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Round 1 goes to Roseburg By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings The Ashland High girls basketball team withstood Roseburg's monopoly of the key for 31 minutes and 59 seconds, only to learn the hard way how crucial one tick of the clock can be. In a heated battle of Southern Oregon Conference powerhouses, Roseburg post Katie Fuller turned a last-second rebound into a last-second free throw Tuesday, giving the fifth-ranked Indians a rousing 46-45 Southern Oregon Conference victory over Ashland at Mountain Avenue gym. Ashland High senior post Marla Morin tries to gather control of the ball on a drive to the basket, as Roseburg senior post Kristen Bitter (left) holds her position during Roseburg's 46-45 win Tuesday night. Ashland Daily Tidings/DENISE BARATTA "We emphasized (rebounding) during our practices," Ashland coach Steve Humann said, "and we emphasized it again at halftime, but sometimes physical skill takes over." The game-winning free throw - which came with 0.2 seconds left after Fuller missed the first attempt and was iced with a Grizz timeout before the second - allowed the fifth-ranked Indians to escape Ashland as the conference's lone unbeaten, while the Grizzlies will have to wait until the rematch Feb. 11 at Roseburg to redeem themselves. Roseburg (12-2 overall, 4-0 SOC), which enjoyed size advantages at every frontcourt position, outrebounded Ashland (10-4, 3-1) 47-33 for the game, resulting in 12 more shots. That, and some stingy defense, allowed the Indians to overcome a 27-percent shooting night (16-for-59) and pick up their biggest win of the season. Fuller, a 6-2 junior, finished with 19 points and 12 boards, and her 6-0 teammate Jori Grady added 11 points and 13 rebounds. Ashland, which shot itself in the foot by hitting just 11 of 22 free throws, was led by senior post Marla Morin's 21 points and 15 rebounds. Sophomore guard Hilary Huyett added 11 points and fellow sophomore guard Alysse Carlson chipped in nine points, seven assists and three steals. "Just like coach said," said Grizz senior post Julia Sobolik, "this is a loss and we are taking one game at a time and so we're just going to come back. I don't know what else to say. It was an intense game � but you can only take one game at a time. "For us, I think we didn't block out like we needed to pretty much the whole game. We just needed to rebound and we didn't get it done." Roseburg's final possession, which came after Ashland missed two 3-pointers at the other end, melted the game's final 40 seconds off the clock and included a near steal by Morin and a wild scramble that led to a jump ball with eight second left. The possession arrow favored the Indians, who inbounded without using a timeout and quickly got the ball to senior guard Marri Coen. Coen's baseline jumper was deflected by a cluster of Grizzlies right to Fuller, who emerged with the ball directly under the basket. Fuller's first attempt was a frantic one that bounced off the bottom of the rim right back to her. She then gathered herself and went up strong. Morin was called for the foul just before the clock struck zero, giving the Indians one last chance to avoid overtime. With the pro-Grizzly crowd on its feet and raising the roof, Fuller badly missed the first attempt, but after the timeout she calmly swished the second. Ashland inbounded to Huyett at midcourt, but the horn sounded before she could get off a shot. The buzzer set off a midcourt pile-up by the Indians, under which laid a teary-eyed Fuller. "I was really, really nervous," Fuller said. "Part of me thought I could make it, but the other part of me was so scared. But, there wasn't that much pressure on me because we could go to overtime if I didn't make it. But I really wanted to make it. I was just focusing on the basket and (thought), 'I have to make this, otherwise my team will hate me.'" Fuller's clincher gave Roseburg its first lead since they went up 32-30 two minutes into the third quarter and capped off an air-tight game that saw six ties in the final eight minutes. Roseburg led by as many as eight points in the first quarter and seven in the second before Grizz runs made the scores close at the end of each session. Ashland scored the last six points of the first quarter on 3's by Carlson and Huyett to cut the deficit to 18-16, and the last seven of the half to tie the game at 28. Morin's baseline jumper gave Ashland its final lead of the game, 45-43, with 1:20 to go. That lead didn't last long, however, as Grady nailed a long jumper from the right corner with 1:02 left that knotted the score at 45. Ashland got off two 3-pointers at the other end - first by Huyett, then by Carlson - and the Indians controlled the ball after the second miss to set up the hectic final seconds. Morin was a force down low for the Grizzlies but couldn't take advantage of Roseburg's futile attempts to stop her. Her stellar work on the offensive glass led to 14 free throws in the first half alone and 16 for the game, but she only managed to convert seven of those. Roseburg, meanwhile, was 11-for-16 at the charity stripe. "Free throws," answered Morin, when asked to name the difference in the game. "I don't know, it was just an off night, I guess." Game notes: Roseburg's win also snapped Ashland's six-game win streak and gave the Indians a one game lead in the conference standings over both Ashland and Crater. The Comets fell hard to North Medford, 63-44, Tuesday night, their first league loss since 2001. � Through the first three quarters only three Grizzlies had managed to get in the scorebook - Huyett, Carlson and Morin. Chloe Hansen and Sobolik both scored in the fourth quarter. � The game featured the SOC's top offense (Ashland) against its No. 1 defense (Roseburg). Defense won, as Ashland was held to 17 points below its season average on 32 percent shooting (15 of 47). AHS Boys Basketball At Roseburg, senior guard Bryan Clevenger scored 25 points, senior post Clinton Bryan added 18 and sophomore guard Jeffrey Skinner drilled a clutch 3-pointer with 4:30 left Tuesday, as Ashland stunned Roseburg 73-62. The Grizzlies (8-5 overall, 1-2 SOC), who lost 13 of 14 Southern Oregon Conference games last season and their first two this season, picked up the program's first win over the Indians since the 2000 season. Roseburg fell to 1-2 in league play and 5-8 overall. The Indians used a furious rally to cut a 12-point Grizzly lead to just four with about five minutes left, but on Ashland's next possession, Clevenger passed out of a double-team to a wide open Skinner, who nailed the 3. That put Ashland over the top and lifted the Grizzlies into a four-way tie for fourth place in the SOC standings heading into Friday's game at Grants Pass (3-0 SOC). Clevenger went 6-for-7 from 3-point land and added three assists to lead the Grizzlies, while Skinner and senior guard Christopher Presicci added six rebounds apiece. Also for Ashland, Clevenger had three assists, senior guard Nick Palmesano had two and Presicci grabbed four steals. Ashland hit 18 of 22 free throws, including eight straight in the fourth as Roseburg played catch-up. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. 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