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OIT drops tourney opener
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| H&N photo by Paul Titus Joshua Garrett puts up a floater as Evergreen’s Lloyd Jackson defends. The Geoducks won, 89-83. |
February 22, 2007
Evergreen State put on a shooting clinic Wednesday night in the second half of a first-round Cascade Collegiate Conference men's tournament basketball game and stunned fifth-rated Oregon Tech, 89-83.
The Geoducks, a team OIT coach Danny Miles has maintained all season has as much talent as any team in the league, netted 24-of-32 second-half field goals to overcome a double-digit deficit in handing the Hustlin' Owls just their fourth loss this season.
“They're a tough matchup for us,” Miles said after the conference's No. 8 seed left a crowd of close to 2,000 fans stunned.
“We couldn't play man-to-man against them because of their height and quickness, and once they took the lead, we couldn't play zone because they would hold the ball out front on us.”
The Owls seemed comfortably in control of the game early in the second half.
Evergreen State, though, started to score on shot after shot while OIT struggled to score in the second half, and the Geoducks took the lead, 50-48, when Adam Moore scored on a traditional three-point play.
ESC, now 10-20 this season, would continue to dominate play and took a 73-60 lead before OIT mounted one final comeback that allowed the Owls to take an 80-79 lead with one minute, 43 seconds left to play on a Joshua Garrett three-point goal.
It was the Owls' last lead.
“We couldn't get any stops,” OIT senior Levell Hesia said. “We didn't have the same defensive intensity that we had in the first half. It's a tough loss.”
Most of OIT's second-half stops came as the Owls mounted their comeback from the 13-point deficit, but the Owls, who moved up to No. 5 in the final NAIA Division II men's basketball poll of the season, could not overcome 15 missed layups.
“They really didn't do anything different in the second half, they just came out like it was all-or-nothing,” Hesia said of the Geoducks, who had just seven players in uniform Wednesday night.
“They've had so much dissension this season that you never knew who'd show up,” Miles said of ESC, a team that lost six league games by six or fewer points, three of which were one-point decisions
“They have real good talent,” Miles said.
OIT senior Danny Mills, who had good looks but could not get shots to fall, said the Geoducks deserve credit for their victory.
“If they can come down here with seven players and do that, good luck to them,” Mills said.
“This could be good for us,” Mills said. “We can get a few days rest before we get ready for Branson. It is definitely a disappointing to not to finish the season the way we wanted to.”
OIT had controlled the first half, and led, 44-32, at the intermission. The Owls also held a 21-13 edge in rebounds.
Evergreen State ended up with a 38-33 rebounding edge, but OIT associate head coach Mike Pisan said: “When you miss 23 shots (in the second half), they get a chance for a lot of defensive rebounds.”
While ESC shot the lights out in the second half, OIT struggled and, at one point, was 4-of-23 from the floor. The Owls finished the game hitting 39 percent for the game, while the Geoducks had a final game percentage of 62.3 percent.
Moore, who was 14-for-18 from the floor, finished with 31 points and seven rebounds for ESC, while Devon Conner-Green added 23 points and 14 rebounds. David Howard had 18 points.
Moore and Howard had dunk shots that sealed the victory in the final 40 seconds of the play and give the Geoducks their first victory ever at Danny Miles Court since the series started in 1999.
OIT now leads the overall series, 15-4, and is 8-1 against Evergreen State at home.
For the Owls, Joshua Garrett finished with 28 points, Ryan Fiegi had 20 points and eight rebounds and Hesia notched 17 points and had six assists.
Hesia's assists helped him pass Stacy Turnbull on the Owls' career assist chart. Hesia now has 577 assists, and Turnbull, who had been fourth on the list, had 566. Right ahead of the 5-foot-5 point guard on the chart is his uncle, Willie Hall, with 582.
- Steve Matthies
Evergreen State put on a shooting clinic Wednesday night in the second half of a first-round Cascade Collegiate Conference men's tournament basketball game and stunned fifth-rated Oregon Tech, 89-83.
The Geoducks, a team OIT coach Danny Miles has maintained all season has as much talent as any team in the league, netted 24-of-32 second-half field goals to overcome a double-digit deficit in handing the Hustlin' Owls just their fourth loss this season.
“They're a tough matchup for us,” Miles said after the conference's No. 8 seed left a crowd of close to 2,000 fans stunned.
“We couldn't play man-to-man against them because of their height and quickness, and once they took the lead, we couldn't play zone because they would hold the ball out front on us.”
The Owls seemed comfortably in control of the game early in the second half.
Evergreen State, though, started to score on shot after shot while OIT struggled to score in the second half, and the Geoducks took the lead, 50-48, when Adam Moore scored on a traditional three-point play.
ESC, now 10-20 this season, would continue to dominate play and took a 73-60 lead before OIT mounted one final comeback that allowed the Owls to take an 80-79 lead with one minute, 43 seconds left to play on a Joshua Garrett three-point goal.
It was the Owls' last lead.
“We couldn't get any stops,” OIT senior Levell Hesia said. “We didn't have the same defensive intensity that we had in the first half. It's a tough loss.”
Most of OIT's second-half stops came as the Owls mounted their comeback from the 13-point deficit, but the Owls, who moved up to No. 5 in the final NAIA Division II men's basketball poll of the season, could not overcome 15 missed layups.
“They really didn't do anything different in the second half, they just came out like it was all-or-nothing,” Hesia said of the Geoducks, who had just seven players in uniform Wednesday night.
“They've had so much dissension this season that you never knew who'd show up,” Miles said of ESC, a team that lost six league games by six or fewer points, three of which were one-point decisions
“They have real good talent,” Miles said.
OIT senior Danny Mills, who had good looks but could not get shots to fall, said the Geoducks deserve credit for their victory.
“If they can come down here with seven players and do that, good luck to them,” Mills said.
“This could be good for us,” Mills said. “We can get a few days rest before we get ready for Branson. It is definitely a disappointing to not to finish the season the way we wanted to.”
OIT had controlled the first half, and led, 44-32, at the intermission. The Owls also held a 21-13 edge in rebounds.
Evergreen State ended up with a 38-33 rebounding edge, but OIT associate head coach Mike Pisan said: “When you miss 23 shots (in the second half), they get a chance for a lot of defensive rebounds.”
While ESC shot the lights out in the second half, OIT struggled and, at one point, was 4-of-23 from the floor. The Owls finished the game hitting 39 percent for the game, while the Geoducks had a final game percentage of 62.3 percent.
Moore, who was 14-for-18 from the floor, finished with 31 points and seven rebounds for ESC, while Devon Conner-Green added 23 points and 14 rebounds. David Howard had 18 points.
Moore and Howard had dunk shots that sealed the victory in the final 40 seconds of the play and give the Geoducks their first victory ever at Danny Miles Court since the series started in 1999.
OIT now leads the overall series, 15-4, and is 8-1 against Evergreen State at home.
For the Owls, Joshua Garrett finished with 28 points, Ryan Fiegi had 20 points and eight rebounds and Hesia notched 17 points and had six assists.
Hesia's assists helped him pass Stacy Turnbull on the Owls' career assist chart. Hesia now has 577 assists, and Turnbull, who had been fourth on the list, had 566. Right ahead of the 5-foot-5 point guard on the chart is his uncle, Willie Hall, with 582.
- Steve Matthies
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| Rivals gear up for Round 3 |
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Bill Hoffman wrote on Apr 10, 2008 10:07 AM:
" Long live Matt Miles! He was the "Billy Kilmer" of Semi Pro Football: tough, gritty, fiery leader, winning mentality. I will never forget this "young gunslinger", he made this league better for being in it.
Respectfully submitted,
Bill Hoffman
CO Stampede, #45 "
Respectfully submitted,
Bill Hoffman
CO Stampede, #45 "
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Ken Karnes wrote on Oct 3, 2008 4:23 PM: