Nome boys, Unalakleet girls win Subway Showdown
Bleachers were packed at the Subway Showdown in the den of the Nome Nanooks last weekend. The walls were covered in homemade posters welcoming the other teams, and one which recreated the Subway logo. The pep band played upbeat tunes on trumpets, tubas and drums after every point was scored, and cheerleaders did tricks and threw prizes.
The gym was filled with blue as town came out to support the Nanooks. People cheered throughout event and when the teams came running out, young Nomeites lined up with arms outstretched for a high-five.
The Nome-Beltz Nanooks and Unalakleet Wolfpack represented the region in a four-way, round robin-style tournament between them, Kotzebue, Lumen Christi High School in Anchorage and Susitna Valley High School in Talkeetna.
Nome-Beltz Activities Director and Basketball Head Coach Pat Callahan said that every year they try to bring in one team from outside the region.
This year, they brought two: Lumen Christi for the girls and Su-Valley for the boys. Nome trades tournaments with Kotzebue.
“Unalakleet is always willing to come over. We always enjoy having them over,” said Callahan, explaining that the team had a big fanbase in Nome. “It brings a lot of people to the gym and they’re always really competitive, well-coached teams.”
Nome and Unalakleet excelled. Nome-Beltz won first place for the boys, while Unalakleet won second. For the girls, it was reversed, with Unalakleet taking home the gold and Nome-Beltz the silver.
Unalakleet won the Score-Table Sportsmanship award.
It was the first time the Unalakleet girls had won the Subway Showdown, according to Callahan.
“Unalakleet fans, who are super faithful to their teams, really enjoyed that,” said Callahan, emphasizing the word ‘super.’
The final game of the tournament was a nail-biter as Nome-Beltz and Su-Valley were neck and neck in the last seconds of the game. It seemed like the game might tie and go into overtime, but the Nanooks made two penalty shots with seconds on the clock and protected the ball as time ran out, ensuring their victory not only in the game, but in the tournament.
“Super exciting game. We were down by fifteen. I think most people thought we were going to win that game by a large margin,” said Callahan. “Su-Valley showed up ready to play and they have a super exciting player that wowed the home crowd.”
While crowds cheered mostly for their own teams, Su-Valley’s Austin Barnard drew cheers as he slammed dunk after dunk into the basket over several days.
“[The final game] was a really exciting game for us and for Su-Valley. I think the crowd really loved the game. We were happy to sneak away with a two point win,” said Callahan.
Six boys and six girls were named to All-Tourney: Paxson Commack and Josh Smith of Unalakleet, Austin Barnhard of Su-Valley, and Orson Hoogendorn, Cohen Booth and Finn Gregg were named from the boys teams. Violet Jack and Raeleen Bradley of Unalakleet, Amara Warren of Lumen Christi, Mylie McConnell of Kotzebue and Benny Lie and Wookie Nichols of Nome were named from the girls teams.
Raeleen Bradley and Finn Gregg were also named MVPs of the tournament. Alora Stasenko of Nome and Aiden Wesley of Kotzebue won the last-one-standing style free throw competition. Keely Johnson of Unalakleet and Cohen Booth of Nome-Beltz won the hot shot competition, which requires players to make baskets while constantly moving.
Amara Warren of Lumen Christi and Kendal Ulroan of Nome-Beltz won the 3-Point throw competition, which was based on the most shots made in a given period of time.
The winning students were invited up to receive their medals but Unalakleet had already left for their trip home to beat the weather.