M arch 15, 1995 »Tm P ori la n d O bserver
P agi B 2
JEFFERSON ADVANCES TO FINALS IN STATE
Bx D annx B ell
BRIEFS
In a final that no one expected,
two unlikely teams who survived the
Oregon Highschool State Sub-tour
nament made it to the State’s final 16
at the Coliseum and vied for the State
Championship Saturday night, which
Churchill won 54-48.
jet'ferson (23-6) rated N o.3 in
the P1L and 5th in state had to travel
a circuitous route to make it to the
Coliseum.
Defeating three schools; Canby
at home, then travel to La Grande and
finally another long trip to South
Medford before qualifying for the
main tournament.
Churchill (24-3) o f Eugene fin
ished second in the M idw estern
league and had to beat Sprague be
fore advancing.
Both teams pulled off unexpect
ed upsets on the night before to reach
the championship game, the most
stunning when each beat the states
the top contenders.
Jefferson beat Wilson, a team
BASKETBALL
NCAA Probe
Stoudamire:
Damon Stoudamire candidate
for Player o f the year and a team
mate were declared ineligible Sat
urday for Arizona's last o f the sea
son game against Arizona State
because o f possible NCAA rules
violations.
Arizona athletic director Jim
Livengood said the university took
action after receiving word Tues
day from th e N C A A a b o u t
Stoudamire and Ben Davis a ju n
ior center.
The improprieties at question
are that Stoudamires father Willie
received an airline ticket from a
sports agent. And that Davis ac
cepted a pair o f shoes from a long
time friend. Kebu Stewart when
playing a pick up game last year.
For his part Willie has denied
that he has had any dealing with
Steve Feldman the Newport Beach.
Calif, sports agent.
that twice beat them during the regu
lar season, and Churchill beat Benson
lauded as No 1 team in the state.
The Lancers had the edge of
experience, having come to the play
offs three times in the last 5 years -
and more importantly they had A.D.
Smith who scored 25 points and
pulled down 11 rebounds.
He was complimented by the
added scoring punch o f Mike Wade
w ho contributed 14 points, and four
rebounds.
Jefferson came out the starting
blocks first in the first half with, full
court traps and effectively applying
the two-three zone.
The Lancers couldn ’ t get on track
as Jefferson expanded their lead to
13 o ff Brandon Hopson jum per with
3:29 left in the second quarter.
The first half closed out with
Jefferson up by nine 27-18 and hopes
were high the prize was within their
grasped.
However Churchill had other
plans as the pivotal third quarter un
folded, it proved to be Jefferson’s
Gattison Cleared
Kenny Gattison. whose bas
ketball career was in jeopardy be
cause o f serious neck injury, sus
tained earlier in the season, has
been cleared to return playing by
the doctors.
Surgery For
Hardaway
Guard Tim Hardaway o f the
Golden State Warriors, is sched
uled to have season ending sur
gery this week to repair ligament
damage on his left wrist.
TENNIS
Agassi To M eet
Sampras
Andre Agassi will get a sec
ond opportunity to usurp the No. I
world ranking from Pete Sampras
when they meet in the finals o f the
Newsweek Championship Cup. at
Indian Wells Calif.
Sampras, who hasn't won a
tournament this year, came back
after slow start to beat Stephan
Edberg 4-6, 6-3. 6-4.
Agassi defeated Boris Becker
6-4, 7-4 to 6-4 to reach the finals.
CHEMEKETA
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
GIRL'S 16 AND UNDER,
AAU STATE TO! RNAMF.NT
March 31, A pril I, A pril 2
Cost is S I50 per team - 4 game
guarantee. Deadline to sign up is
March 20.
Girls 18 and under. AAU
StateToumament April 7.8.9
Cost is SI 50 per team - 4 game
guarantee Deadline to sign up is
March 27.
For more information,
please call 399-5081
Jason Franklin of Benson finds the hoop for a stuff in the semi-finals
against the Churchill Lancers of Eugene at the Oregon Boys 4A
Basketball Tournament.
(Photo by Eric Noon)
K'Zell Wesson looks up to the scoreboard on the way to the
Jefferson Democrat's exciting win over Wilson and a trip to the
finals of the Oregon Boys 4A Basketball Championship.
(Photo by Eric Noon)
down fall, because they only scored
eight points to Churchills 22 and that
proved to be the margin o f victory for
the Lancers.
“Everybody said the PI L is No.
1, but we beat two PIL teams and
w e’re the state champs,” said Smith,
a 6 foot 8 center.
Smith score nine o f his team 's
last eleven points.
A.D. has played 81 games (in
three seasons) and he goes all out
ev ery tim e ” sa id Jo h n R oche
Churchills head basketball coach.
Smith was virtually unstoppa
ble inside in the second half, neutral
izing the vaunted rebounding ability
o f the Demos.
the experience o f the Lancers
showed through in the second half as
they methodically worked the ball,
and managed to defeat the full court
pressure when Jefferson threw it at
them. Things were further compli
cated when K 'Zell Wesson Jefferson
big man and ago to guy picked up his
fourth foul with 1:59 remaining in
the third quarter.
Wesson who made first team all
tournament finish with only 8 points.
Bobby H arris coach o f the
Jefferson Democrats, observed that
Jefferson lack o f getting the ball in
side hurt them. “ We let A.D. do too
much, and they did a good jo b on the
boards. We didn’t move the ball
around enough so that we could take
advantage o f the back door and we
didn't get the ball inside enough and
that hurt us."
The Lancers took the lead on a
Smith basket with 2:06 left in the
third quarter.
Churchill took a 40-35 lead into
the third quarter.
Jefferson closed the gap to 46-
43 on a lme Udoka steal with two
minutes, 25 seconds remaining in the
game from there it was the A.D.
Smith show. After teammate Cabe
Nicksic hit two freethrows, Smith
scored off a rebound and grabbed a
defensive rebound other end follow
ing a Jefferson miss. He then sank
two freethrows w ith 33 seconds left.
All this as Jefferson only man
aged a three point basket by Brandon
Hopson. Udoka scored 19 points for
Jefferson.
PORTLAND SCHOOLS COME UP JUST SHORT IN TITLE RACE
by
E ric N oon
The Portland Interscholastic
League placed three ranked teams in
the final four o f the Class 4A boys
state tournament and still couldn't
com e away w ith the state title.
Benson. Wilson and Jefferson made
it to the semi-finals ofthe tournament
and only to see the Churchill Lancers
from Eugene take home the first place
trophy in front o f 6,985 Saturday
night against the Democrats.
The PIL has nothing to be
ashamed of, as all three teams made
impressive show ing in this year tour
nament. Churchill's A.D. Smith just
dominated the inside against Benson
in the semis and did it all in the final
against the Demos with 25 points and
nine o f the teams final 11 points as
the 24-3 Lancers crushed the hopes
o f the Democrats w ith a narrow vic
tory 54-48
Jefferson, who won six strait in
the tournament to set to the finals.
beat the No. 2 Wilson Trojans 61-56
in the semi-finals for the first time in
six tries, dating back two seasons.
The Trojans, who will return four
starters next year, walked away
stunned as the Democrats celebrated
in center court and gave head Coach
Bobby Harris his first finals berth in
16 tourney appearances.
"W e knew we were better than
number three all along." said Harris
on the Demos number three seating
and having to win three games just to
get into the tournament. "I can't say
enough about this bunch, I haven't
been here on Saturday night in 18
years and finally we got a group
that's here.
The Democrats pulled out the
big victory Friday night in a emo
tional win that saw Je ffe rso n 's
Tryrone "T-Bone" Hammick lead
the cheers on the court with high
spirited play and tough interior de
fense on the highly talented Trojan
front line.
“ We came together as a family,
said the junior forward on the way
Jefferson really play ed together. "We
dug down deep and just came out
there and beat them.
Ime Udoka chased down a sure
slam by Wilson’s Tyrone Manlove to
stifle the Wilson comeback and send
Jefferson to their first title game in 23
years. K'Zell Wesson, an All-Tourna
ment selection, finished with 22 points
and 14 boards while Hammick added
14 and nabbed eight caroms.
W ilson w asn't the only mighty
to fall on Friday night as the eventual
State Champions Churchill exposed
the T ech m en s weakness in the mid
dle as 6 '8 " A.D. Smith led the Lanc
ers with 28 points while pulling down
11 boards. Smith did it all for the
Lancers, he was bringing the ball up
court, blocking shots, getting into
passing lanes and directing traffic as
the Lancers dashed the hopes o f the
No. 1 Techmen 67-59.
The Lancers, who like Jefferson
had to win in the sub-tourney to get to
the tournament, exposed the lack o f
experienced height in the post as the
Class 4A scoring leader had his way
inside. Jason Franklin struggled from
the field with only 16 points on sev-
en-of 18 from the field.
Although the Techmen were
crushed by the upset lose the Lancers
the Techmen bounced back and de
feated the Trojans for the third time
this year 66-59 two walk away with
the third place trophy for the senior
laden team. Benson really stepped up
in the third place game with the come
from behind victory that pride they
have in themselves. Wilson played
them tough as Manlove had 23 points
and 14 rebounds for the Trojans. The
match-up, which most thought would
be for the state final, did live up to the
bill, even though the teams were just
playing for third place.
"W hen they called out the cap
tains, I could see tears in there eyes."
said Manlove o f Benson's captains.
Franklin and Earl Clark. "They have
big hearts."
The victory gave Head Coach
Don Emry and the Techmen their
third consecutive trophy at the tour
nament and reason to hold their heads
a little higher as Benson has seven
seniors on this years squad.
In the past the PIL has had trou
ble placing in the tourney, but this
year the league was well represented
and with Wilson bringing back four
starters with experience and Jefferson
and Benson returning solid players,
the PIL should be the league to con
tend with in the 90's.
In the end you really had to feel
for Jefferson, and to see the tears in
those young men s eyes as they ex
cepted the runner-up trophy really
showed that this is the level o f sport
where the players really play for the
love ofthe game and poor their hearts
out to win My hats off to the Jefferson
Democrats and Coach Harris and his
staff, there winners in mx book.
O R EG O N W O M E N S COLLEGE B A S K E T B A L L S H IN E S
Bx D xnnx B li . i
In a year that was marked by
superlative play from women in just
about every category by women
basketbal programs. ( Iregon big three
division - I schools will again be
attending the NCAA women's bas
ketball tournament
The Pilots on the bubble due to
their losing the West Coast confer
ence Championship, were selected
to play in the tournament Sunday
morning
I he three team select ion brought
more luster to an already brilliant
season for womens basketball in the
state Portland state advanced to di
vision II elite.8 March 22-25, W est
ern Oregon will play in M onday's
N A IA D ivision II sem i-final at
Monmouth, and Oregon City fin
ished the year a the nation's No. I
team.
Ehe announcement o f Portlands
berth left the team euphoric and the
coaches scrambling for information
about unfamiliar teams.
Portland will be playing in the
West region seeded at 13. thex will
face no 16 Purdue in the first round
Thursday at San Diego.
Oregon State, seeded fifth in the
Mideast Region, will face Tennessee
State in a first-round game Friday at
Bowling Green KY. Sixth seeded
Oregon will play Louisville on Fri
day in the M idw est Region first round
at Athens GA.
Unbeaten and top ranked Con
necticut. Tennessee, Colorado and
Vanderbilt w ere the top seeded teams
m the four regions the first round
games will be played Thursday and
Eridax. with the winners advancing
to the second round Saturday and
Sunday. Four team regional tourna
ments are March 23-25 at Storrs,
Conn. (East); Knoxville, Tenn.( M id
east); Des Moines, Iowa,(M idwest);
and Los Angeles. Cal. (West).
The final four will be held on
April I and 2 at Minneapolis.
ThePA C 10 will besending five
teams to the N.C.A.A. tournament,
joining Oregon and Oregon State
w ill be c o n fe re n c e ch am p io n
Stanford seeded second in the west
as well as southern Cal which will be
seeded ninth in W est. and W ashing
ton is seeded third in the mideast.
There remains a little puzzlement
along with the elation
The Beavers were confident of
w inning a bid to the tournament how -
ever w hen it was announced that they
would be playing Tennessee State,
they were in a fog as to who Tennes
see State was.
"I know they have a team at
Tennessee State." Junior Annette
Mollerstrom sa id " But I haxe no
idea what kind o f team 'O regon also
assumed that they would make a berth
for the NCAA, but things go a little
dicey as the announcements rolled
on without mentioning Oregon. Fi
nally with the announcing o f their
seed a waxe o f relief prevailed and
the team focus was on the their up
coming game.
Portland on the other hand didn't
know it they would get a bid or not
However they got a few hints
that they might be in the running.
I he National mx national Tour
nament told coach Jim Sollars to
hold off on his decision to accept
their bid until Sunday when N.C.A.A
announcements were made
"»
,