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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us January 19, 2005 Grizzlies use balanced offense to destroy Pels By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Ashland Grizzlies head coach Rick Cornelius loved what he saw. His team loved the way it felt. What a difference a year makes. ASHLAND HIGH SENIOR FORWARD JEFF SKINNER (5) is hit by Klamath Union senior forward Daniel Bennett (12) as senior forward Brian Kitchell (4) and sophomore forward Jeremy Yazzie (45) look on. The Grizzlies won the SOC contest, 64-36. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings Four Grizzlies scored in double figures and the Ashland High boys basketball team finished the game on a 25-6 run in a 64-36 Southern Oregon Conference victory over Klamath Union on Tuesday. The runaway win allowed Ashland (11-3 overall, 3-1 SOC), which was swept by KU (4-10, 0-4) last season, to stay tied with Grants Pass for second place in the league standings. It also set up a crucial three-game stretch, during which the Grizzlies will face league-leading South Medford (Friday), Grants Pass (Tuesday) and North Medford (Jan. 28). "That was very, very gratifying," Cornelius said. "The kids put together a full game. The nice thing about it is, I think we were nine deep on the bench. We just kept rotating kids in and everybody understood their role. That was fun." Big games Ashland senior guard Josh McDermott scored eight of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter, when the Grizzlies stretched a nine-point lead to 15 in the first minute and a half. Senior forward Corey Costantino added 16 points and senior forward Jeff Skinner finished with 11 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Klamath Union senior forward Daniel Bennett made three 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 13 points, but had little help at the offensive end. Only one other Pelican, junior guard Seth Hughes (9 points), added more than five, as Ashland's size frustrated KU all night. Klamath sophomore forward Jeremy Yazzie scored 30 seconds into the fourth quarter to draw the Pelicans within 39-30, but it was all Ashland after that. McDermott started the rally with an inside hoop and made it 45-30 with another layin at the 6:15 mark. After Bennett sank a 3 to cut the lead to 12 with 5:30 to go the Grizzlies went on a 13-point rally to clinch their fourth home win in four tries. Five of those points came at the free throw line, where Ashland hit 17 of 22, and the rest came on point-blank scores. The Grizzlies dominated the paint overall, hitting 22 of the 35 shots they took inside the 3-point line. "I would owe it to our dedication to the weight room," said Ashland junior post Josh Cornelius, who had 10 points and seven boards. "We really put in an offseason and that's added a vertical [leap] and upper body strength for overcoming a lot of these smaller teams." Close at first Klamath Union's zone defense bogged down Ashland early. The Grizzlies didn't get on the board until Josh Cornelius scored on a rebound putback two and a half minutes into the game. His dad called a timeout moments later and the Grizzlies scored 10 of the next 12 points to take a 13-5 lead into the second. Costantino's steal and fastbreak layin put Ashland up 21-5 with 6:03 left in the first half, but the Pelicans used a 12-4 run to pull within eight. The Grizzlies led 27-17 at the break. Hughes' jumper with 3:02 to go in the third cut Ashland's lead to 35-28, the smallest it had been since the first quarter. Junior forward Ryan Pittman answered with a short jumper at the other end and Ashland's lead never dipped below nine the rest of the way. Ashland's defense - and eventually its discipline at the other end - played a big part in the fourth-quarter blitz. The Grizzlies finished with 13 steals and five blocks, and committed only two turnovers in the second half after booting nine in the first. "A lot of forced shots on (the Pelicans') part, and a lot of frustration," Rick Cornelius said. "That's the sign of a very good defensive night. There was great energy out there." Now its on to South Medford to take on the surging Panthers, who are coming off a 75-43 win over Eagle Point. South has dominated the series for over a decade, but the Grizzlies are on pace to finish with more wins than the 1992 team - the last Ashland squad to qualify for the state playoffs. "All we can do is play them now," said McDermott, who hit 7 of 10 shots and had five rebounds. "I really feel like we're prepared, though. This was a big step tonight." Josh Cornelius said the Grizzlies must impose their will in order to have a shot at the upset. "We don't have any high lofty goals saying we're going to go out and do this and do this," he said. "We just have a game plan that we're going to go in there and make them play our game. If we can do that, we'll be quite successful." Klamath Union (36) - Landrum 2, Foster 5, Garcia 3, Bennett 13, Hughes 9, Yazzie 4. Totals: 11 10-14 36. Ashland (64) - Eriksen 2, Costantino 16, Kitchell 3, Skinner 11, McDermott 20, Pittman 2, Cornelius 10. Totals: 22 17-22 64. Klamath Union 5 12 11 8 - 36 Ashland 13 14 12 25 - 64 3-point goals - Klamath Union 4 (Bennett 3, Foster 1), Ashland 1 (McDermott). Technical Fouls - none. Fouled Out - none. 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