Nanooks win State Championship!

Sirens blared and Nanook flags flew high as Nome welcomed the Nanooks home from the state basketball tournament on Sunday evening.

On Saturday, the Nanooks beat Sitka’s Wolves 62-43, bringing home the state championship for the second year in a row. 

Coach Pat Callahan called the win a “relief,” explaining that “the pressure is really on the Number One team.”

“Last year we weren’t favored,” said Callahan. “There was an undefeated team out there in Mount Edgecumbe that everybody had pegged as going to win the tournament.” This year, they had to navigate being the favorite team.

Callahan said that last year, as the underdogs, the team had been “super excited” to win, and that while that feeling was there this year, there was also relief mixed in.

Nome’s win in the 3A division marked their third championship title in just four years. Seniors Orson Hoogendorn and Finn Gregg have made it to the state championship game all four years of high school.

In addition to last year’s championship win, Nome won 37 home games straight between February 2020 and until Anchorage West broke the streak in February 2025. Nome also lost one game to Bethel this season, and Callahan said in hindsight the two losses were “somewhat fortunate” for the team.

“It would have been very difficult to go into a state tournament undefeated,” Callahan said.

Sitka scored the first few points of the championship game, but the Nanooks took it from there.

Nome quickly outscored Sitka, ending the first quarter with 18 points to Sitka’s 10, but Sitka tailed close behind for much of the game.

At the end of the second quarter, Sitka’s star player Trey Johnson helped his team narrow the gap with the Nanooks. The Wolves pulled ahead for brief moments, but the Nanooks always caught them and stayed on top.

At halftime, the Nanooks were up by only five points. They pulled slightly ahead in the third, scoring 14 points to Sitka’s 12. The fourth quarter was where they really pulled ahead—scoring 19 points against Sitka’s 5.

Both senior Finn Gregg and sophomore Stanley Cohen Booth ended the game with 21 points under their belts, with Gregg leading the first half and Booth stepping up in the second. Callahan said the team had long felt that “if Cohen has a good game, then we’re pretty hard to beat.”

Lane Schuerch, Orson Hoogendorn, Levi Pederson, and Peyton Weyiouanna also scored for the Nanooks.

Each of the players contributed, and Callahan has frequently told the Nugget that this team is special because nine or ten members play in almost every game. He told the Nugget that the team was “so easy to coach” and “super dedicated.”

During the game, the stands were filled with blue and white, with loud cheers every time the Nanooks took a shot. Many of those cheerers had traveled to Anchorage from Nome, but others were Nomeites now living in other parts of the state or people from other parts of rural Alaska.

“It felt like we had about 95 percent of the arena on our side,” said Callahan, joking that the Nanooks had the home court advantage.

The Nanooks made their gameplan according to the strengths and weaknesses of Sitka’s team. In an interview the day before the final, coach Pat Callahan explained that while Nome-Beltz hadn’t played Sitka yet this season, based on videos, Sitka’s offense was strong, with “five guys who all shoot pretty well,” and games that often ended with 70 or 80 points.

Nome had to have a stronger defense.

“If we could keep them in the 50s, meaning we play really good defense and kind of disrupt what they like to do, I think we’ve got a chance,” said Callahan at the time.

There was a full free day between the semifinals and the championships game, so the team used the time to watch videos and strategize, limiting practice to an hour.

After the game, the team went out to dinner at the Bear Paw Bar and Grill, paid for by the Lonnie O’Connor Iditarod Basketball Classic.

When the Nanooks arrived at the airport Sunday night, they received a hero’s welcome. Police cruisers led the bus from the airport to town, blocking off roads. Firetrucks, ambulances and parents flanked the bus, filling out the parade. Nomeites carried homemade signs, flags, and blue and white pom poms, and the team leaned out the windows of the bus to wave. Some fans joked that their signs were undated, the better to reuse for next year’s win.

Nome previously won back-to-back state championships in 1964 and 1965, and two of this year’s players had grandparents on that team: Homer Hoogendorn is grandfather to Orson Hoogendorn, while the late Stan Andersen was grandfather to Cohen Booth. Another veteran, Stan Walker, was in Anchorage watching the final.

As Alaska’s own March Madness comes to an end, the Bering Strait/Norton Sound region brought home state championships in three out of four divisions. Last weekend, Shaktoolik reigned supreme in the boys 1A division, while Unalakleet took home the boys 2A trophy. A sweep for the region, as it was duly noted by the Nome Common Council on Monday and council members congratulating the winning teams of the region.