wolverines and Golden bears played a 32 minute Battle.  The game was officiated by 3 well know officials throughout the Anchorage basketball community who have refereed countless UAA games over the years.  And with college level officials you get college level play...both teams came out playing physical basketball and South took advantage down low on the post early and often.  In the first quarter South used good transitions and physical play to score, jumping out to a 15-9 point lead.  South’s zone defense made Bartlett players shoot from outside the key and good rebounding gave the bears only 1 shot each possession.  In the second quarter those Golden Bears were just about golden from the 3 point line, making 5 of 6 from long range.  After the first couple South was forced to come out of their zone defense switching to man to man full court pressure.  Even though South was forced to switch defenses, their offensive game plan stayed the same… get the ball down low.  And the Wolverines did just that, forcing the ball down low to starters Ezra Afualo and Louis Page.  With Bartlett’s hot shooting South found themselves with a 2 point disadvantage at the half 31-29.  In the 3rd quarter Bartlett, jumped out by hitting a couple buckets extending their lead to 8 points.  This woke up the Wolverines, and 4 possessions later the score was tied 39-39.  Back and forth things went, Bartlett would make a shot then South would make a shot.  Then came the play of the day, with the score tied 45-45, Zach Lujan took the ball from under his own basket, dribbling through traffic and then with less than 1 second left on the clock he throws up a half court prayer… which to every bodies amazement (except Zach’s) hits nothing but net, sending the Wolverines to the bench with a 3 point lead.  Once the Wolverines got that lead they would not look back, working the ball down low for good shots and playing pressure defense ensuring the victory for South.  Although clutch free throw shooting from Grant Marciniak making 4 of 4 from the line during the last minute of the game helped.  Game highlights:  Grant lead the team with 19 points, Louis Page lead the team with 8 boards, Zack dished out 4 assists, and Dante Williams was the thief of the night with 5 steals.

2/14/11 - South 67 Service 47
The cougars came ready to play Monday night for the last meeting between the southside rivals.  South came out a little sluggish, but good 3 pt shooting kept them in the game.  The first quarter was fast paced and sloppy, Service worked the ball around the man to man defense and attacked the basket.  South on the other hand worked the ball around Services zone defense and took advantage of some cross court passes to get open looks at the rim.  By the end of the 1st quarter the score was 13-11 Service with the lead.  In the second quarter South continued their good shooting behind the arc hitting 3 of 4, but they continued to have problems converting closer shots.  Halftime score South 26 Service 25.  In the 3rd quarter pressure defense lead to tough shots for the cougars whose shooting percentage for the quarter was less than 30%.    Although the wolverines shooting percentage was not much better they extended their lead to 4 points 41-37.  In the 4th quarter South finally work up and applied the pressure that they needed the whole game.  Sloppy mistakes by Service helped South pull away and never look back, what helped was out rebounding the Cougars 14 to 7 in the final frame.  Game highlights:  Grant Marciniak Lead the team with 14 points, Ezra Afualo grabbed 8 boards, and Enrique Morgan lead the team with 4 assists and 4 steals. 

2/12/11 - South 82 Palmer 80
The South JV team held the dust pan before varsity completed the sweep of Palmer High School this weekend.  South started off the game very well at one point stretching the lead to 15-3, before Palmer knew what hit them.  The first quarter belonged to Grant Marciniak who had 13 points, South had a 22-13 point lead at that point.  In the second quarter South continued their hot shooting, and pressure defense.  Everyone got into the game and did their job, halftime score 44-29.  In the 3rd quarter South continued their pressure defense, Palmer brought in one of their Varsity players who played in each quarter of the next game, he provided a spark for their offense, but the wolverines were there to extinguish it before it became a fire.  South extended their lead by 3 points in the quarter, 67-49.  In the 4th quarter, like the last couple games, our competition comes out firing up 3 pointers and they make a good percentage of them.  Assistant JV coach Butcher said it best after the game, “you guys have to remember that the other team is doing what we want them to do, they are shooting 3 pointers because that is the only what that they can get back into the game.  We want them to shoot those shots.  Unfortunately, they made a good percentage of them.”    The 4th quarter was exciting for basketball fans no matter which team you were rooting for.  Even though South had a couple key players on the bench, there was little that they could have done had they been in the game.  Palmer’s Shooter was just on fire, hitting 3’s 4 feet behind the arc, at one point hitting a shot with David Alston in his face, like the paparazzi on Justin Bieber.  It didn’t matter where this guy was, or who was on him… he was going to shoot it and it was going in.  He finished with a season and lifetime high 39 points… but it was not enough to take down the Wolverines.  The most exciting play happened with 1.9 seconds left, Jack Hobbs at the free throw line South up by 2 points.  Jack misses the first one and then misses the second one, but the ball comes right back to him… So you would think that he would grab it, but before anybody could grab it the referee calls a timeout??? So, Palmer takes the ball out of bounds with 1.9 seconds left throws it all the way down the court, Alston (being a good safety, tips the ball away from the intended target, but it goes right to one of their 3 point shooters and with .3 seconds left he puts up the shot… unfortunately for Palmer a gust of wind in the gym knocks the ball short of its intended target… game over.  Game highlights:  Four players for South were in double figures; Marciniak lead the way with 18 points Alston had 13 and the twin towers Louis Page and Ezra Afualo had 10 points.  Page dominated the boards with 10 rebounds 9 of which helped start fast breaks and Enrique Morgan assisted 4 baskets.

2/11/11 - South 73 - West 82
     South suffered their first conference loss Tuesday night.  The game was an intense 32 minute battle.  South and West both played well in the first quarter, trading baskets down the floor each time.  South came out in a zone defense forcing the eagles to score from the outside and the wolverines broke the press and scored at will, 1st quarter score 20-20.  In the second quarter, South continued their great zone defense and through some rebounds and steals the wolverines stretched their lead to 13 points at half time 50-37.  The 3rd quarter saw west climb back into the game off some great shooting.  South played good defense, but the eagles made contested shots from long range and ended the quarter with a 3 point lead.  The 4th quarter was a tough physical quarter, the referees let a lot of things go on both sides of the ball, bodies flying all over the place and people diving on the floor made for an exciting final quarter.  South battled back getting west's lead down to 2 points with 2 minuets left... but west's great shooting helped secure the victory for the eagles.  Game notes: David Alston scored a team high 19 points, James Lorec recorded the teams first double double of the year with 11 points and 11 rebounds, and Zach Lujan had 3 assists.  Game notes: West shot 65% from 3 point range and 50 % from the field hats off to their good shooting.   

2/8/11 - South 54 - Chugiak 50
South finished the sweep of the Chugiak Basketball program on Tuesday night with a 54-50.  In the first quarter the Wolverines came out shooting, but unfortunately not making.  Turnovers and sloppy defense left South with a 1 point deficit after the first quarter.  In the second the wolverines took the lead through tough defense and good shooting.  Good transitioning and a couple of Timely 3 pointers by Jack Hobbs and Ezra Afualo helped the wolverines push their lead to 8 points at half time 33-25.  In the 3rd quarter the mustangs came out with a zone defense that made South work the ball around for their shots.  Good rebounding and second chance opportunities helped South maintain their 7 point lead going into the 4th quarter.  In the 4th quarter the wolverines used good ball movement to keep the ball out of Chugiak’s hands.  The game heated up in the last 2 minutes when South with a 10 point gave up a couple shots to Chugiak bringing them with-in 6 points.  Then Chugiak used their fouls to take minimal time off the clock and make South hit their free throws.  Their plan worked with south missing from the charity stripe, eventually pulling with-in 3 points.  The game was over when Zack Lujan hit a free throw with 4 seconds left pushing the lead to 4 points.  The wolverines were lead by 4 different players each scoring 10 points; James Lorec, David Alston, Grant Marciniak, and Afualo.     

2/2/11 South 75 Dimond 65
South avenged a 20 point loss last week with a dominating 10 point win Wednesday night.  South got off to a good start with James Lorec hitting multiple 3 pointers within the first 2 minutes of the game.  South used dominating defense to hold Dimond to one shot possessions and dominated on the glass.  Maintaining high intensity the Wolverines pushed the lead to 20 points at half time.  In the second half South maintained their 20 point advantage in the 3rd quarter withstanding Dimond’s pressure defense and the couple runs that they made.  In the 4th quarter Dimond made some 3 point shots, forcing the wolverines to come out of their zone defense, but the wolverines wouldn’t be stopped.  Passing through the full court pressure enabled South to get easy buckets and clutch free throw shooting secured the victory for the Wolverines.  Game highlights: James Lorec led the way with 16 points, David Alston and Jack Hobbs each had 8 rebounds apiece, Zach Lujan had 7 assists, and Enrique Morgan had 4 steals.  Game notes: James Lorec got called twice for an inbounding violation. 

1/27/11 South 40 - Dimond 61
Last week was tough for the Wolverines, having played 4 games in 4 days.    A day after beating one of their Southside rivals the wolverines took on unbeaten Dimond in the first round of the West JV tournament.  Dimond came to play, looking hungrier then South.  After an abysmal 1st quarter where nothing could seem to go right for the wolverines, South played the rest of the game even with the Lynx.  Final score Dimond 61 South 40.  Jack Hobbs paced south with 10 points and Ezra Afualo led the team with 6 boards.
 
1/28/11 - South 62 - Eagle River 41
In their second game against Eagle River, South used 8 different defenses in their 62- 41 win.  The Wolverines used pressure defense and good transitions to out point the Wolves.  On the offensive side of the ball the wolverines worked the ball around ER’s zone defense taking timely shots and penetrating when needed.  Jarred Passetto and Enrique Morgan lead the team with 10 points apiece and James Lorec grabbed a team high 6 boards. 

1/29/11 - South 64 - East 62
In the 4th place game the Wolverines took on the T-Birds for the 3rd time this season.  East came to play, but South was right there to hold off the final T-bird run to win the game 64-62.  Again South tried out some different defenses, learning things about their team that will be good during the last month of the season.  James Lorec lead the team with 14 points and 3 boards, Zack Lujan lead the team with 3 assists and Grant Marciniak lead the team with 3 steals. 

1/26/11 - South 61 Service 39
     It was a South-side battle on Wednesday night as the Wolverines visited Service.  The game started out sloppy with Service playing a zone and South not moving the ball very well.  The first quarter left Service with an early lead.  In the second quarter, the Wolverines took back the lead and never looked back, heading into the locker room with a 2 point lead 21-19. 
     The second half belonged to South from the get-go.  Pressure defense from all the Wolverines helped South extend their lead.  Every Wolverine that stepped out on the court did their job.  South doubled Service’s point total for the quarter 20-10 giving them a 41-29 advantage.  The forth quarter saw the same action, South pressuring Service and doubling their point total. 
     Game highlights/facts: Louis Page back after the injury lead the team with 12 points and 4 fouls.  David Alston and Grant Marciniak both had 7 rebounds.  Grant and Zack Lujan both had 3 assists, and Zack lead the team with 4 steals.  This marked the first game this year that South was unable to connect from downtown going 0-15 on the night.   

1/22/11 - South 51 East 39
East and south played for the second time this season on Hawaiian Saturday.  South came out with a season low, 10 players available to play.  Lewis Page was out for hopefully the last game following his mysterious injury.  Brad Butcher was out with a knee injury stemming from a dancing incident.  And Jake Parrish was out after having open heart surgery… he should be back and ready to play this week though.  The game started a little slow because East played an effective zone that kept South from establishing a low post presence.  Tough defense kept East from pulling away and the score was 9-10 after the first quarter.  In the second quarter East stayed with their zone, but South was able to gain the lead through transition points and out hustling the T-birds.  Halftime score South 26 East 20.  The second Started off good for South Zack Lujan got things started with a bucket and on the next possession Enrique Morgan nailed a 3 point shot giving South an 11 point lead.  But tough play from East cut South’s lead back to 7 at the end of the 3rd quarter.  The 4th quarter saw East come out of their zone and play man to man, but smart ball movement and good shots helped South maintain their lead.  For the quarter South and East both made only 2 field goals, the difference was South shot 10 free throws and made each one of them while East could not get any good shots off.  David Alston lead the balanced shooting attack with 9 points.  Jack Hobbs lead the team with 9 rebounds, including 5 offensive rebounds.  Lujan, Morgan, Teddy Engel, and Dante Williams all had 2 assists a piece.  And Big man Grant Marciniak lead the team with 2 blocks.  Stat of the game… South Shot 81% from the free throw line for the entire game.   

1/18/11 - South 84 Eagle River 66
South started out this week with a victory over the Eagle River Wolves.  Missing their leading scorer again (this time some sort of illness), the wolverines charged out of the gate with pressure defense and transition points taking a 20-13 lead.
The second quarter was a fast passed, Phoenix Suns' type game, lots of offense and not much defense.  Although South had the lead at halftime the coaching staff knew they could do better and that to win the game they needed to step their game up.  Halftime score South 45 ER 31.
The 3rd and the 4th quarters were fast passed and sloppy, like the 2nd quarter a Phoenix Suns' type game.  The strong post presence of Ezra Afualo, Jake Parrish, and David Alston helped secure the victory with the wolverines establishing their low post dominance over the wolves. 

Game Highlights (or interesting facts):
-The Wolverines shot 45 free throws in the game, making 27 of them.
- One of the team captains air-balled a free throw… not James Lorec
- Jake Parrish was voted best dressed wolverine, dawning black slacks, Italian alligator black shoes, a albino rattlesnake belt, and a pink dress shirt with white cuffs. 
- Dante was the leading scorer with 18 points,  Jack Hobbs lead the team with 6 boards, Zach Lujan had 6 assists, and Teddy Engel had 4 steals. 
- Every player on the team got in at least 11 minutes of playing time.
- 20 seconds before halftime the wolverines ran their last second shot play… where our guard dribbles until 5 seconds left, passes to the wing (who doesn’t look like he wants the ball…planned) then skips it to the corner, where James Lorec hits a buzzer beating 3 pointer.  I have seen a couple of teams use this play during March madness.
- Like the last game against ACS, everybody had scored except Mr. Nash.  So we told him to go get the ball and wait until they fouled him and shoot some free throws.  Nash again was reluctant, but ultimately the team got him the ball, and he got fouled.  So it was all in his hands to get himself in the scoring column.  He steps to the line, definitely having some butterflies and proceeds to shoot… it’s never a good thing to hear the shooter say, “oh man,” while the ball is still in the air.  We will say that the ball drew iron, but that would be pushing it, rather the air passing between the ball and the rim made a sound.  Looking over at his coach for some encouragement, Teddy received the benches words of wisdom along with some smiles to lighten the mood...  He steps to the line for shot 2 and… nails it. 

1/15/11 - South 64 ACS 46
The wolverines lead from start to end opening with a 10-0 run.  With leading scorer Louis Page out because of an undisclosed injury (some say he injured it at Varsity practice while others believe that it was the result of an inappropriate comment directed at his girlfriend), the wolverines would have a new leading scorer for this game.  Many players stepped up and took the reins for different periods of the game.  Coach Nerland was subbing in and out players like he was angry at team manager and statistician Michael Wilson, but Wilson was up to the task.  All in all the first half ended with the Wolverines in full command 29-16.  At the half the Wolverines talked about composer and finishing the game out as they knew they had ACS frustrated and undisciplined.  ACS had a couple of players that were giving cheap shots to their Wolverine opponents as well as running their mouths while being down by more than 20 points.  At every point Nerland would tell his players to control their emotions and their actions, to do their talking with their GAME.  With the game in hand the Wolverines kept up the pressure on the defensive side and worked the ball around for good shots on the offensive side.  Near the end of the game the coaching staff realized that everybody had scored… except Teddy Engel who had been a great point guard with 4 assists and 0 turnovers.  With 2 minutes left in the game assistant coach Cliff Butcher called Engel over and told him to stop being so Selfless and start being more selfish.  If you are open at half court put it up… 3 guys on you, not a problem.  But Teddy being a total team player looked down and said Coach Nerland would not like that, he’s the man.  Stunned… Butcher sat down for the rest of the game and did not speak.  Jack Hobbs lead the wolverines with 20 points on mostly great hustle plays.  Grant Marciniak played like a guy who weighs over 120 pounds grabbing 9 boards.  And Engel (AKA. Nash) lead the team with his 4 assists.

1/12/11 - South 69 Bartlett 60
The wolverines got off to a slow start against the Golden Bears.  Turnovers and sloppy defense allowed the Bears to keep the game close, but South still lead 30-27 at the half.  In the second half the bears came out with good defense and timely shots to surge to a 2 point lead at the end of the 3rd quarter.  But, the 4th quarter belonged to the wolverines.  Coach Nerland, told the boys to look into their hearts and ask themselves if this was how they wanted the game to end, with Bartlett beating them… The team responded, quarter starters Zach Lujan, Enrique Morgan, Dante Williams, David Alston, and Louis Page got things started with their tough defense and ball control.  The wolverines played like a seasoned varsity team, swarming the ball on the defensive side and taking good shots on the offensive side shooting 65% for the quarter.  All in all the quarter ended with the wolverines outscoring the bears 23-12 for the quarter.  South was lead by; Page’s 20 points, Alston’s 6 rebounds and 3 blocks, Grant Marciniak’s 4 assists, and Morgan and Lujan’s 2 steals a piece. 

1/10/11 - South 80 East 69
Tough defense and rebounds helped the wolverines out of the gate holding onto a 1 point lead at the end of the first quarter.  And in the second quarter with some timely 3 point shots by 4 different wolverines and out hustling the t-birds the South wolverines held a 40-31 point lead a halftime.  The second half belonged to the wolverines, tough defense and rebounds helped South gain at one point a 20 point lead.  The wolverines were lead by Louis Page’s 31 points and 6 assists, Grant Marciniak had 3 steals and James Lorec had 3 blocks. 

1/5/11 - South @ West
     South Anchorage Junior Varsity got their regular season schedule going with an away game against West.  The game started out a little sloppy on both sides of the ball, but South picked up the defensive pressure and came away with an 11 to 7 lead after 1 quarter. 
     In the second quarter, defensive fundamentals help the Wolverines extend their lead.  South was relentless on the defensive boards, boxing out at every opportunity and helping on the weak side whenever needed.  Going into the second half the wolverines held a 34-20 lead. 
     In the second half the Wolverines held up the pressure on defense and worked the ball around West's zone taking time off the clock, maintaining a lead of 15 going into the 4th quarter. 
     Coach Nerland's grand strategy found success as the Wolverines worked the ball around the defensive pressure and pounded the ball down low to Louis Page and David Alston, finally dribbling out the clock over the last minute to secure the victory.  Final score 57 42.
     Although everybody got into the game and contributed to the win, highlights of the game included:
  - A game high 22 points from Page scoring at will.
  - An impressive swat on one of West's big guys by Teddy "Nash" Engle.
  - David Alston making a circus shot coming through the lane.
  - Zach Lujan playing well with pressure defense and smart plays on the offensive side of the ball.
  - And a tie for the most impressive play: 1) Enrique Morgan weaved through traffic and put up an unbelievable triple pump shot releasing the ball underhand from his waist with only millimeters between his feet and the ground.  The ball must have gone 15 feet in the air and swished through the hoop.  2) Dante Williams, with 4 seconds left on the clock, dribbled to his right driving from half court... 3.2.1 and heaved up a contested fade away 3 pointer from the bleachers and 2 seconds after the buzzer ended the shot swished through giving the Wolverines the 15 point lead they maintained until the final buzzer sounded.
     One final note: West High School finally invested in 2 new score boards... replacing the relic, overhead, 4 sided, eyesore that had been scoring games since before most South High parents were born.

12/18/10
South JV lost a heartbreaker to Chugiak for the tournament championiship 56-58. The Black and Gold took 2nd overall.

12/17/10
     South JV came out strong taking an early lead against Service  Friday night with a hot hand from Grant Marciniak.  South continued to play strong defense with good team play.  They protected the ball with excellent rebounding on both offensive and defensive boards.   
     South held the lead from buzzer to buzzer. Half time score was 32-13. Every player scored, led by Grant Marciniak with 18, (including 4 three pointers), Brad Butcher at 11, and  David Alston at 9.  Final score 69-45. 
     South JV plays for tournament championship at 2:30 Saturday against Chugiak.
Go Wolverines!!

12/16/10
South JV opened the season with a win against Colony, 65-49.