PAGE A16, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 26, 2018
SENIORS,
continued from Page 13
Senior
Josiah
Chris-
tensen led his match 2-0 at
152 pounds before getting
pinned in the second period.
“That’s one of those
matches, if those guys wrestle
10 times, it goes 5-5,” coach
Ebbs said. “Those are two
guys that are probably equal-
ly matched.”
The Celtics lost two
matches, 285 and 138, by 3-0
and 4-3 decisions.
“The most important
thing that needs to matter
right now is they need to
know what those mistakes
are and we need to fi x them
and we need to turn that into
consistent behavior and we
do that in two weeks (at dis-
tricts) and we’ll come back
after this team,” coach Ebbs
said. “They’ll know we’re
coming.”
Grady Burrows (106) and
Tony Castaneda (113) were
out with injuries.
“We’ve got people who
could make us a little bit
tougher but I’m very happy
STUDENT,
continued from Page 13
Gardelli’s fi rst introduc-
tion to American basket-
ball came while playing for
McNary in a fall league.
He barely got on the court in
the Celtics fi rst regular season
game, entering for the fi rst
time in the second half of a
68-54 win over Grants Pass
on Nov. 30.
But by the third game,
Gardelli was starting.
“The main problem was
the language and understand-
ing the plays,” said Gardelli,
who had never played zone
defense before.
Gardelli handled the ball
more in Italy and was usually
one of his team’s top scorers.
He’s played primarily forward
at McNary and had to buy-in
to the Celtics’ philosophy of
playing unselfi shly on offense
and working hard on defense.
There’s also more scouting of
other teams.
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
Seniors Josiah Christensen, left, and Jerry Martinez wrestled their fi nal match at McNary High School on Friday, Jan. 19.
to have the lineup we had
with us tonight based on ev-
erything we’re dealing with,”
coach Ebbs said.
McNary honored all eight
of its seniors before the dual:
Ebbs, Martinez, Norton,
Christensen, Joe Collins,
Noah Grunberg, Alex Har-
rison and Isaiah Putnam.
“That stuff is always spe-
cial,” coach Ebbs said. “That
stuffs more important than
who won the senior night
dual. Some of those guys
are fi rst-year wrestlers, some
of those guys are four-year
wrestlers. Some have been
wrestling for half their life
and I’ve known them for half
their life. The bonds that we
form here are a little different
than most teams. That makes
our senior night pretty spe-
cial.”
The Celtics earned fi ve
pins against McKay on
Thursday: Vincent (126),
Castaneda (106), Norton
(220), Randal Nordberg
(182)and Garrett Wampler
(170).
Martinez won by a 16-6
major decision and Grun-
berg added a 15-0 technical
fall.
McNary won four match-
es by points. Christensen
won 12-7 at 152 pounds and
Ebbs edged his opponent 6-4
at 160.
Collins earned a 3-2 vic-
tory at 285 and Rigoberto
Hernandez won 13-9 at 113.
Wampler, Norton, Her-
nandez and Jaydin Gomez all
had pins against West Salem.
Grunberg won a 16-4 major
decision. Martinez and Nick
Hernandez each won by one
point, 7-6 and 9-8. Castane-
da added a 10-3 victory in
the rout.
The district meet is Feb.
2-3 at McKay.
“The program at McNary
is very serious and I like that,”
Gardelli said. “You feel more
like a real basketball player.
You start to understand how
it works. (McNary) coach
(Ryan) Kirch is a very good
coach.”
Gardelli also realizes he’s
new to the team while other
players have been in the pro-
gram for four years.
“They are more senior
than me,” Gardelli said of
fellow seniors Lucas Garvey,
Chandler Cavell and An-
drew Jones. “I’ve been here
four months so I understand
when people have more lead-
ership than me. I’m learning
a lot of new stuff. I feel that
I’m improving, playing this
kind of basketball with other
people that I’ve never played
before in this league.”
Gardelli has remained in
the starting lineup, averag-
ing eight points and 3.7 re-
bounds per game as McNary
as opened the season 13-4.
“I love my teammates,”
Gardelli said. “I don’t know,
maybe this will be my best
season of my life. We are do-
ing pretty good right now
and I think we can get bet-
ter.”
Gardelli has also enjoyed
playing in front of larger
crowds. While in Italy a
good game drew maybe 120
people, the gym was packed
when the Celtics hosted rival
West Salem on Jan. 5.
“That’s very cool,” Gardel-
li said. “I love that and the
students and my friends
coming to watch me. That’s
so cool. That’s not happening
in Italy.”
Gardelli is staying with
a host family. Since the le-
gal driving age is 18 in Italy,
he doesn’t have his license.
While he’s yet to witness his
fi rst college or NBA game,
the family has taken him to
see Silver Falls and Crater
Lake. He misses his own fam-
ily, Skyping with his parents
every two weeks.
“Sometimes you want
to see your dad watch your
game but he can’t,” Gardelli
said. “I miss that.”
While Christmas is big in
Italy, Thanksgiving was new.
“I like being here because
I learn knew stuff about
America,” Gardelli said. “I
had never actually ate a tur-
key before. It’s pretty good.
American food (overall) is
not that good. But I’m a guy
that can adapt to things. You
have to be very fl exible with
everything.”
While school has been
more challenging due to the
language, he likes the fl ex-
ibility of picking his own
classes. At Gardelli’s school in
Italy, students stay in the same
classroom for the entire day.
The teachers move.
But Gardelli’s stay in
America, however long it
might be, always comes back
to basketball.
“I don’t know what I
can do without basketball,”
Gardelli said. “Basketball is
my life. I decided to come
here for the basketball. The
fi rst thing was basketball.”
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