Barrow has enjoyed the comforts of home their last three games, but now they'll head out on the road. The Barrow Whalers and the Bethel Warriors will face off on January 26th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are ranked near one another in Alaska (Barrow is ranked 33rd, while Bethel is ranked 32nd).
Barrow pushed their score all the way to 56 on Saturday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 57-56 to Mt. Edgecumbe. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Barrow in their matchups with Mt. Edgecumbe: they've now lost five in a row.
Despite the defeat, Barrow saw an underclassman step up: Alex Fruean scored 23 points along with nine rebounds. Uatahouse Tui?fua was another key contributor, scoring ten points along with nine rebounds.
Meanwhile, after a string of six wins, Bethel's good fortune finally ran out on Saturday. They received a tough blow as they fell 50-36 to Valdez. The result shouldn't come as a shock considering that's the fewest points Bethel has scored all season.
Barrow's defeat dropped their record down to 6-8. As for Bethel, their loss dropped their record down to 6-4.
Barrow strolled past Bethel when the teams last played back in January of 2023 by a score of 77-62. The rematch might be a little tougher for Barrow since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
