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39 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, March 24, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 6, 2005 South Medford�s Kyle Singler (33) puts up a shot over Hillsboro�s Mike McLaughlin, left, and Graham Copenhagen. Panthers shoot down Hillsboro Big second quarter propels South into next week’s Class 4A state tournament By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune It took an entire season, but the South Medford boys basketball team finally figured out how to play in the second quarter. And that lesson learned couldn’t have come at a better time. The fourth-ranked Panthers essentially played Hillsboro evenly save for Saturday’s second quarter, but what a quarter it was. Kendall Gielow poured in eight of his team-high 23 points and South outscored the Spartans 23-11 in the period en route to an 85-72 triumph in the third round of the Class 4A boys basketball state playoffs. Advertisement "The second quarter’s been our downfall, and tonight Kendall was huge for us," said South senior Isaiah Adams. "Making those jumpers from the free-throw line like he did tonight really got us going." Saturday’s win proved to be the seventh in nine attempts in the round of 16 for the Panthers (23-5), earning them a fourth straight trip to the state tournament. South will take on Lake Oswego at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals at McArthur Court in Eugene. The Lakers, led by sophomore post Kevin Love, romped past No. 5 Lincoln 92-74 on Saturday. "It’ll be fun because I get to play against one of my best friends in Kevin Love," South sophomore Kyle Singler said of the tourney opener. "It should be a good game." Saturday’s third-round affair had all the makings of a state-tournament game as well, with the Metro League’s Spartans not shy at all about facing the Southern Oregon Conference co- champs on the road. Hillsboro (17-9) and South traded baskets for most of the first quarter until Brent Johnson’s third inside bucket of the quarter gave the Panthers the lead for good at 15-14 with 21 seconds to go. Where the 6-foot-7 junior left off, Gielow picked up in the second. And when it wasn’t those two, it was Singler or Michael Harthun or Myles Daley or just about anyone the Panthers put out on the court. "We had a lot of motivation to win this game," said Johnson, who was a monster inside with 20 points and 11 rebounds. "We wanted to go to Eugene and we wanted revenge against Hillsboro (for a 2003 state-tournament loss). I don’t think anybody came out there going less than 110 percent, and that’s how we won the game." Singler finished with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Harthun had 11 points and four assists, Adams five points and five assists and Daley eight points and three boards off the bench. All told, the Panthers outrebounded Hillsboro 28-17 and converted 60 percent of their shots (31-for-52) from the field and made enough foul shots (22 of 30) to keep the Spartans at bay. "The biggest thing is South Medford shot the ball so well," said Hillsboro head coach Greg Edwards, a former Panther assistant coach who suffered his first loss in the South gym. "They hurt us a little on the offensive boards, and we didn’t get many, but they shot unbelievable." In contrast, Hillsboro was 20-for-53 from the field (38 percent), including a 9-for-24 effort from 3-point range. The Spartans were able to knock down 23 of 28 foul shots. "We had a lot of easy shots in the first half and didn’t make many of them," added Edwards. "We needed to shoot the ball real well and we didn’t." South led by as many as 17 points in the third and fourth quarters but had to withstand a late flurry by Hillsboro’s Reggie Guyton to seal the deal. The 5-11 junior was brilliant in scoring 13 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth on a mixture of deep 3-pointers and flashes to the basket, but the Spartans could never get closer than seven points in the end. "How tough’s Guyton?" South head coach Dennis Murphy asked later. "A couple times our kids came off saying, ‘What else can I do to guard him.’" "That was the longest 16-minute half I’ve been in in a long time," the sweat-soaked coach added. "I didn’t think the fourth quarter was ever going to get over." Although Guyton was a handful, the Panthers were able to hold Hillsboro’s leading tandem of 6-8 senior Brad Hodge and 6-6 junior Mike McLaughlin relatively quiet. Hodge, the Spartans’ leading scorer, picked up his third foul on the first possession of the second quarter and had to sit out the frame. The first-team all-Metro selection fouled out with 6:50 to play after shoving Daley to the court and finished with eight points and five rebounds. McLaughlin, another first-team all-Metro pick, did most of his damage from the outside with three deep treys in scoring 16 points and adding four rebounds. "We keep playing better teams over and over and, to our credit, we keep stepping up," said Murphy, noting this was the fourth straight game South has faced a team with two first-team all-conference players. While Edwards was disappointed in Hodge being forced to the sidelines for much of the game, he said the Panthers deserved Saturday’s triumph. "Those guys played really well and they earned the win," he said. "They played well enough to beat just about anybody tonight, especially the way they shot the ball. "I hope they go to the tournament and play just as well." HILLSBORO (72) — Guyton 28, McLaughlin 16, Gweth 12, Hodge 8, Harris 6, Copenhagen 2, Lorence 0, Rampone 0, Haroldsen 0, Eaton 0. Totals: 20-53 23-28 72. SOUTH MEDFORD (85) — Gielow 23, Johnson 20, Singler 16, Harthun 11, Daley 8, Adams 5, McKay 2, Weaver 0, Desimone 0. Totals: 31-52 22-30 85. Hillsboro.................................14 11 18 29 — 72 South Medford.......................15 23 18 29 — 85 3-point goals — Hillsboro 9-24 (Guyton 5, McLaughlin 3, Harris 1), South Medford 1-5 (Harthun 1). Fouled out — Hodge, Harris, Singler. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Advertisement s