Monroe boys celebrate one final 3A basketball title before moving up to 4A along with ACS

PALMER — Monroe Catholic sophomore Jack Mavencamp and four teammates came off the bench with two-plus minutes to play Saturday.

According to the official box score, Mavencamp missed two shots and deflected a pass in his team’s 67-52 victory over Anchorage Christian in the Class 3A boys basketball championship game. He also made school history by dribbling out the final 27 seconds of the Rams’ dominating performance — and of their Class 3A existence.

“Hopefully we can run it back and do the same thing next year,” Mavencamp said.

Doing so will have to happen at Alaska’s highest level of competition — Class 4A, the classification for Alaska’s largest schools. The Monroe boys, along with the ACS boys and the Class 3A champion ACS girls, are moving on up next season.

In his team’s final 3A dance, senior star Quinn McHenry made three of his five 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 30 points.

The Rams scored 22 points off 20 ACS turnovers and left the Palmer High School floor as winners of the school’s sixth state championship, its fourth at the 3A level and its first since 2014.

If they repeat as champs, it’ll be at next year’s Class 4A tournament.

The Alaska School Activities Association last year approved a system that changes how some teams in the state are classified. According to a report by KTVF of Fairbanks, ASAA adopted a system that uses proximity to urban centers, recent regular-season and state tournament performances and a few other factors when considering whether to reclassify Class 3A schools with 501 or more students.

The Monroe and ACS boys have combined for six championships and five runner-up finishes in the last 10 years at the Class 3A state tournament. As an underclassman, Mavenkamp said the Rams welcome the challenge of moving up.

As a departing senior, McHenry expects the Rams to keep it going.

“It’s going to be their job to keep up the tradition, keep up the Monroe M.O.,” said McHenry, who made half his 20 shots from the floor and drained all five of his free throws. “Everything this team does is family focused, family connected.

“No one guy is more important than the next one.”

ACS, the 2019 champions, have one senior — Joshua Davis, who scored 13 points Saturday — so it will be interesting to see how the Lions do at the 4A level.

“I briefly mentioned this would be our last go-around at 3A, but we didn’t view it as any kind of rallying cry,” said coach Zack Madren, a 2004 ACS graduate and former player.

“But we’ve got a good group, a strong team coming back.”

Trailing by five points entering the second quarter, Monroe scored the second quarter’s first nine points. all from 3-point land. McHenry made triples 46 seconds apart to give the Rams a 22-18 lead with 5 minutes, 34 seconds remaining in the half.

Monroe (23-2 record) outscored ACS 25-11 in the second and 17-11 in the third.

“For whatever reason, I don’t know if it was three straight days of that tempo, we looked gassed quicker than normal,” Madren said.

Monroe took advantage and never looked back.

“It was crazy out there,” McHenry said. “It felt like all of Fairbanks was here supporting us.”

Because of the pandemic, each team was limited to 125 fans, but the small gym ramped the sound from start.

Monroe junior Evan Puryear totaled 11 points and senior Thomas Bast added 10 points. Senior Jace McCullough scored nine points and handed out a team-high six assists.

ACS finished its season 14-5. Junior Matthew Sanders led the Lions with 15 points and sophomore JD McGee scored 12 points and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.

The Rams led by double digits throughout the second half, so in came Mavencamp and crew to seal the deal at the end of the game.

He said having the ball in his possession during those final moments proved meaningful.

“It all hit me at once after spending a lot of time with this group of guys,” Mavencamp said. “I looked over to the bench and realized it would be the last time I’d see them like that.”

He saw them as state champions.

All-tournament Team

Ronald Alstrom-Beans, Mt. Edgecumbe

Jase McCullough, Monroe Catholic

Jaren Miller, Grace Christian

Thomas Bast, Monroe Catholic

Cormac Kessey, Hutchison

Josh Davis, Anchorage Christian

Dawson Schaefer, Nome

Sean Melanis, Anchorage Christian

Quinn McHenry, Monroe Catholic

JD McGee, Anchorage Christian

Matt Nevala co-hosts “The Sports Guys” radio show, Saturdays at 11 a.m. on KHAR AM 590 and FM 96.7 (@cbssports590). Find him on social media at @MNevala9.