SPORTS
8A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2016
Late free throws sink Astoria, 44-42
Seaside takes
the Cowapa
League title
SCOREBOARD
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Swimming — OSAA State
Meet, Mt. Hood CC, TBA
Wrestling — District 1/4A Re-
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SATURDAY
Boys Basketball — Life Chris-
tian vs. Knappa, 3:30 p.m., at
Dayton HS
Swimming — OSAA State
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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.