PAGE A12, KEIZERTIMES, JANUARY 10, 2020
KEIZERTIMES.COM
McNary grinds out tough win on the road
you see a team make a cra-
By MATT RAWLINGS
zy three like that with their
Of the Keizertimes
It appeared that all of the home crowd going crazy, I
momentum had swung in would say 95 percent of the
Canby’s favor at the end of time that team ends up win-
ning the game. I was really
regulation.
Canby guard Diego Arre- proud of our maturity and
dondo nailed a wild, off-bal- growth in the overtime to
ance 3-pointer as the buzzer withstand that shot and stay
sounded to tie the game at composed,” Kirch said.
“When everyone is ready
50 and force overtime.
But in the extra session, it to go and mentally engaged,
we have a lot
was the Mc-
of depth and
Nary
boys
“When
we can be re-
hoops squad
ally good. Our
that proved to everyone is
guys compete
be the more
ready
to
go
and fi ght for
collected team
one another.”
down
the and mentally
W h i l e
stretch.
engaged,
we
multiple
guys
The Celt-
made
big
plays
ics outscored have a lot of
that proved to
their oppo-
be key late
nent 16-10 in depth and we
in the game,
the four-min- can be really
the
offen-
ute overtime
sive outburst
as
McNary good.”
from McNary
came
away
—
Ryan
Kirch,
guard
Nate
with a gritty
McNary
head
coach
Meithof
was
66-60
road
the thing that
victory against
stood
out
the Cougars on Friday, Dec.
most
for
the
Celts.
3.
Meithof went off for 36
Even though this is a
young McNary group, head points — with 23 of them
coach Ryan Kirch believes coming in the second half
that they already have shown — and capped off his night
signifi cant growth so far in with a highlight reel jam that
would have rivaled any play
this young season.
“Most of the time when
Please see BBALL, Page A9
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Riley Flores (11) gets a Canby defender back on his heels with a jab-step and then looks to go the rim in McNary’s 66-60 victory
over Canby on Friday, Jan. 3
Celts rally for key
non-league victory
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary’s Damian Hernandez (blue singlet) twists his body into a pretzel in order to get position on
Centennial’s Edgar Molina. Hernandez would pin Molina with two seconds left in the third round.
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
In their last non-confer-
ence game before Moun-
tain Valley Conference play,
the McNary girls basketball
team got clutch performanc-
es from multiple sources.
The Celtics had four play-
ers in double-fi gures — in-
cluding Bekah Grimmer,
who led the way with 17
points on 6-of-8 shooting
— allowing McNary to pull
out a gutsy 56-52 overtime
win over North Medford on
Friday, Jan. 3.
Leah Doutt had 14 points
and seven assists while Ken-
zie Proctor added 12 points
and was a perfect 6-for-6
from the charity stripe. Kylie
Nepstad added 10 points on
5-of-8 shooting.
“Everyone is stepping up
and realizing that it takes a
team effort to win. Things
weren’t really clicking at fi rst,
but we pulled it out when it
mattered. Our girls wanted it
more than they did, which
was good to see,” McNary
head coach Elizabeth Doran
said.
North Medford started
the game in a 1-2-2 zone,
which proved to be a chal-
lenge for the Celtics as they
struggled to get good looks
at the basket in the early go-
ing. Doutt, as well as Ken-
nedy Buss were each able
to knock down triples, but
North Medford still held a
10-7 lead at the end of the
opening period.
The Black Tornado ex-
tended their lead to 20-11
late in the second quarter.
But in the last three minutes
of the period, McNary found
some success in transition.
Please see CELTS, Page A8
Mat men compete
at Don York Invite
went deep in the tournament
By MATT RAWLINGS
and did really well for them-
Of the Keizertimes
selves.
I’m
On Jan. 3-4,
seeing noth-
the McNary
ing but an
wrestling team “ We had a
uptick with
competed at lot of young
our program.”
the Don York
One
of
I nv i t a t i o n a l kids that went
the
young-
along with 20
deep in the
sters that had
other schools.
phenom-
The Celtics tournament and a
enal
tour-
took 34 kids
nament was
to the tourna- did really well
sophomore
ment and had for themselves.”
106-pounder
17 boys make
— Jason Ebbs, Damian Her-
it to the sec-
McNary head coach
nandez.
ond day of the
Despite
the invitation-
not
being
al.
“We took more than seeded, Hernandez made it
30 kids to go wrestle. That all the way to the champi-
speaks measures there. If you onship match after earning
want to do well at tourna- three consecutive pins. Her-
ments, you have to get the nandez held his own in the
kids to come,” McNary head championship bout but lost
coach Jason Ebbs said. “We a 6-0 decision to Kenny Vang
had a lot of young kids that from Reynolds.
“Damian pinned his way
into the fi nals. There were
times where he was be-
hind on points and he had
to come back and scrap his
way to a victory. It was really
exciting to watch him and I
hope that he uses this expe-
rience to raise his expecta-
tions,” Ebbs said.
Senior Anthony Gar-
cia-Reyes earned a third
place fi nish in the 220-pound
division. After losing a 5-1
decision in the quarterfi nals
to Curtis Strahm from Tu-
alatin, Garcia-Reyes worked
his way up the consolation
bracket with a pair of pins,
as well as a tough 4-1 vic-
tory against Kevin Villa from
Putnam, which earned him a
spot in the 3rd place match
and a rematch with Strahm.
Garcia-Reyes avenged his
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Please see WRES, Page A8
Kenzie Proctor was in double-fi gures with 12 points as the Celtics got a 56-52 win over North
Medford on Friday, Jan. 3.