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KEIZERTIMES.COM
McNary falls fl at in playoff opener
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Once you enter the post-
season, it’s crucial to bring
your A-game, especially
when playing on the road.
It was clear that McNary
didn’t do that on Thursday,
Feb. 28.
The 48 points that the
Celtics scored was their sec-
ond lowest output of the
season as they fell to ninth-
ranked South Eugene by a
score of 54-48 in the fi rst
round of the state playoffs, ef-
fectively ending their season.
“We battled as best as we
could, things just didn’t fall
our way,” McNary senior
Noah Hudkins said. “In the
end, the only thing we can
look back on is ourselves. We
can’t blame anyone else.”
McNary turned the ball
over three times in the fi rst
two minutes and missed their
fi rst 10 shots of the game.
Finally, Riley Flores was
able to get the Celtics go-
ing with a 3-pointer from
the corner with less than a
minute remaining in the fi rst
quarter, cutting the South
Eugene lead to 7-5.
However, the Axe rallied
by responding with a 9-0
run to push their advantage
to 16-5 early in the second
period.
McNary head coach
Ryan Kirch acknowledged
that one of the reasons there
was such sloppy play on both
sides was due to the weather
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throwing things off.
McNary and South Eu-
gene were originally sched-
uled to play on Tuesday. But
because of the snow, the
game was fi rst rescheduled
for Wednesday, then was
moved to Thursday.
Both teams were also
forced to miss multiple prac-
tices over the course of the
week.
“I think it probably did
affect us … That was about
the ugliest fi rst half of basket-
ball we’ve ever seen,” Kirch
said. “Everyone was out of
rhythm, shots weren’t falling.
Everyone was just off a little
bit.”
“I thought we weren’t
as mentally engaged as we
hoped to be.”
McNary got a three-point
play from Griffi n Oliveira
and back-to-back buckets
from Boston Smith — who
was the only Celtic player
in double-fi gures with 19
points. But the McNary of-
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fense still struggled mightily
to get anything going as they
found themselves down at
halftime 25-15.
But when the third quar-
ter began, the Celtics looked
like a new team.
Oliveira and Nate Meithof
hit triples on back-to-back
possessions to get McNary
within four. Then, a transi-
tion layup from Smith com-
pleted an 8-0 McNary run to
cut the defi cit to 27-25 and
force South Eugene head
coach Dave Hancock to
burn a timeout.
“We did a great job, as we
have all year, with fi ghting
back,” Kirch said.
After another hoop from
Smith on an offensive re-
bound, Hudkins gave the
Celtics their fi rst lead of the
game with a beautiful jump
hook in the lane.
“We had the mindset and
energy that we were going
to come back,” Hudkins said.
“We were sharing the ball
really well and we started
knocking down shots.”
The lead however, was
short-lived as South Eugene
responded by going on a 9-4
run and took a 37-33 advan-
tage into the fi nal period.
McNary still continued to
battle, in large part due to the
incredible effort of Smith.
Smith has been dealing
with a nagging knee injury
since January and appeared to
be in serious pain through-
out the fi nal 16 minutes.
But the senior post fought
hard to keep his team in the
game with 14 points in the
second half.
“Boston could barely
walk,” Kirch said. “With the
pain that he was in, to go out
there and play for his team-
mates, not a lot of players
would do that.”
But in the end, it still
wasn’t enough. A pair of
turnovers late in the game
thwarted McNary’s come-
back attempt as South Eu-
gene was able to ice the
game with nine points from
the charity stripe in the fi nal
moments.
“Our guys left every
ounce of what they had out
on the fl oor,” Kirch said.
“I’m sad that it’s over,
mainly because this group
doesn’t get to be together
anymore. But what I appreci-
ate the most about this group
was the fun they had playing
together.”
Parents: Going to your
kids’ games matters
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
In the winter of 1997, I was six years old and playing my fi rst year of basketball for Salem
Parks and Recreation. I was on the yellow team — seriously, we didn’t even have a team
name.
One of the days where we had a game, my dad had scored tickets to go see the Portland
Trail Blazers take on the Utah Jazz. I fully assumed that he was going to miss my my game to
go to an NBA game. I mean, why wouldn’t he?
It wasn’t even just a normal NBA game. It was the Utah Jazz. It was Karl Malone and
John Stockton. It
was the best team in the Western Conference. He
even had suite level
tickets.
But when the
ball tipped off at Sumpter Elementary, my dad
was right there in
the front row cheering me on.
At the time, I
had a hard time wrapping my head around this.
Watching the Blaz-
ers must have been a way better option than wit-
nessing a bunch of
clueless six year olds run amuck at an elementary
school, playing a
game they barely understood. Yet, he decided to
come to my game
instead.
When we got
home I bluntly asked my dad why he didn’t go to
the Blazer game. He simply responded: “I just wanted to watch you play more.”
It took a few years for his response to really resonate for me.
For the next 11 years, the vast majority of my social activities revolved around sports. I
spent countless amounts of hours on football fi elds, basketball courts and baseball diamonds.
No matter when, where or what sport I was playing, my parents were always in attendance.
Seriously. There’s no single instance I can remember without at least one of my parents
attending a game. Every time I would seek them out in the stands, they would always be there.
My dad literally drove more than six hours to watch me play a football game in 19-degree
weather my sophomore year of high school.
He would also drive me to AAU and travel-baseball tournaments all throughout junior
high.
And when he was forced to be tied up with work or be involved with other fatherly duties,
my mom would be the one to pick up the slack — and her ear-piercing scream whenever I
did something remotely positive could be heard throughout the county
The reason I share this is not to tell you about my less-than-memorable athletic career, it
its to convey the importance of going to your kids’ games.
If you’re a parent of a McNary High School student, going to all of your child’s games just
became a lot more diffi cult in the last year with the addition of Bend, Summit and Mountain
View to the same league as the Salem-Keizer high schools.
It may be an impossible task to accomplish. The everyday responsibilities of adult life, plus
the potential travel and cost of going to all of your son’s or daughter’s sporting events may
seem daunting.
But parents, I implore you to at least try to be at all of your child’s games, regardless of level.
Because it matters.
It matters that you are there to encourage them.
It matters that you are there to celebrate their successful moments and console them
during moments of failure.
It matters because it matters to them — even though they might not realize right now —
and it will be something that they will always remember.
There are a lot of aspects of my childhood that I don’t recall. But I will forever remember
that my parents always showed up to support me.
And I am incredibly grateful for that.
mind2of2
matt
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season.2
Celts no match for Tigard
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Saying that the McNary
girls basketball team had a
roller coaster season would
be an understatement.
After losing eight of their
fi rst nine games to start the
year, the Celtics rattled off
seven straight victories —
six of them coming against
league opponents — and sat
in fi rst place in the Moun-
tain Valley Conference mid-
way through league play.
McNary then endured a
fi ve-game losing streak and
was on the brink of not
making the playoffs.
With their postseason lives
hanging in the balance, the
Celtics got two wins against
Sprague and Mountain View
to sneak into bracket play.
But on Thursday, Feb.
28, McNary’s seesaw sea-
son came to an end, as sec-
ond-ranked Tigard defeated
the Celtics 52-24 in their
fi rst-round playoff game.
It was the fi rst time all
season that McNary failed to
score 30 points in a game.
“We struggled offensive-
ly all night,” McNary head
coach Elizabeth Doran said.
“Part of it was Tigard played
really good defense.”
“I was still proud of the
way the girls played. We
fought hard.”
McNary guards Leah
Doutt and Abigail Hawley
have been the two best scor-
ing options for the Celtics
this season, both averaging
more than 12 points per
game.
But both players were
completely shut down in this
game. Hawley’s only point
of the contest came via foul
shot, while Doutt was held
scoreless.
“Tigard obviously had
their focus on Leah and Ab-
bie coming into the game,”
Doran said. “Every game it’s
been either Leah or Abbie
leading us in scoring. But
they weren’t able to have
their normal production.”
The Celtics got a hoop
from Annie Leigh Besa and
a 3-pointer from Mackenzie
Proctor in the opening pe-
riod, but Tigard was able to
jump out to a 17-5 lead by
the end of the quarter.
McNary, however, out-
scored the Tigers 8-6 in
the second quarter, with all
eight points coming from se-
nior guard Sabella Alfaro —
who led the Celtics with 10
points.
But McNary couldn’t
keep pace with Tigard in
the second half as the Tigers
went on a 16-6 run in the
third period to extend their
lead to 39-19.
The Celtics shot just
4-of-22 from the fi eld in the
second half.