DECEMBER 28, 2018, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE B1
KEIZERTIMES.COM
Shorthanded Celtics fall in tourney championship
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Even though they weren’t
at full strength, the McNary
boys hoops team put together a
valiant effort against Newberg
on Saturday night. But the
Celtics couldn’t climb back into
the game after falling behind
by 21 in the fourth quarter
and eventually lost 67-57 in
the Newberg Boys Basketball
Tournament Championship
game.
“I’m disappointed that
we lost, but I’m encouraged
at some of the things we
showed with our toughness
and competitiveness,” McNary
head coach Ryan Kirch said.
“Sometimes shots don’t fall
and you come out on the
losing end...Being down a
couple of bodies made it really
challenging for us at times.”
McNary was without two
of their best players in Junior
Walling and Griffi n Oliveira.
Walling has missed the last
few contests due to injury,
while Oliveira was not present
due to “family stuff and prior
engagements” according to
Kirch.
David Boston and Nate
Meithof each had 23 points
to carry the Celtics offensively,
but in the end, McNary didn’t
get enough help from the rest
of their supporting cast.
“We have a lot of leaders
who lead in different ways
and Griff is a guy that a lot of
guys look to,” Kirch said. “You
can’t replace him and you can’t
replace Junior’s strength and
his rebounding ability on the
inside.”
“It
did
give
some
opportunity for some other
guys to get minutes and I
thought they did some good
things and competed well. We
just fell a little short.”
Smith got things going in
the opening period with eight
points on 3-of-4 shooting from
the fi eld as the Celtics trailed
just 14-12 at the end of the
quarter.
However,
it
appeared
that McNary couldn’t buy a
bucket in the second quarter.
The Celtics settled for several
contested jumpers and couldn’t
get out in transition, which
led to them only scoring four
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Tyler O’Connor lines up a free throw attempt.
points in the period, causing
them to fall behind 26-16 at
half.
Meithof had the only fi eld
goal of the second quarter on
a put-back layup with 2:50 left
in the half.
“We weren’t on top of
things offensively,” Meithof
said. “We moved the ball well,
but we weren’t getting to the
hoop.”
Kirch also added: “We were
getting back on our heels in
the fi rst half and running our
offense 35 feet from the basket.”
Things went from bad to
worse for the Celtics as the
game looked to be getting
out of hand in the second
half. After McNary ended the
third quarter trailing 47-32,
Newberg center Kyle Kruse
knocked down back-to-back
3-pointers to start the fi nal
period, giving his team the
largest lead of the game.
It would have been easy for
the Celtics to give up at this
point. But they weren’t quite
ready to throw in the towel.
McNary put on a devastating
full-court press on Newberg,
defending with an intensity
that wasn’t present for most of
the game.
The suffocating defense
helped create turnovers into
offensive opportunities as the
Celtics went on a 12-0 run
thanks to a pair of triples by
Meithof and a fl oater by Devyn
Schurr.
“We just competed hard
in our press and didn’t worry
about the score,” Kirch said. “A
lot of them were gassed, but
they didn’t stop.”
“We talked about how, at
the end, we were playing as the
aggressor in that situation and
that mindset is what we need
from the get-go.”
The 12-0 scamper by the
Celtics got the lead down to
single-digits at 53-44 with 3:48
left and forced Newberg head
coach Mark Brown to call a
timeout.
Out of the timeout,
McNary set up their press and
looked they were about to get a
steal before a reach-in foul was
called on Schurr.
Schurr let his emotions get
the best of him after the call
and was immediately whistled
for a technical foul. Newberg
was awarded two free throws
for the personal foul, two more
for the technical and was given
back possession of the ball.
It ended up being a fi ve-
point trip for Newberg, which
was too much for McNary to
come back from.
McNary
is
currently
competing in the Arby’s
Holiday Classic in South
Medford. They return home on
Friday Jan. 4 to take on Forest
Grove at 7:15 p.m. in their fi nal
non-league matchup.
KEIZERTIMES/ MATT RAWLINGS
McNary guard Nate Meithof (black jersey) positions himself for a rebound by boxing out a
Newberg player.
McNary swim teams hit
century mark in dual win
Lady Celts drop a pair
of games in Medford
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
McNary’s girls basketball
team came home empty hand-
ed after a trip to Southern
Oregon last weekend, losing
to North Medford 46-42 on
Friday Dec. 21 and falling to
South Medford 82-38 the fol-
lowing day.
The Celtics offense strug-
gled mightily in the fi rst half
of their game against North
Medford, shooting just 4-of-19
from the fi eld.
Facing a 21-12 defi cit at the
break, McNary got back into
the game in the third quarter
thanks to the scoring ability of
Leah Doutt.
The sophomore point guard
scored nine points in the peri-
od, including a bucket at the
horn that brought the Celtics
within four at 29-25.
McNary even came back
to take a 32-31 lead with 4:50
left in the fi nal quarter thanks
to a hoop from Sabella Alfaro.
But poor free throw shooting
doomed the Celtics down the
stretch.
McNary went just 10-of-
19 from the charity stripe for
the game and missed four foul
shots in the fi nal period.
It was a quick and challeng-
ing turnaround for the Celt-
ics to face fi fth-ranked South
Medford the following day.
McNary hung tough in
the opening quarter and was
within four early in the sec-
ond period. But the Celtics
defense couldn’t contain the
high-powered offense of South
Medford as they gave up a sea-
son-high in points.
Doutt was the only McNary
player who was in double-fi g-
ures in both games. She had
a game-high 19 points in the
North Medford contest and
was 8-of-15 from the fi eld.
She then poured in 11 points
against South Medford.
The Celtics are currently
competing in the Portland In-
terscholastic League Holiday
Classic up in Portland. They
start the new year by traveling
to McMinnville for their last
non-league contest at 7:30 p.m.
KEIZERTIMES/ MATT RAWLINGS
McNary’s Kennedy Buss gets into defensive position in the
Celtis game against Westview on Dec.. 7
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary’s Lucy Younblutt swims the 200-yard butterfl y at a meet earlier this season.
Celtics swimmers take momentum into
the New Year with their dominating
performance against McKay last week
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary High School
swim program entered into
the holiday break beaming
with confi dence after their
dominating overall perfor-
mance against McKay in their
last dual meet on Thursday,
Dec. 20
The Celtic boys won their
side of things by a score of
135-29. The McNary girls
also had a high-quality show-
ing with a 105-48 victory.
This was the third straight
dual victory for both the boys
and girls teams.
Alex Beard and Paris Boyd
were the two multi-event
winners on the day for the
Celtic girls. Beard was victori-
ous in the 200-yard individual
medley with a time of 2:27.05
and also took home the
win in the 100-breaststroke
(1:18.84).
Boyd, on the other hand,
won
the
100-butterfl y
(1:10.85) and the 100-back-
stroke (1:09.83).
After falling behind early,
Bella Beard won a thrilling
the 500-freestyle race with
a time of 5:37.69, touching
the wall 0.12 seconds before
McKay’s Lidiia Buiko.
Kaylynn Villalobos round-
ed out the individual wins for
the Celtic girls with her vic-
tory in the 100-free (101.45).
For the second straight
week, the McNary boys won
10 out of their 11 varsity rac-
es — their only defeat came
in the 200-free.
Harrison Vaughn and Kyle
Hooper led the charge for
the Celtic boys. Vaughn won
the 100-fl y (1:05.40) and
the 200-free (2:03.60) while
Hooper was victorious in the
50-free (24.27) and the 100-
back (1:04.76).
The Celtics also got some
great performances from
unexpected sources. Nikita
Martushev won the 100-free
(59.47) and Tyshin Nguy-
en was victorious in the
100-breast (1:23.29).
Ethan Whalen also picked
up an individual victory in the
200-IM (2:39.43).
McNary returns to the pool
on Jan. 17 at the Kroc Center
for their dual meet with South
Salem at 7 p.m.
Both Celtic teams lost their
only dual meet of the season
against South Salem on Nov.
29.