Page B-4
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Cougars State bound
By Darcy Wallace
IVN Staff Writer
Illinois Valley High School’s boys’
basketball team is doing something it hasn’t
done since 2002: advance to State competition.
On Friday, Feb. 25, the Cougars beat
Coquille 60-44 at IVHS after dominating
early, then letting Coquille back in the
game, then stretching the lead again to
seal their place in State quarterfinals.
Now, the team is scheduled to face second-
ranked Dayton at North Bend High School
in Coos Bay at 8:15 p.m. Thursday, March 3.
The Coquille Red Devils had been 20-
5 and beat Sutherlin, a team that defeated
Illinois Valley early in the season. But on
Friday, it seemed Coquille couldn’t keep up
with the Cougars during the first half, their
(Photo by Darcy Wallace, Illinois Valley News)
Junior Tyler Robbins, #12, looks to fend off a Coquille player from the ball during
the playoff game Friday, Feb. 25.
‘You can go to RCC
and change
your life’
offense unable to gain much momentum.
According to boys’ basketball coach
Jeff Winters, the support of friends, parents
and students in the stands was a major
reason for the team’s confidence on Friday.
“I have to attribute a big factor to the
crowd,” Winters said. “They came out to
support us and that definitely helped us get
out of the gate at the beginning of the game.”
In the first quarter, Illinois Valley held
Coquille to just five points, scoring 13 before
their opponent put any points on the board.
But by halftime, Coquille had started to figure
out ways to get through the Cougar defense.
Illinois Valley led 31-21 at the half with junior
Fred Hults leading the scoring. Rebounds from
Josh Free, Andrew McLaughlin and Jesse Bethke
also helped the Cougars hold on to their lead.
Coquille players tightened up their
offensive game in the third and made several
three-point shots, outscoring Illinois Valley 9-7.
Some turnovers by the Cougars also helped the
Red Devils catch up enough to trail by only six.
But Illinois Valley took a few timeouts
and redoubled its efforts, regaining the
defensive edge of the first half and making
key foul shots to extend the lead again.
“Our foul shots at the end pretty much
sealed it for us,” Winters said. “We weren’t
shooting good foul shots in the beginning
but we closed it out when we had to.”
(Photo by Darcy Wallace, Illinois Valley News)
In the fourth quarter, the Cougars scored 16 Senior Roger Hults #20 displays his
points to win 60-44, fans cheering “On to State!” skills while playing Coquille Friday
from the bleachers as the seconds ran down to zero.
Feb.25.
On to State for the first time in nearly a decade,
a reality Cougar teammates are still absorbing. Robbins said. “This year we have strong
“This is what we’ve been looking senior leaders who came up big in the end.”
One of the five seniors, Jesse Bethke,
forward to all season, it hasn’t really set in
called
the win “amazing” and said the Cougars
yet,” said point guard Tyler Robbins. “Once
would
be practicing even harder going into
we decided we could match up with [top
State
competition.
Illinois Valley arguably
opponents], we came out and played our
practices
pretty
hard
already, considering the
game, played our good D and we beat them.”
fact
that
Bethke
broke
a backboard during
“We were pretty confident coming in,” said
Fred Hults, who scored 18 points on Friday. “But practice earlier in the week. Fortunately
we had to work hard and if we did our jobs, we it was repaired in time for Friday’s game.
Jeff Winters was awarded Coach of
knew we could beat them. It feels really good right
the
Year
as voted by league coaching staff,
now, like we accomplished what we wanted to.”
and
Cougars
Bethke, Roger and Fred Hults
Many Cougars on the 2011 team
all
made
first
team awards. Roger Hults
also played in previous seasons, but this is
the first time they have been able to turn won Player of the Year representing IV.
On the girls’ side, lone senior Laurissa
their individual skills into this many wins.
Tausaga
made the second team for her hard work
“We came together as a team this year
and
leadership
as voted by coaches. Junior Kristen
instead of just playing as individuals in the past,”
Vidalez also earned an Honorable Mention.
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Crossword Solution on Page A-4
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RCC Dental Assistant graduate
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