Ron Childress sinks seven 3-pointers to put South High in 4A state title game against East

The last time the South Anchorage Wolverines made it to the 4A state championship game, senior Ron Childress wasn’t even in elementary school yet. It was the 2007-08 season and they went on to win the only title in program history.

“I’ve been playing basketball since I was four,” Childress said. “This is the dream.”

Thanks to his incredibly clutch shooting from long range, the Wolverines will now have a chance to earn their second and he’ll have the opportunity to go out on top in his final season.

“I had the green light all night and they kept leaving me open,” Childress said. “My teammates set me up perfectly and I can’t ask anything else from them.”

He sank a whopping seven 3-pointers in sixth-seeded South’s 57-53 come from behind victory over the second-seeded Dimond Lynx in a exhilarating semifinal thriller that went down to the wire.

“He’s the best shooter in the state and when the lights were bright he was able to show it tonight,” South Coach Jamaal Siah said.

The Wolverines trailed the Lynx for most of the game, ended the third quarter down down by five points and trailed by as many as 10 at one point in the fourth quarter.

“We were battling adversity throughout the game,” Siah said. “I just told them ‘It’s just one possession at a time’ and we were able to execute.”

South never let the game get out of reach and it seemed like every time Dimond appeared to take control, Childress energized his team and fanbase with one of his timely 3-pointers to get them back with striking distance.

“We’ve played them a lot and had some specific sets to try to get the ball to him in the corner,” Siah said. “I know that is his hot spot.”

The Wolverines clawed their way back and tied the game with just under six minutes left in the game. From there, the two teams began trading the lead back and fourth before Childress hit his seventh and final 3-pointer that proved to be the difference in the end before a pair of free throws extended their final margin of victory.

“We have a lot of seniors on the team and they are able to keep their composure throughout the game,” Siah said. “They never gave up, they kept believing in out system, our game plan and it was a joy to see them execute it.”

Childress claims that he once hit 10 3-pointers in a summer camp game but he doesn’t count it as his personal best because it wasn’t in a real game.

South will face off with an all too familiar foe in the 4A state title game in Bettye Davis East High Thunderbirds on Saturday night. The two teams just played each other last weekend with the CIC title on the line. The Wolverines fell short of pulling off the upset in a 30-29 defeat thanks to a last minute buzzer beater. This time around they are hoping that they can build off this momentum and learn from their past experiences.

“We’ve got to play our game, we can’t let them play their game,” Childress said. “We have to stop their tempo and stop transition points.”

Second half surge helps Thunderbirds advance to state title game for second year in a row

The fifth-seeded Colony Knights were the last Alaskan opponent to defeat the No. 1 seed East High Thunderbirds in February of 2020 and they gave the defending 4A state champions everything they could handle at times during their semifinal bout on Friday night.

“I think every coach knows that the semifinal is the most pressure packed game,” East coach Chuck Martin said. “We’re very thankful and fortunate to be here. Colony played great.”

Thanks to a strong second half performance from seniors Kyler Johnson and Elijah Reed, the Thunderbirds were able to take and hold onto a late lead after trailing for almost the entire first half.

“We just had to what we had to do to help our team win and put the ball in the hoop,” Johnson said. “Once the five of us seniors were out there we were just clicking, took the lead and never gave it back.”

Reed got into some foul trouble early in the first half and sat for most of the second quarter but exploded in the third by scoring 13 of his game-high 16 points including a pair of 3-pointers and going 5-of-6 from the free throw line.

“It feels good just knowing that I’m a big factor to this team and whatever I do will help us win,” Reed said. “I was trying to do whatever I could just to pull out the win.”

Reed has been on fire for the Thunderbirds in the state tournament as he has led the team in scoring in both the games they’ve played thus far.

On a night where the Knights were making it hard for the Thunderbirds to drive into the post, Johnson earn 12 of his 15 points the hard way. He only hit one of his three attempts from behind the arc, missed his only free throw opportunity, and drove in his other six buckets for hard fought layups and jumpers.

“Everybody is playing us the same way,” Martin said. “They’re kind of packing it in, taking our penetration away and I thought our kids did tried hard to get to the rim.”