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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2018)
B S PORTS Section B Alaska trip a success for Lions Wednesday, January 10, 2018 South Lane County Sports and Recreation Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com Cottage Grove hangs on for overtime victory By Zach Silva There was a journey on a crab boat, a constant view of the mountains and enough turbu- lence to worry an inexperienced fl ier. “A few of our teammates hadn’t been on a plane [and] it was funny to watch them, their reaction,” said Cottage Grove’s Markus Julien, a senior on the basketball team. “It was kind of funny because any turbulence they’d look around and look a little scared.” This was all part of the Cot- tage Grove boys’ basketball team’s journey to Alaska over winter break. After a spot opened up in the 51st annual Joe Floyd basketball tournament in Kodiak, Alas- ka, Cottage Grove’s fi rst year head coach Nick Finley, who previously coached in Alaska, received a call to see if his new team wanted to join. The trip was approved by the Cottage Grove High School administra- tion and the South Lane school board and the team was off. What sweetened the deal for the Lions was that through do- nated air miles from commu- nity members in Kodiak, the bill dropped from an estimated $12,000 to around $3,000 ac- cording to Finley. The trip was paid for through the CGHS basketball account which earns money through fundraising throughout the year. The Lions enjoyed their time in Alaska both on and off the court. On the court, the team went 3-0 including a win against the host school, Kodiak High School, in front of a standing room only crowd and the trip was capped by an Erick Giffen buzzer beater to defeat Lathrop in their fi nal game. While in Kodiak, the team stayed in the home of Kodiak High School’s athletic director Debbie Rohrer. “The house right on the wa- terfront, giant house that housed all of us…. One of her rules, you better make yourself at home or you’re not allowed here. So we get in there and make ourselves at home and every day her mom would deliver three giant things of cookies, muffi ns, pastries, whatever. And her rule was that by the end of the day they had to be eaten so she could load it back up and she could make more,” said head coach Nick Finley. “These kids were treated like royalty for a week.” The team was also treated to a seafood banquet with the oth- er teams at the tournament and were instructed by Rohrer that they had to sit by people that they did not know. “Me and a couple of the guys on my team went and sat next to the kids from Nikiski and there were a couple from Eagle River which is north of Anchorage. So we got to talk to a whole bunch of new people and meet them. And even now I’m still talking to them. I got some of their numbers and we’re keeping in touch,” said senior Gabe Glenn. Glenn, who fell in love with the state, will be joining the Air National Guard after high school and is now planning to be stationed in Alaska next year. “I have never met friendlier people. More welcoming peo- ple in my whole life. That was one of the big things for me, just the atmosphere for everything,” said Glenn. “I’m already talking to my re- cruiter about transferring my air force base. Today, this morning in fi rst and second period I was taking notes on cost of living there.” Cottage Grove's Erick Giffen draws a foul to earn a trip to the foul line at the end of regulation on Friday night. Lions overcome spotty free throw shooting to earn win in home opener By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Eagles took over the game. A dunk by Stayton’s 6’8" post Kaleb Anundi sparked a 14-2 run that was capped by a pair of Jordan Butler three-pointers to give the team a 28-26 lead at halftime. Behind the post presence of Anundi and the 6’7 Riley Nichol, who fi nished with 21 and 17 points re- spectively, the Eagles got their lead up to as many as nine in the third quarter before the Lions were able to respond. “Ideally we counter their height with our speed and our athleticism,” said Finley about his undersized If it ain’t broke, don’t fi x it, as the saying goes, but for Cottage Grove, Friday night’s game revealed that it may be time to fi x its free throw shooting. “Right now, I know I got to work on my free throws because I was broke,” said Cottage Grove’s Erick Giff- en. But despite Giffen going six-of-15 from the free throw line – with all of them coming in the fourth quarter and overtime – he was able to lead the way for the Lions (8-4) to get an overtime victory against Stayton (4-9) in their home opener on Friday night. “We could have put that game away or we could have brought ourselves out of a hole but the thing I was happy about the free throws – not the missed ones, I didn’t like the missed ones – that we were getting to the line,” said Cottage Grove head coach Nick Finley. “We shot zero free throws in the fi rst half and 33 in the second and overtime.” Finley noted that his team has “no business miss- ing free throws” and that each day at practice the team shoots anywhere from 75 to 100 free throws. “I would guess that we would shoot more free throws than any team in the state in practice,” said Finley. While the Lions weren’t getting to the line early, the Lions went up 24-14 in the second quarter before the Cottage Grove's DeJean Alonzo pulls up from deep. PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL team. The combination of Cottage Grove’s guards apply- ing pressure to Stayton’s backcourt and Lions’ 6’5" Jordan Hagewood and 6’6" Austin Cardwell disrupt- ing Stayton’s bigs, the Lions were able to force turn- overs. The Lions ended with 14 steals on the game, including fi ve from Jesse Ellingworth. Shooting 17 free throws in the fourth quarter, in- cluding DeJean Alonzo going four-for-four from the line, the Lions were down three with 40 seconds left. After Giffen missed a pair at the line, a Lions' rebound set him up for a three pointer that tied the game. Giffen fi nished fi ve-of-11 from three-point range. After Stayton hit a pair of free throws to take a lead, Giffen drove to the lane where he missed two more shots from the line. Another Cottage Grove rebound led to Giffen yet again drawing a foul and this time hitting two free throws with 10 seconds left to send the game to overtime. The overtime opened with Cottage Grove’s Trenton Grover splashing home a three which would be the Li- ons only fi eld goal during the extra four minutes of play. In overtime the Lions went nine-of-fourteen from the line with Jordan Hagewood leading the way going four-for-six. The Eagles didn’t go away easy as they hit two threes in overtime, but it was not enough and the Lions locked in a home win. “We’ve got a lot to work on but I just – the kids are great. They just fi ght. They just keep fi ghting, they don’t want to quit,” said Finley. After playing Gladstone yesterday, the Lions now prepare for the start of league-play which begins Fri- day with Sisters (7-6) at home. Lions rally late, fall in overtime to Eagles Cottage Grove can't fi nish after a frantic last-minute comeback By Zach Silva zsilva@cgsentinel.com Cottage Grove's Ema Gardner works her way to the basket on Friday night. Athlete of the Week Continuing what has been a season-long trend, Cot- tage Grove lost to another top team Friday night in overtime as they fell to Stayton at home. The Lions (4- 6) have now lost to fi ve teams that are currently ranked in the top-10 at the 4A level and to an undefeated team from Washington. “We’re just so close, we just got to get over the hump. We’re so close,” said Cottage Grove head coach Kevin Yoss. Having led by as many as 11 points in the fi rst half, the Lions found themselves down six with 1:03 left in regulation; it was the perfect time for a fi ve-point pos- session. Lions post Reilly Kelty was fouled as she made a lay-up. After missing the free throw, it was teammate Ema Gardner recovering the rebound and putting up a lay-up and getting fouled in the process. After a made free throw, the Lions were down one with just under a minute to play. Kelty fi nished the game with a team-high 14 and This week's athlete of the week is Elkton's Brad Doudna who recently had a triple-double against McKenzie. Doudna accounted for 30 points, 22 rebounds and 11 steals in the 65-61 victory. Gardner added 10. “I was just happy that we weren’t just going to lay down and give them the game. We just kept fi ghting and I think that showed the whole time,” said Yoss. As Stayton worked the ball down court, Cottage Grove’s Tara Child looked to be attempting to foul but in the process cleanly poked the ball away to start a Lions fast break. Child found teammate Keara Murphy sprinting down the court and Murphy wildly threw up a shot from fi ve feet out that dropped in to put the Lions up one. After a Stayton turnover, Kelty was back at the free throw line where she made one of two. Out of a timeout with 10 seconds on the clock, the Eagles were able to get a wide-open lay-up off of a backdoor cut to send the game to overtime. In the extra period, an Eagles’ reverse lay-up, a pair of missed free throws by Kelty and a pair of made Stayton free throws put the Lions down four in the ear- ly goings. With two minutes to play, Kelty battled down low and to get Cottage Grove’s fi rst bucket of the extra session. The Lions defensive pressure then created a 10-second call to give them the ball back. But on of- fense Kelty was called for a foul, her fi fth of the game, and a pair of Stayton free throws put the Eagles back up four. Child then cut the lane for a lay-up to get back to a one-possession game. LIONS continued on B3 CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK zsilva@cgsentinel.com
