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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2015)
SPORTS THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 2015 7A Loggers heat up the house, cage Tigers 62-60 By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian The temperature outside was a little chilly, but it was plenty warm inside the Brick House Wednesday night. It seems like Clatskanie vs. Knappa — in any sport — always seems to heat things up. And in a knock-down, drag-out contest, Knappa beat the Tigers — again — 62-60 to win the boys’ championship game of the Vince Dulcich Tournament. Knappa’s Tyson Burnard went coast-to-coast with eight seconds left in regulation, and banked in a runner with 1.4 seconds on the clock to give the Loggers the win. “It’s a good team, good bat- tle … it was the same game we had last time with them (a 57-52 Knappa win),” said Knappa coach Chris Spencer. “It was basically a continuation of the last game. If we played 10 times, all 10 games would be the same way. They’re a darn good basketball team.” While Knappa will likely run away with the Northwest League title, “I think Clatskanie is going to win their league,” Spencer said. “I give them a lot of credit. And hope- fully this sets us up for going into our league.” Clatskanie held an early 11-2 lead, before Knappa’s Justin Dra- goo almost singlehandedly brought the Loggers back. With help from a 3-pointer by Burnard, Dragoo scored 10 of Knappa’s next 13 points, which pulled the Loggers into a 15-15 tie. “Justin held down the fort as well as anybody tonight, especial- ly in the first half,” Spencer said. “That little run he had by himself at the end of the first quarter probably kept us in the ballgame.” Knappa’s two seniors combined for 15 of the Loggers’ 21 points in the second quarter, with a pair of late free throws by Chase Rusi- novich helping Knappa to a 34-30 halftime lead. Knappa would spend much of the night at the foul line, where the Loggers were 17-of-29, to Clats- kanie’s 12-of-13. The Tigers were whistled for 22 fouls, including back-to-back technical fouls midway through the second quarter. Still, Tiger senior German George scored seven of his team- high 17 points in the third, and Clatskanie managed to take the lead twice in the fourth — 53-52, and 60-59 on a 3-pointer by An- drew Norgren with 1:28 left. Both teams missed opportu- nities in the final minute of play — the Loggers missed two free throws with 37 seconds left, and the Tigers had two crucial turn- overs in the last eight seconds. In between the turnovers, Bur- nard drove the length of the floor for the game-winner, with 1.4 showing on the clock. “We had a couple options off of it,” Spencer said. “(The Tigers) decided to pick him up, full court with three guys. He ran right by all three and got a nice look at it, and Justin was right there to clean up if we needed.” Burnard finished with 25 points, followed by Dragoo with 21 and Rusinovich with eight points off the bench. “Our guys kind of wanted to play Astoria, but (the Tigers) spoiled that last night,” Spencer said. “We kind of wanted to be the ‘Kings of the River,’ because we’ve beaten Rainier, Naselle, Il- waco, Warrenton and Clatskanie. We wanted a shot at Astoria, too. But this was awesome. A fun game.” JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Knappa’s Justin Dragoo, No. 11, fights for a rebound against several Clatskanie players during the second half of the Vince Dulcich Basketball Tournament championship game at Astoria High JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian The Knappa High School boys basketball team stands with the trophy after winning the Vince Dulcich Basketball Tournament. teammate Desirae Hansen added nine. Shailei Wright led the Lady Loggers with eight points, to go with seven steals, six rebounds, three blocks and three assists. Stacey Aho had six points, with five points and eight rebounds from Kaitlyn Landwehr. Knappa switched opponents with Clatskanie, which was sched- uled to play Rainier for fifth. The Tigers defeated the Seaside JV’s, 44-18. Sisters Tournament JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Knappa’s Tyson Burnard, No. 21, drives to the basket during the Vince Dulcich Basketball Tournament championship game. Astoria 49, Rainier 25 Astoria won the boys’ consola- tion final Wednesday afternoon, as the Fishermen cruised past Rainier, 49-25. Derek Jarrett and Kyle Strange scored 12 points apiece for the Fishermen, who built a 31-13 half- time lead and bounced back from a loss to Clatskanie the night before. “It was sort of a ‘get-right’ game for us,” said Astoria coach Kevin Goin. “It was a chance for us to get back on track, and I was happy with how we played. We’re playing a little short-handed, but some of the other guys are stepping up and we’re making strides. We moved the ball well, and defensively we did a much better job.” Girls Astoria 60, Warrenton 26 Astoria closed out the tourna- ment with a victory, as the Lady SCOREBOARD BASKETBALL HIGH SCHOOLS Vince Dulcich Tournament Boys Championship Knappa 62, Clatskanie 60 KNA (62): Tyson Burnard 25, Dra- goo 21, Rusinovich 8, A.Miller 5, Severson 3, J.Miller, Takalo, Weirup, Rubus, Goodman. CLA (60): German George 17, Starkel 15, Puzey 12, McKay 8, Nor- gren 7, Haas 1. Knappa 13 21 16 12—62 Clatskanie 15 15 16 14—60 Astoria 49, Rainier 25 RAI (25): Caymon Rea 9, D.Rea 6, Verhoef 3, C.Tripp 3, J.Tripp 2. AST (49): Derek Jarrett 12, Kyle Strange 12, Fruiht 8, C.Englund 7, Palek 3, Fremstad 3, Scroup 2, Keating 2, Arnsdorf, Loughran, Wil- liams, Olsen. Rainier 6 7 2 10—25 Astoria 19 12 5 13—49 Girls Astoria 60, Warrenton 26 WAR (26): Landree Miethe 6, So- phia Thomas 6, Little 5, Morrill 4, Hanna 3, Schenbeck 2. AST (60): Chloee Hunt 16, Mitchel 15, Wallace 9, DeMander 7, Mickle Knappa’s Justin Dragoo shoots during the second half of the championship game. 4, Abrahams 4, Marincovich 3, Is- rael 2. Warrenton 4 12 2 8—26 Astoria 23 13 13 11—60 Rainier 41, Knappa 24 RAI (41): Dominique Pedersen 10, Hansen 9, Norman 4, Thurston 4, Taylor 4, Schimmel 4, Crape 3, Gar- man 1, Saylors 1, Gibson 1. KNA (24): Shailei Wright 8, Aho 6, Landwehr 5, Little 3, Cameron 2, Jones, Vanderburg, Vandergriff, Rogers. Rainier 15 5 14 7—41 Knappa 0 3 9 12—24 Sisters Tournament Girls Henley 49, Seaside 39 HEN (49): Heidi Mueller 22, Ko- chenderfer 9, Whisler 8, DeLonge 4, Mathis 2. SEA (39): Maddi Utti 22, Dun- das 13, Villegas 2, Westerholm 2, P.Ideue, Miller, Bussert, West. Henley 15 3 12 19—49 Seaside 6 11 10 12—39 Boys Banks 46, Seaside 31 Banks 5 12 15 14—46 Seaside 9 7 9 6—31 Fishermen won a girls’ consola- tion Wednesday, 60-26 over War- renton. Astoria jumped out to a 23-4 lead after one quarter, and was never threatened. Chloee Hunt scored 16 points with 11 rebounds and three steals; freshman Kaylee Mitchel had 15 points, 10 rebounds, nine steals and three assists; and sophomore Alexis Wallace added nine points and six boards for Astoria. The Fishermen pulled down 41 rebounds, including 27 offensive boards. Astoria had 20 steals. Rainier 41, Knappa 24 Rainier jumped out to a 20-3 halftime lead, on its way to a 41- 24 win over Knappa in the fifth- place girls game of the Dulcich Tournament. Rainier’s Dominique Peders- en scored 10 points and freshman Girls Henley 49, Seaside 39 SISTERS — Two teams that could meet up in a much bigger tournament later this season met Wednesday afternoon in the cham- pionship game of the Sisters Tour- nament. And almost a year after losing to Seaside in a first round game of the state tournament, the Henley Hornets gained a little revenge on Seaside, with a 49-39 win over the Gulls. The Gulls outscored Henley 11-3 in the second quarter, but still trailed 18-17 at halftime. Haylee Dundas scored the first four points of the second half to give the Gulls a 21-17 lead, before Hen- ley went on a 12-6 run to close the third period. While Dundas and Maddi Utti did most of the damage for Seaside — combining for 35 of the Gulls’ 39 points — Henley senior Heidi Muel- ler scored 22 for the Hornets. Mueller scored on an offen- sive rebound, then moments later knocked down a 3-pointer to give Henley a 37-29 advantage midway through the fourth quarter. straight points, bringing Seaside to within 39-34, but the Hornets - nal 38 seconds to close out the win. “We didn’t play as good as de- fense as we had, and stopped re- bounding,” said Seaside coach Wal- ly Hamer. “Against Henley you can’t do that. I was very proud of our girls as they worked extremely hard and stayed mentally tough. We had lots of good looks throughout the game — the ball just wouldn’t go in for us.” Boys Banks 46, Seaside 31 The Seaside boys basketball team traveled halfway across the state … to play two teams in their own Sisters Tournament. After a loss to Scappoose Tues- day, the Gulls fell short again Wednesday, as Banks rallied for a 46-31 win over Seaside for third place in the tournament. Seaside held an early 11-5 lead following a Zach Marston score, but the Braves fought back with a 3-pointer by Dalton Renne and two scores by Jake Evans for a 17-16 halftime lead. Banks extended the lead to 32- 25 after three quarters, then put the game away in the fourth with 3-point shots by David Schorn and Devyn Renne, as the Braves closed the game with a 9-0 run. In the tournament championship game, Scappoose defeated Sisters, 37-34. Boise State beats Arizona 38-30 in Fiesta Bowl GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — The Boi- se State Broncos are no longer just trick-play ponies. They did score a touchdown on a Statue of Liberty play. This was the Fiesta Bowl, so of course they did. But once the tricks were used up and the offensive fireworks dulled, Boise State had to grind out this Fiesta Bowl victory with its defense. Donte Deayon returned an intercep- tion for a touchdown in third quarter and sack specialist Kamalei Correa had his biggest takedown of the season on the game’s final play, lifting No. 21 Boise State to a 38-30 victory over No. 12 Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl on Wednesday. “They hit us, we stiffened up and came up a winner,” Boise State line- backer Tanner Vallejo said. Boise State (12-2) lived up to its unpredictable reputation in the first quarter, pulling off the Statue of Lib- erty play while racing to a 21-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes. Jay Ajayi scored two of his three touchdowns in the first quarter — one on the trick play — and finished with 134 yards rushing. Grant Hedrick was perfect through his first 14 passes and threw for 304 yards and a touchdown. Thomas Sperbeck had 12 catches for 199 yards. The bulk of those numbers came in the first half, though. Once the second rolled around, the Broncos bogged down, allowing Arizona to cut the lead to eight in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats had a final chance, us- ing their quick-strike offense to march down the field, but Correa sacked Anu Solomon at Boise State’s 10-yard on the game’s last play. The Broncos charged onto the field after Correa’s sack, celebrating a suc- cessful first season under coach Bry- an Harsin with their third Fiesta Bowl victory. Not bad for a team supposedly in transition. “People think Boise State isn’t a powerhouse program,” said Broncos receiver Chaz Anderson, who had a 57-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter. “It feels good to be back to where we were in the past.” Arizona (10-4) was overrun by Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship and seemed to still have a hangover against the Broncos. Once the Wildcats shook out of their daze, they shut down Boise State’s high-powered offense and be- gan chipping away at the lead. The problem was that they needed to take bigger chunks. Instead of scoring touchdowns, Ar- izona mostly dinked its way back, set- tling for three field goals after driving deep into Boise State’s end. Turnovers also hurt. Solomon threw for 335 yards and a touchdown, but had two interceptions that led to touchdowns for Boise State, includ- ing Deayon’s pick six late in the third quarter. “Everything wasn’t going our way,” the redshirt freshman said. “I was overthinking things and I just can’t do that. I played like a freshman today.”