PAGE A16, KEIZERTIMES, JULY 2, 2021
TEST DRIVE NOW — BRONCO SPORT & MACH E
OREGON'S #1 FORD DEALER
8 YEARS RUNNING
3555 River Rd N, Keizer
(503) 463- 4853
skylineforddirect.com
McNary
puts clamps
on South
Albany
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
SPORTS
ABOVE: McNary's Jando Gonzalez attempts a shot over South Albany's Logan Parker. The Celtics held South Albany to a season-
low of 34 points in their home finale. Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
W
hile their off ense wasn’t fi ring
on all cylinders, the defense
picked up the slack for the
McNary boys basketball team.
McNary held South Albany to a sea-
son-low of 34 points in their 48-34 win
over the Rebels on Wednesday, June 23.
“I thought our defense was incredible,”
McNary head coach Ryan Kirch said. “I
am proud of our group. Our depth and our
quality of play has been skyrocketing. We
feel really good about where we are at.”
Nate Meithof led the way for the Celtics
with 16 points.
Despite being one of the top scorers
in the state, Meithof struggled off ensively
early on, going 1-for-7 in the opening
period.
McNary trailed 7-6 after the fi rst quar-
ter, but after going scoreless for more than
six minutes, Celtics point guard Jando
Gonzalez fi nally broke the seal by drilling
one from behind the arc. Tyler Copeland
got a triple of his own drop moments later
to put McNary up 12-7.
After South Albany cut the lead to
two, Gonzalez nailed another 3-pointer
and Kyler Rodriguez hit one from deep to
extend the Celtics lead to 18-10.
“We got some energy off the bench
and got a bunch of open shots,” Copeland
said.
The second quarter three-point bar-
rage continued as Copeland knocked
down another triple from the baseline
and Evan Cornell made a three from the
corner, giving the Celtics six triples for
period.
“We really tried to distort the defense
with the dribble. We want to shoot threes,
but we want to make sure the ball is touch-
ing the paint fi rst,” Kirch said. “When you
move the ball side to side and make the
team guard you, you are going to get eas-
ier shots.”
A tip-dunk from Meithof and a steal
and layup by Jabol Balos put the Celtics
up 28-16 at the break.
Meithof scored a pair of hoops to
open the second half, but McNary went
through another dry spell,
going over four minutes
without a bucket. However,
the Celtics were able to
maintain their double-digit
advantage by limiting South
Albany to just six points in
the third quarter.
McNary also held
South Albany star, and
Mid-Willamette Player of
the Year, Isaiah Gilliam to
18 points — eight below
his season average — and
made sure he wasn’t get-
ting any easy hoops.
“He had to earn everything. He had to
score over us, and not a lot of other guys
got into a rhythm. His baskets were hard
and diffi cult,” Kirch said.
McNary ended the third quarter on
a buzzer beater from Rodriguez to put
McNary up 36-22. Then, Meithof went on
a 7-0 run by himself to open the fourth
quarter, giving the Celtics their largest
We are 10 deep,
and what you see is
our depth when we
get to the third and
fourth quarter.
— RYAN KIRCH
McNary head coach
lead of the game at 43-22.
“I just wanted to get to the rack,”
Meithof said.
“We are 10 deep, and what you see is
our depth when we get to the third and
fourth quarter,” Kirch added.
After pulling off back-to-back wins
at Mountain View and Bend on June
24-25, McNary fi nishes the season with
a 13-4 record.