JANUARY 24, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A14
KEIZERTIMES.COM
McNary shocks West Salem in MVC thriller
By MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Similar to every team
the McNary boys basketball
team has faced this year, West
Salem had a diffi cult time
defending Nate Meithof.
The Celtics star shooting
guard torched the Titans
for 35 points on 13-of-16
shooting.
However, the heroics
down the stretch for Mc-
Nary came from an unex-
pected source.
Kyler Rodriguez — who
swung time between JV and
varsity at the beginning of
the season — came off the
bench to score 16 points,
including a game-winning
3-pointer, which was banked
in off the backboard with
eight seconds remaining, as
the Celtics erased a 17-point
second half defi cit to beat
West Salem 64-63 in the
Mountain Valley Conference
opener on Friday, Jan. 17.
“I thought the ball was
going to be stolen on the
pass, but it was tipped straight
into my hands. I’m just lucky
that I was able to call bank
on that shot,” Rodriguez
said with a smile.
Just a couple of weeks
prior, Rodriguez was not
consistently involved in Mc-
Nary’s rotation. But with his
performances in the last two
games, the sophomore guard
has proved himself to be a re-
liable secondary scorer.
“He has really taken that
next step. He isn’t afraid to
make mistakes and he has
really matured and has be-
come a signifi cant role player
for us. I think tonight was a
signifi cant stepping stone to
see where he could go and
we just expect him to keep
on growing,” McNary head
coach Ryan Kirch said.
As the game was under-
way, it became clear how fo-
cused West Salem was in try-
ing to slow down Meithof.
Not
only
was
he
face-guarded for much of
the game, but many times
when Meithof touched the
ball, an additional two de-
fenders would swarm to him.
Despite the game-plan,
Meithof was able to shake
himself loose for a trio of
tough buckets in the open-
ing period, giving the Celtics
a 13-12 lead.
However, things began to
unravel moments later for
McNary.
Late in the fi rst quar-
ter, McNary’s starting point
guard Jando Gonzalez had to
leave the game after hitting
the fl oor hard. Then in the
second quarter, Kirch got hit
Please see BBALL, Page A11
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary point guard Jando Gonzalez breaks away from the West Salem defense in transition for an easy lay-up. The Celtics erased
a 17-point second half defi cit to defeat the Titans 64-63.
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
LEFT: McNary students storm the court after their team completed the comeback victory. RIGHT: Nate Meithof torched the Titans for 35 points on 13-of-16 shooting,
Shorthanded Celts fall to West Salem in league opener
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
McNary forward Annie-Leigh Besa goes up for a shot after receiving the ball in the post. Besa
led the Celtics with 14 points, but McNary still fell to West Salem 61-45 on friday, Jan. 17.
sure off with the full-court
By MATT RAWLINGS
press,” McNary forward An-
Of the Keizertimes
The McNary girls basket- nie-Leigh Besa said.
The Celtics also gave up
ball squad nearly played even
with West Salem in the fi nal numerous easy baskets to
three quarters. But the Celtics West Salem after suffering
couldn’t overcome the hole several defensive breakdowns
they dug themselves into in in the fi rst half.
“There were a lot of things
the opening period.
we were kick-
The Titans
ing ourselves
started
the
about in the
fi rst quarter “ There were a
fi rst half,” Mc-
on a 20-5 run lot of things we
Nary
head
and McNary
coach
Eliz-
couldn’t get were kicking
abeth
Dor-
the game back ourselves about
an said. “We
into
single
struggled
digits as the in the fi rst half.”
with leaving
Celtics fell to
— Elizabeth Doran, the weak side
West
Salem
McNary head coach
open
when
61-45 in their
we were dou-
Mountain Val-
ble-teaming
ley Confer-
ence opener on Friday, Jan. their guards and our transi-
tion defense wasn’t great. We
17.
McNary was without their made progress, but we need
starting point guard, Leah to adjust quicker in games to
Doutt, who was battling an what is going on.”
McNary found themselves
illness all week.
Without their top ball-han- trailing at the half 39-21. One
dler, the Celtics struggled in of the only bright spots in
dealing with West Salem’s the fi rst half for McNary was
half-court trap, which led to Besa, who scored eight points
several turnovers for McNary. off the bench in the fi rst 16
“Not having Leah there minutes — she would fi nish
was defi nitely diffi cult. She the game with a team-high
usually takes a lot of that pres- 14 points.
“I knew we needed some-
thing to get us going. At that
point, there was nothing to
lose, so I was just playing with
confi dence in myself,” Besa
said.
The Celtics cut into the
lead at the start of the third
quarter when Kylie Nepstad
and Kenzie Proctor hit back-
to-back triples to trim the
lead to 14. Kendyl Jennings,
who had 10 points on the
night, also got involved in the
scoring action.
But West Salem responded
by going on an 11-2 run to
end the quarter, which gave
them a 54-31 advantage.
Despite the score being
out of reach, McNary had
some positives to build on
in the fi nal period, including
their defense stepping up and
holding the Titans to just sev-
en points in the fourth quar-
ter.
“That was something that
we were praised on in the
locker room even though we
fell short,” Besa said.
McNary travels to Bend
on Saturday, Jan. 25 for a 2:30
p.m. game. The Celtics will
return home on Thursday, Jan.
30 for a 5:45 p.m. matchup
with Sprague.