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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2016)
SPORTS 8A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2016 Late free throws sink Astoria, 44-42 Seaside takes the Cowapa League title SCOREBOARD PREP SCHEDULE TODAY Swimming — OSAA State Meet, Mt. Hood CC, TBA Wrestling — District 1/4A Re- gionals, Crook County, 10 a.m. SATURDAY Boys Basketball — Life Chris- tian vs. Knappa, 3:30 p.m., at Dayton HS Swimming — OSAA State Meet, Mt. Hood CC, TBA Wrestling — District 1/4A Re- gionals, Crook County, 10 a.m. By GARY HENLEY The Daily Astorian The loss will sting for awhile, but the Astoria Fish- ermen were still “accenting the positive,” following a dra- matic defeat Thursday at the Brick House. Valley Catholic’s Avery Jones made two free throws with 3.1 seconds left to give the Valiants a 44-42 win, sending the Fishermen to their second-straight loss, and a second-place ¿nish in league to go with it. Still, “We’re the No. 2 team out of the best league in the state, we’re going to get a home playoff game against one of the lowest-rated teams, and we could have a home (state playoff) game, even though we’re a No. 2 seed,” said Astoria coach Kevin Goin, whose program will host a regional/state playoff game for the ¿rst time since the 2007-08 season. “The opportunities are still there,” he said. Still, what might have been … Astoria held the lead for the entire second half in Thursday’s game (includ- ing a 34-28 advantage late in the third quarter), until Val- ley’s Shankar Krishnakumar connected on a 3-pointer just feet from the Valley Catho- lic bench to knot the game at 42-42 with 59 seconds left in the fourth. The Fishermen had two good looks at the hoop from close range in the ¿nal 40 sec- onds, until Derek Jarrett drew a foul with 26 seconds left. Jarrett missed the front end of a one-and-one, and the Val- iants took possession. Valley Catholic worked the ball inside with ¿ve seconds to go, where two shots came up empty, but Jones drew a foul on the third, with 3.1 sec- onds remaining. Jones made both free throws for Valley’s ¿rst lead since the opening seconds of the second quarter. And following a time out, the Valiants’ came up big on the ensuing inbounds pass, tipping the pass to force a scramble for a loose ball. The Fishermen ¿nally gained pos- session near mid-court, but a desperation 3-pointer was off the mark as time expired. “We still did some good things,” Goin said. “We had a wide open lay-in and short- armed it a little; we had free throws to win it and didn’t put ’em in; and we didn’t defend very well down the stretch. “We didn’t get to their shooters. We did a pretty good job on 25 (Andrew Plambeck) after the ¿rst quarter, but No. 5 (Krishnakumar) got hot.” Astoria had7- or8-point leads “a couple times, with the ball, and didn’t make very good decisions on those pos- sessions,” he added. “Down the stretch we left (Krishna- kumar) open numerous times. And you have to give it to him — he hit great shots. That comes back to haunt you in close games.” Jarrett led Astoria with 15 points, followed by Olaf Englund and Justin Fruiht with 10 apiece. “We controlled the whole game, except for the fourth quarter,” Goin said. “We didn’t play our best, but played well enough to win, and that’s where those details come in. That’s the difference between winning and losing games.” Still — coming off a loss to possibly the best team in the state, “the kids responded well,” he said. “It was a home game for a share of the league championship, and we did everything we wanted to — we just didn’t take care of the details down the stretch. “It sucks to lose those,” he said. “We would have loved to have a league title or had that opportunity, so in that we’re disappointed, but you have to accent the positive. We’re the second-best team in the best league in the state. “We’re not scared of any- body. We’ve played tough games against tough teams, BOYS BASKETBALL Valley Catholic 44, Astoria 42 VC (44): Shankar Krishnakumar 14, Jones 10, Plambeck 6, Katin 5, Parthasathy 3, Welsh 2, Hag- gerty 2, Robbins 2. AST (42): Derek Jarrett 15, Englund 10, Fruiht 10, Palek 3, Strange 2, Arnsdorf 2, Fremstad. Valley Catholic 10 11 10 13—44 Astoria 12 12 10 8—42 Seaside 72, Tillamook 37 TIL (37): Ian Collett 12, Berge 10, Johnson 5, Oldenkamp 4, Ma- loney 2, Mendez 2, Moore 2. SEA (72): Hunter Thompson 20, Smith 15, J.Januik 9, Babb 7, Eagon 5, Hoekstre 4, Marston 4, Lewis 4, Olson 2, C.Januik 2, Cazarez, Westerholm, Thompson. Tillamook 13 7 8 9—37 Seaside 20 16 28 8—72 Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Astoria’s Derek Jarrett, No. 34, and Justin Fruiht, No. 23, react after Astoria’s 44-42 loss to Valley Catholic on Thursday. Knappa 36, Nestucca 33 KNA (36): Dale Takalo 13, Weir- up 12, Miller 7, Severson 2, Rubus 2, Geisler, Goodman. NES (33): Raymond Jack- son-Cruz 8, McKillip 7, Elder 6, Nix 4, Morgan 4, Strober 2, Zeller 2. Knappa 7 16 4 8—36 Nestucca 6 11 5 11—33 GIRLS BASKETBALL Valley Catholic 58, Astoria 36 VC (58): Molly Danielson 18, Beyer 14, Nguyen 5, Mannen 5, Kawaguchi 4, Flemmer 4, Moore 3, Jones 3, Duyck 2. AST (36): Samantha Hemsley 9, Hunt 7, Mickle 6, Mitchell 5, Wal- lace 5, DeMander 4, Dalton, Rog- ers, Abrahams, Gimre. Valley Catholic 11 14 17 16—58 Astoria 7 8 12 9—36 Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Astoria’s Kyle Strange, No. 2, attempts to get a steal from Valley Catholic’s Shankar Krishnakumar, No. 5. Seaside 45, Tillamook 29 SEA (45): Sydney Villegas 16, Utti 9, P.Ideue 8, Westerholm 6, J.Ideue 4, Trott 2, Babbitt, Brown, West. Tillamook 10 9 9 5—29 Seaside 7 16 14 8—45 Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian The Seaside boys basketball team, following their league title-clinching win over Tillamook. Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Valley Catholic’s Vlad Katin, No. 32, pulls down a rebound away from Astoria’s Fridtjof Fremstad, No. 12. Astoria’s Justin Fruiht, No. 23, drives to the basket during the basketball game against Valley Catholic Thursday. 46-20 by halftime. Jaxson Smith added 15 points for the Gulls, who had 10 players in the scoring column. Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Astoria’s Kyle Strange, No. 2, drives to the basket around Valley Catholic’s Shankar Krishnakumar, No. 5, in the fourth quarter. and if you had told me we’d go 7-3 this year in league, I’d say that’s pretty good.” Gulls 72, Cheesemakers 37 SEASIDE — Things were much less dramatic in Sea- side, where the Gulls put their game away early, and ¿nished strong to defeat Tillamook 72-37. The Gulls had to wait for a ¿nal score from Astoria, then the celebration was on, as Seaside — which trailed the Fishermen by one game in the standings with two games left — secured a spot in the Sweet 16 and will take the OSAA’s No. 2 ranking into the state playoffs. Seaside ¿nishes the regular season 20-3 overall, their ¿rst 20-win season since 2011-12, when the Gulls won 26 and shared the Cowapa title with Scappoose. Hunter Thompson had his second-straight 20-point game for Seaside, which led Loggers 36, Bobcats 33 CLOVERDALE — Nestucca swept Knappa during the league season, but the Loggers won the only game that really mattered Thursday, posting a 36-33 win over the Bobcats to advance to the Northwest League tournament. Knappa will play Life Christian at 3:30 p.m. Satur- day at Dayton High School. Dale Takalo and Colton Weirup combined for 25 of Knappa’s 36 points, and the Loggers overcame a rough third quarter to hold off the Bobcats in the fourth. Defensively, Knappa’s Mitch Geisler, Michal Good- man and Ethan Rubus held Nestucca’s Brett Elder to just six points, after averaging 18 points per game. Jason Miller added a big all-around game for the Log- gers, ¿nishing with seven points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and six steals. Girls Basketball Valiants 58, Lady Fish 36 Senior Night did not go as planned for the Astoria girls basketball team, as Valley Catholic left with a 58-36 win over the Lady Fishermen, in a Cowapa League regular sea- son ¿nale at the Brick House. Astoria was within striking distance of the ninth-ranked Valiants in the ¿rst half, trail- ing 25-15 at halftime. But Valley Catholic went on a 10-3 run in the open- ing minutes of the third quar- ter, then closed it out with an 11-2 run midway through the second half. The Valiants (7-3 in league) ¿nish second behind Banks and tied with Sea- side, while Astoria (4-6) takes fourth and will play a Regional Play-in game, place and time to be announced. Astoria seniors Mykka Abrahams, Chloee Hunt and Taylor Mickle were all in the starting lineup, and helped the Fishermen to a quick 4-2 lead. The Valiants answered with a three-point play by Molly Danielson, and Mady Moore and Jessi Beyer added 3-pointers to help Valley Catholic take the lead for good. Danielson had 18 points for the Valiants, while fresh- man Samantha Hemsley scored nine points off the bench for Astoria, which struggled from the ¿eld in the ¿rst half (5-of-28), and ¿nished 2-of-16 from the 3-point line. Hunt had 17 rebounds and Kaylee Mitchell added 10 boards for the Lady Fish. Gulls 45, Mooks 29 SEASIDE — Seaside’s string of league champion- ships came to an end, but the Lady Gulls still ¿nished strong, ending the regu- lar season with a 45-29 win over Tillamook Thursday at Seaside. Valley Catholic and Sea- side (both 7-3) will play a tie- breaker Tuesday at Clatskanie (time to be announced) for the Cowapa’s No. 2 and 3 seeds. The Gulls trailed after one quarter Thursday, but took command by outscoring Til- lamook 30-14 over the second and third quarters. Sydney Villegas scored 16 points to lead the Gulls, fol- lowed by Maddi Utti with 9 points, ¿ve rebounds, ¿ve assists and four steals. Ilwaco 50, Onalaska 29 The Ilwaco girls con- tinue to steamroll the play- off opposition, as the Fish- ermen cruised past Onalaska Wednesday, 50-29. Ilwaco advances to play Wahkiakum at 8 p.m. tonight, in Rochester. A win will put Ilwaco in a game Saturday for the No. 3 or 4 seed; a loss will have them playing for ¿fth or sixth. Hannah Ellsworth and Makenzie Kaech scored 16 points apiece to outscore Onalaska in Wednesday’s game, in which Ilwaco built a 24-12 halftime lead.
