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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2022)
A3 THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, MARcH 1, 2022 SPORTS Knappa boys lower the boom on Toledo, 62-53 The Astorian SENIOR SPOTLIGHT Tanner Jackson Knappa Sports: Football (all-league), basketball (all- league), baseball (all-league) Guard / No. 21 Favorite sports moment: Definitely winning the league title this year in basketball. It was such a special moment to share with this team, especially the seniors. We have been playing together on the same team since middle school, and we have an incredible group of guys on and off the court. Where I see myself in five years: Five years from now I plan on coming back to Knappa High School and being a P.E. teacher and football coach. Favorite road trip: Definitely when we went to Redmond my junior year for the basketball state tournament. Favorite pregame music: Hip hop. Most influential coach or teacher: Bryan Lempea, my middle school basketball coach and math teacher. Advice for young teammates: Cherish every moment with your friends and teammates, and don’t take anything for granted. PREP HOOPS ROUNDUP Woodburn holds off Astoria, 57-55 The Astoria boys basket- ball program came within three seconds and one 3-pointer from winning its first state playoff game since 2016, but Woodburn made just enough free throws at the end for a 57-55 win on Friday night in a play-in qualifier at the Brick House. The Bulldogs were 2-of-6 at the free throw line in the final 35 seconds, while the Fishermen missed a couple open looks that could have either tied or won the game in the last 24 seconds. “I thought we played really well, but (Woodburn’s) quick- ness really bothered us,” said Astoria coach Kevin Goin, whose team finishes 11-12 overall. “I can’t fault our effort. It was a long season, and we played well and made some great strides.” In his final game for Asto- ria, senior Colton McMas- ter led the Fishermen with 23 points, followed by Owen Williams (12) and Niko Bou- dreau (11). Woodburn’s Spencer Karsseboom (20 points) hit a 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs an eventual 43-35 lead late in the third quarter, but McMas- ter closed the quarter with a 3-pointer to force a 43-43 tie. Astoria’s last lead of the night came with 2:46 left in the game, when McMaster scored on a layup. In his 57-game high school career, McMaster scored 939 points, fifth all-time on Asto- ria’s career scoring list. (Play- ers in front of McMaster played between 74 and 116 games). Although he played in fewer varsity games than most, McMaster finished as Astoria’s all-time leader in average points per game, with 16.44 per contest. Dave Romppanen averaged 15.77. The only bad news for the Bulldogs — their next game is at No. 4-ranked Seaside on Friday at 7 p.m. The Gulls are 18-6 overall, while Woodburn is 5-7 over its last 12 games. Astoria girls advance to Sweet 16 The team that could be dominating 4A girls basket- ball in Oregon for the next few years got its first taste of state playoff ball Friday night at the Brick House, where the Asto- ria Lady Fishermen cruised to a 56-37 win over Molalla in a play-in state qualifier. Astoria outscored the Indi- ans 22-8 in the second quarter, and had the game wrapped up by halftime, 33-20. The Lady Fish are now one win away from making the trip they were denied in 2020, their first appearance in a state tournament since 2002. Astoria will play on Satur- day at Madras, with the win- ner advancing to the 4A state tournament in Coos Bay/ North Bend. Molalla held a 16-11 lead early in the second quarter of Friday’s game, before the Lady Fish reeled off a 13-0 run, capped by a jump shot from Tayla Huber. Astoria spent much of the first half at the free throw line, where the Fishermen hit 12-of-17 foul shots, to just 1-of-2 for Molalla. The Indi- ans also committed 17 turn- overs in the first half, finish- ing with 26 for the game. Molalla was 4-for-6 from the free throw line, to Astoria’s 16-of-22. Astoria freshman Shelby Bruney led all scorers with 20 points, with Nayomi Holmst- edt tossing in 14 points off the bench. Mollie Matthews had eight points in her final home game. De La Salle tops Warrenton, 63-26 De La Salle trailed Warren- ton by seven points midway through the first quarter, but the rest of the night belonged to the Knights, who went on to a 63-26 win over the Warriors in a first round game of the 3A boys basketball state playoffs, Saturday night in Portland. Dawson Little scored on a lob pass from Hordie Bod- den-Bodden, Elijah Whitsett hit a 3-pointer and Josh Earls added a hoop for an early 9-2 Warrenton lead, before De La Salle answered with a 26-3 run. Three straight baskets by Warrenton’s Cam’Ron Dan- iels still had the Warriors The Toledo Boomers had the toughest task in Oregon boys high school basket- ball Friday night — play- ing a first round state playoff game at Knappa. The No. 2 seed Log- gers have never lost a first round state playoff at home. They’re 8-0 this century alone. The No. 15 seed Boomers made it much closer than expected, but Knappa’s perfect record is still intact, as the Loggers topped Toledo 62-53, helping Knappa clinch another spot in Pendleton for the 2A state tournament. The Loggers will take their 25-game win streak to Eastern Oregon later this week, where they will open with a Thursday night game against Heppner. The win- ner will play Regis or Salem Academy in the semifinals. Friday’s win in front of a packed house at Knappa was the closest of the Loggers’ 25 straight victories. “Hats off to Toledo,” said Knappa coach Paul Isom. “They gave us all we could handle, and Gun- ner (Rothenberger) is one heck of a player,” he said SCOREBOARD PREP SPORTS SCHEDULE THURSDAY Boys Basketball — 2A quarterfi- nal: Heppner vs. Knappa, 8:15 p.m., at Pendleton Convention Center FRIDAY Boys Basketball — 4A first round: Woodburn at Seaside, 7 p.m. SATURDAY Girls Basketball — 4A first round: Astoria at Madras, TBA GIRLS BASKETBALL ASTORIA 56, MOLALLA 37 MOL (37): Rubie Burge 11, Kluver 10, Brownlee 6, Greer 6, Wood 3, Perez 1. AST (56): Shelby Bruney 20, Holm- stedt 14, Matthews 8, Peterson 4, Huber 4, Biederman 4, Meadows 2, Walter. Molalla 12 8 9 8—37 Astoria 11 22 11 12—56 BOYS BASKETBALL WOODBURN 57, ASTO- RIA 55 WDB (57): Spencer Karsseboom 20, C.Veliz 14, T.Veliz 6, A.Sandoval 6, Robles 6, T.Carrasquillo 4, E.Car- rasquillo 1. AST (55): Colton McMaster 23, Williams 12, Boudreau 11, Ben- esch 5, Woodrich 2, Field 2, Faulk- ner, Olson. Woodburn 13 20 10 14—57 Astoria 16 11 16 12—55 DE LA SALLE 63, WARRENTON 26 WAR (26): Dawson Little 8, within 10 points late in the first half, but the Knights out- scored Warrenton 24-4 in the third quarter to take command. Marqui Scott highlighted the game for the Knights with a nearly full-court length shot at the buzzer to end the third quarter. Scott had 12 points and T.J. Latu added 11 for De La Salle, which is returning to the 3A state tournament for the 10th consecutive year. Little and Daniels each had eight points for Warrenton, which finishes 11-10 overall. The No. 2-ranked Knights, who play Oregon Episcopal on Thursday at North Bend High School, connected on 11-of-27 3-point shots. — The Astorian It’s a party to celebrate Patsy Kerwin’s 90 th Birthday Saturday, March 5, 2 to 4 PM Seaside Elks Lodge 324 Ave A Please join the family in celebration cake, coffee & champagne NO GIFTS PLEASE Cam’Ron Daniels 8, Whitsett 7, Earls 2, Bodden-Bodden 1, Moha. DLS (63): Marqui Scott 12, Latu 11, Van 10, J.Hill 8, I.Hill 6, Billings 5, Aranda 5, Thomas 4, Battles 2. Warrenton 11 7 4 4—26 De La Salle 11 20 24 8—63 KNAPPA 62, TOLEDO 53 TOL (53): Gunner Rothenberger 31, Buckley 15, Mann 6, C.Rothenberger 1. KNA (62): Logan Morrill 24, McMahan 23, Jackson 8, Gale 7, N.Ogier, T.Ogier, Kinder, C.Morrill. Toledo 10 13 9 21—53 Knappa 15 17 19 11—62 of Toledo’s junior guard, who scored 31 points. “I’d be shocked if he isn’t in the running for state Player of the Year next year.” Of his own players, Isom said, “I was really proud of all the guys. They have been working hard since their freshmen year to get to this point, and it has paid off so far.” The Boomers battled a huge size disadvan- tage in an intim- idating envi- ronment. Recent history was also not on Toledo’s side. Facing the Loggers for the third time this sea- son, the Boomers lost the first two meetings, 65-38 and 64-36. It was a near mir- acle that Toledo was within six points with 1:09 left. But the Loggers coun- tered with numerous steals by the guards, to go with blocked shots by senior post Logan Morrill (seven), and good old-fashioned Knappa hustle on both ends of the floor. For much of the first quarter, Toledo played with four defenders, leaving one player at the opposite end of the court while the Loggers were on offense. “That was a new tactic,” Isom said. “Bart (Rothen- berger, Toledo coach) is a really good coach. We knew he was going to throw some- thing at us that we hadn’t seen. Luckily our guys were able to recognize and adjust to it.” And Toledo’s tactic didn’t last long, as Morrill began to score at will underneath, fin- ishing the first half with 14 of his team-high 24 points. For the Boomers, junior Gunner Rothenberger — nearly a foot shorter than Morrill — consistently chal- lenged the Knappa post, and scored 16 of his 31 points in the first half, which ended with the Loggers holding a 32-23 lead. The Loggers opened the third quarter with a 7-0 run, pushed the lead to 45-26 fol- lowing a three-point play by Shane McMahan, and led 51-32 heading into the fourth quarter. McMahan scored 12 of his 23 points in the third period. But the Boomers didn’t go quietly, as Toledo opened the final quarter with a 14-4 run, highlighted by a pair of 3-pointers from sophomore Sterling Buckley, inside scores by Andy Mann off the bench, and four more points from Rothenberger, closing to within 57-51. Rothenberger and Buck- ley combined to score the first 37 points for Toledo, until a fourth quarter basket by Mann. The Loggers missed five straight free throws in the final two minutes, but Rothenberger and the Boomers ran out of time and energy, and Knappa’s Bran- don Gale and Tanner Jack- son made three straight free throws to put the game away. “Obviously Logan and Shane were huge,” Isom said. “Logan ended with 17 rebounds and seven blocks, and really controlled things defensively. Shane just got in the paint whenever he wanted and really powered our offense. “I thought all the guys contributed and did their part,” he said. “The bench was also great and brought tons of energy. Trevor (Ogier), Nicolai (Ogier), Carter (Morrill) and Tucker (Kinder) all had valuable contributions when they got their opportunity.”
