Polk County
Sports
Polk County Itemizer-Observer • February 4, 2015 12A
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 4
Boys Basketball: Dallas at
Silverton, 7 p.m. Woodburn
at Central, 7 p.m. East Linn
Christian at Perrydale, 7 p.m.
Girls Basketball: East
Linn Christian at Perrydale,
5:30 p.m.
Wrestling: Silverton at
Dallas, 6 p.m. Central at Cres-
cent Valley, 6 p.m.
THURSDAY, FEB. 5
Boys Basketball: Ed-
dyville Charter at Falls City,
7:30 p.m.
Men’s Basketball: West-
ern Oregon at Central Wash-
ington, 7 p.m.
Women’s Basketball:
Western Oregon at Alaska
Fairbanks, 8 p.m.
Baseball: Western Ore-
gon at Point Loma Nazarene,
2 p.m.
FRIDAY, FEB. 6
Boys Basketball: Wood-
burn at Dallas, 7 p.m. Central
at South Albany, 7 p.m.
Western Mennonite at Perry-
dale, 7 p.m.
Girls Basketball: West-
ern Mennonite at Perrydale,
5:30 p.m. Dallas at Wood-
burn, 7 p.m. South Albany at
Central, 7 p.m.
Baseball: Western Ore-
gon at Point Loma Nazarene,
noon.
Softball: Division II Lead-
off Classic at Tucson, Ariz.:
Western Oregon vs. St. Mary’s
(Texas), 9 a.m.; Western Ore-
gon vs. New Haven, 11 a.m.
SATURDAY, FEB. 7
Wrestling: Dallas at Mid-
Valley Classic, South Albany,
10 a.m. Central at Robert Paul
Tournament, Sandy, 10 a.m.
Men’s Basketball: West-
ern Oregon at Northwest
Nazarene, 6 p.m.
Women’s Basketball:
Western Oregon at Alaska
Anchorage, 6:15 p.m.
Baseball: Western Oregon
at Point Loma Nazarene (DH),
noon.
Softball: Division II Lead-
off Classic at Tucson, Ariz.:
Western Oregon vs. West
Texas A&M, 11 a.m.
SUNDAY, FEB. 8
Softball: Division II Lead-
off Classic at Tucson, Ariz.:
Western Oregon vs. TBA, TBA.
TUESDAY, FEB. 10
Boys Basketball: Dallas
at Central, 7 p.m. Livingstone
Adventist at Falls City, 7 p.m.
Perrydale at Santiam, 8 p.m.
Girls Basketball: Living-
stone Adventist at Falls City,
5:30 p.m. Perrydale at Santi-
am, 6:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 11
Girls Basketball: Central
at Dallas, 7 p.m.
Men’s Basketball: West-
ern Oregon at Saint Martin’s,
8 p.m.
—
Leaders of the pack
Wolves continue historic stretch, improve to 18-3 overall
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
MONMOUTH — It was a
moment players dream
about.
Trailing Seattle Pacific 72-
69 with less than seven sec-
onds left in the game, the
Western Oregon men’s bas-
ketball
team need-
ed a 3-
pointer to
tie the
game.
“ T h a t ’s
the thing,
we have a
group of
Alexander
guys who
have been through adversity
b e f o re,” j u n i o r D e v o n
Alexander said. “We’re com-
fortable with these kinds of
situations and we stick to-
gether.”
Alexander hit a buzzer-
beater to send the Wolves
into overtime.
“I knew I had to put it up,
I did and by the grace of
God, it went in,” Alexander
said.
The drama would contin-
ue, as WOU failed to get off a
potential game-winning
shot at the end of the first
overtime.
In the second extra peri-
od, Western Oregon took
control, earning a 94-84 win.
Redshirt junior Andy Avgi
scored a career-high 33
points and Alexander and
Julian Nichols added 20 and
18 points, respectively, as
the Wolves improved to 18-3
overall and 10-1 in Great
Northwest Athletic Confer-
ence play, giving WOU a
two-game cushion atop the
conference standings.
“Andy has the heart the
LUKAS EGGEN/ Itemizer-Observer
Lewis Thomas (12) and Jordan Wiley (22) celebrate after Western Oregon’s 94-84 double overtime win on Saturday.
size of a lion,” WOU coach
Brady Bergeson said. “He
just wouldn’t give up. He
wouldn’t relent and he
wouldn’t let go. He would
not let himself back down.”
It’s been that kind of sea-
son for WOU.
As Western Oregon con-
tinues its historic start, one
man has played a big role.
When Bergeson arrived at
On A Roll
• The Western Oregon men’s basketball team is 18-3 overall
and 10-1 in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.
• The Wolves have not lost a home game since dropping their
home-opener to Azusa Pacific on Nov. 21. WOU has won 11-
straight at home since that point.
• Western Oregon has scored at least 90 points in each of its
last four games.
• The Wolves have not won more than 18 games since the
1996-97 season, when WOU went 20-9.
CLASS 5A PREP WRESTLING
CLASS 1A PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL
Impressive starts
Falls City on brink
Freshman rises quickly for Dragons
Mountaineers aim for playoffs
By Lukas Eggen
Schedules Subject to Change
QUICK HITS
Dallas, Central set
for showdowns
POLK COUNTY — Cen-
tral’s boys basketball team
will host Dallas Tuesday at 7
p.m., while Dallas’ girls bas-
ketball squad hosts Central
Feb. 11 at 7 p.m.
STAT SHEET
57
The winning
point total
recorded by
every victorious
Mid-Willamette Confer-
ence boys basketball team
during games played on
Jan. 28. Crescent Valley de-
feated Dallas 57-44, Silver-
ton topped Central 57-48,
Corvallis downed Wood-
burn 57-40 and Lebanon
beat South Albany 57-46.
WOU in 2011, he didn’t
come in making grand
promises. Instead, he
preached patience.
“We just wanted to build,”
Bergeson said. “We did not
put a timeline on anything.
We wanted to get a group of
young men that fit our sys-
tem; guys we could coach
and are the right character.”
See PACK, Page 14A
LUKAS EGGEN/Itemizer-Observer
Dallas freshman Noah Sickles has worked his way into
the Dragons’ varsity lineup.
www.polkio.com/ns/sports
By Lukas Eggen
The Itemizer-Observer
The Itemizer-Observer
FALLS CITY — For many
teams, the first day of prac-
tice represents a team at its
most hopeful. When senior
Shea Coker first arrived at
practice for
Falls City’s
girls basket-
ball team, it
provided
anything
but.
“The first
day of prac-
tice,
I
Coker
thought
there was no way we were
going to make it through the
season,” Coker said.
Of the seven players on
the roster, two freshmen
would be playing far more
minutes than freshmen usu-
ally see at the varsity level.
Yet, coach Micke Kidd was
excited. With five teams in
the Casco League this season
and Country Christian ex-
pected to be the class of the
Casco League, the Moun-
DALLAS — When fresh-
man Noah Sickles arrived
t h i s w i n t e r, D a l l a s
wrestling coach Tony Olliff
planned to give him time
to learn and grow behind
Nolan Miller.
That is, until Sickles
started to wrestle.
“It wasn’t long before
we figured out we needed
to find a way to get him in
the varsity lineup,” Olliff
said.
Sickles has wrestled at
113, 120 and 126 pounds
this season.
He’s seen strong results,
including taking second
place at the Reser’s Tour-
nament of Champions on
Jan. 24. Sickles began that
tournament as an unseed-
ed competitor.
Yet, Sickles isn’t ready
to call this season a suc-
cess.
See FRESHMAN, Page 13A
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Up Next
• Falls City hosts Living-
stone Adventist Tuesday at
5:30 p.m. for the Moun-
taineers’ final home game
of the regular season. Falls
City closes out the regular
season at Jewell on Feb. 13.
taineers set their sights on
second place.
And with a 4-2 Casco
League record with two con-
tests remaining in the regu-
lar season, Falls City is defy-
ing expectations.
“We had a pretty good
idea of what the league was
going to be like,” Kidd said.
“Second place was our goal
from the start and some-
thing we could strive for.”
After a difficult non-
league season that includ-
ed a 1-3 start, the Moun-
taineers have found suc-
cess in league play, earning
wins against Livingstone
Adventist, Willamette Valley
Christian and Jewell.
See FALLS CITY, Page 13A
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