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.”