KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
The 43rd Annual Joe Floyd Christmas Basketball Tournament wrapped up Saturday night, with the Dimond High School Lady Lynx running away with the girls’ title, while the Kodiak Bears won the boys’.
While neither the Lady Bears, Bethel Warriors nor the Grace Christian Grizzlies gave the Lady Lynx any trouble, the Point Hope Harpooners and the Bethel Warriors tested the Kodiak boys, forcing the Bears to come from half-time deficits both nights to win.
Joe Floyd, who founded the tournament in the mid-1960s, said at half time of the tournament finale Saturday night that he receives a lot of credit, but said the real credit goes to those who’ve sustained the event over the the decades.
— (Floyd 1 25 sec "When the snowball gathers … want to be there.")
One of the issues the tournament has faced in the past few years is getting teams to commit to the event because of a change in the academic year, which now puts first semester finals just before Christmas. In fact, the boys’ bracket was a team short this year, forcing the Kodiak junior varsity team to compete, though they and the varsity did not play each other, meaning they only had two games apiece. As a result, this may be the last tournament held in December:
— (Floyd 2 30 sec "You know I don’t really worry … their namesakes are here.")
Russian Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7, which would give the teams about three more weeks of competition under their belts – something Floyd thinks would raise the level of play in the tournament.
— (Floyd 3 24 sec "When we first started this … be anything wrong with that.")
The Dimond girls were 3-and-0, followed by Kodiak and Grace Christian at 2-and-1, while the Lady Warriors were oh-and-3.
On the boy’s side, the Kodiak varsity was 2-and-0, while Bethel was 2-and-1. Point Hope was 1-and-2, and the Kodiak JV was 0-2.
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