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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (June 18, 2021)
PAGE A18, KEIZERTIMES, JUNE 18, 2021 OREGON'S 1 FORD # DEALER 8 YEARS IN A ROW 3555 River Rd N, Keizer (503) 463- 4853 skylineforddirect.com McNary demolishes Dallas behind Meithof's 31 pts SPORTS McNary guard Nate Meithof gets to the rack to score two of his 31 points in the Celtics 73-43 victory against Dallas on Monday, June 14. Jando Gonzalez looks to break down a defender off the dribble. Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes BY MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes The McNary boys basketball team has played in a number of close games so far this season. Their matchup with Dallas was not one of them. The Celtics went up by double-dig- its midway through the fi rst quarter and never looked back, defeating the Dragons 73-43 on Monday, June 14. Nate Meithof led the Celtics with 31 points on 12-of-18 shooting and Jabol Balos added 10 points in the win. “It was about not letting up. We were going to come out aggressive and make sure that we didn’t give them a chance to come back,” Meithof said. Meithof didn’t start the game due to disciplinary reasons, but made his impact immediately after entering the game midway through the opening quarter, dialing up a long-range tri- ple and getting a layup in transition moments later, putting his team up 14-4. After going up by 12 later in the Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes period, Dallas responded with a 7-0 run, but thanks to a pair of off ensive rebounds, Evan Cornell was able to get a hoop before the horn to put the Celtics on top 18-11 at the end of the fi rst. Despite crawling back into the game, Dallas was unable to handle McNary’s defensive pressure and full- court trap, which led to easy buckets for the Celtics on the off ensive end. Back-to-back easy hoops from Meithof, plus a steal and layup by Gunner Smedema got McNary back up by double-fi gures early in the sec- ond quarter. Meithof also has a pair of massive dunks in transition later in the period to put the Celtics up by 15. “I thought that our pressure defense worked in conjunction with our off ense,” McNary head coach Ryan Kirch said. “Any time we can allow our defense to create off ense and get out in the open fl oor, I think that is when we are at our best.” “It was all about ball movement and getting down the court in transition,”
