DECEMBER 15, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A11 KEIZERTIMES.COM Celtics win fi rst league dual By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes In its fi rst league dual of the season, McNary continued to show something you can’t coach—tenacity. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen a group of kids come through and have that,” Celt- ics head coach Jason Ebbs said. “That’s props to these kids be- cause a lot of kids these days are looking to their coach for this and that but there’s a powerful tool within oneself. You (as a coach) can tap into it, make it spring a leak may- be, and get it to show itself. They’re doing a great job. I’m just really happy with their te- nacity.” Behind fi ve pins and two technical falls, McNary de- feated McMinnville 40-30 at home on Thursday, Dec. 7. At 195 pounds, McNary sophomore Randal Nordberg earned a pin just before the buzzer sounded on the fi rst period to give the Celtics a quick 6-0 lead. “I was very hyped,” said Nordberg, who has started the season 3-1 after a knee injury ended his freshman campaign early a year ago. He credited KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary sophomore Randal Nordberg pinned his McMinnville opponent in the fi rst period on Thursday, Dec. 7. his teammates for the turn- around. “I came to preseason and worked as hard as I could and just got lucky enough to make varsity,” Nordberg said. “It’s defi nitely starting off better than it was last year.” In his fi rst match at 220 pounds, Blake Norton then pinned Juan Contreras, a dis- trict placer, in the third period to stretch the Celtics lead to 12-0. “I took fourth at districts last year (at 285) and this kid took fi fth and I just thought of it as this kid is really going to set the tone for me this year,” Norton said. “My goal is to take fi rst in districts this year and go far at state and place at state this year.” After losing the heavy- weight match, McNary con- tinued to pad its lead in the lightweight divisions. At 106 pounds, freshman KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary senior Blake Norton earned a third period pin in his fi rst match wrestling at 220 pounds. Grady Burrows pinned his opponent in 17 seconds. “I just went out there and did my thing and got the win for my team, a head snap, cradled him right up and got the pin,” Burrow said. “My brother (Sean) came up from college, fi rst time seeing me. It was nice.” At 113 and 126 pounds, Tony Castaneda and Austin Moore, two wrestlers with high school experience who missed last season, both earned technical falls to give the Celt- ics a 28-12 lead. “It’s good to have Tony back in the lineup,” Ebbs said. “He’s been out for about a year. He’s had previous suc- cess and he’s trying to fi nd his groove again and today was a Please see DUAL, Page 12 McNary sweeps West Albany Lady Celts hold off rally Cavell posts double-double of 27 points, 10 rebounds By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes McNary (4-0) got a taste of its own medicine. Playing another team of mostly guards, the Lady Celts eked out a 51-46 victory over West Albany on Friday, Dec. 8 to open league play. While McNary never trailed in the game, the Bull- dogs got within four points early in the fourth period and then 45-44 on a 3-pointer with 1:14 remaining. After passing the ball around the perimeter in an attempt to run out the clock, McNary senior Kailey Doutt saw a lane and drove to the basket, making a layup and then the free throw to com- plete the 3-point play. “I saw an opening to the left and I went for it. That’s my strong side,” Doutt said. On the other end, Doutt then pulled down a defensive rebound and went 1-for-2 from the free throw line to stretch the lead to 49-44. After West Albany made two free throws, McNary se- nior Paige Downer knocked down a pair of her own with 9.8 seconds remaining to seal the victory. “The whole game was very intense and kind of out of control,” Doutt said. “We had some mental breakdowns on defense, which shouldn’t hap- pen. I was very nervous but the whole time I felt like we would pull out a win. I had confi dence that we would. We just needed to take care of the ball and be patient and not rush because their plan was to make us rush. They were hustling a lot and we needed to match that and we didn’t always. We need to work on that.” The Lady Celts looked like they would run away By DEREK WILEY Of the Keizertimes Behind a big fi rst half, Mc- Nary (2-1) opened Greater Valley Conference play with a 72-54 win over West Albany on Friday, Dec. 8. The Celtics outscored the Bulldogs 22-11 in the fi rst quarter as McNary senior Chandler Cavell scored 11 of his 27 points and Lucas Gar- vey drained three 3-pointers. The Celtics continued to add to their lead in the second quarter and went into halftime with a comfortable 39-21 ad- vantage. McNary head coach Ryan Kirch said the key to the fast start was more ball movement and less dribbling. “Watching our fi rst couple games on fi lm, I thought of- ten times we over dribbled the basketball, whether that was in transition getting the ball up the fl oor or in the half court offense and I thought we held the ball one extra dribble, which allowed the defense to recover from any advantage that we’d gotten,” Kirch said. “We really focused the last couple days, get the ball up earlier. If you don’t have any- thing, get that ball moving forward, side to side, that way we can ball fake and attack the rim. We want to get to the free throw line a little bit more and I thought we did that tonight.” The Celtics were 19-for- 26 from the free throw line. Cavell fi nished 10-for-11. Along with his 27 points, Cavell also added 10 rebounds, fi ve assists and three steals. He was 8-for-12 from the fi eld with all four of his miss- es coming from behind the 3-point arc. “You can see that he’s play- ing at a speed that’s fast but he is under control with his body,” Kirch said. “That’s why his shooting percentage is so Please see SWEEP, Page 12 KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary senior Kailey Doutt shoots over a pair of West Albany defenders. Doutt fi nished with a double-double of 21 points and 10 rebounds. from West Albany early, be- ginning the game on a 14-4 run. When the Bulldogs got within 16-12 early in the sec- ond period, Downer and Leah Doutt each scored two baskets to give McNary a 24-13 lead. Kailey Doutt’s shot began to heat up in the second half as a 3-pointer and jumper put the Lady Celts on top 31-17. Doutt fi nished with 21 points, 15 of which came in the sec- ond half, to go along with 10 rebounds. McNary led 37-26 when the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to get within 37-33 with 7:39 remaining in the game. “West Albany plays hard,” McNary head coach Eliza- beth Doran said. “They hustle. They’re just really scrappy and that bothered us tonight. Their pressure and their de- fense, it bothered us and it was visibly bothering us out there on the court and we can’t let that happen. We were having problems offensively and we let that seep over into our defense. There were some possessions where we were leaving people open, just un- characteristic things. We can’t do that.” The Lady Celts also got in foul trouble. Sabella Alfaro, who only played nine minutes, made a 3-point play with 4:11 re- maining before fouling out with 1:40 to go. Leah Doutt also fouled out, with 3:38 re- maining, fi nishing with four points, four rebounds and three blocks. Please see HUSTLE, Page 13 KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley McNary junior Boston Smith had four points and fi ve rebounds on Friday, Dec. 8 against West Albany.