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South boys make defense a priority By Don Hunt Mail Tribune There's an old sports adage that says: Defense determines whether a team wins or loses, offense determines by how much. The South Medford High boys basketball team has bought into that catch phrase, and legitimately finds itself as one of the top Class 4A boys teams in the state. On Tuesday, the Panthers took a huge step in winning their first Southern Oregon Conference championship in four years when they smothered defending league champion Roseburg, 53-36, on the Indians' home floor. Considering the opponent and the venue - the Indians went into the game with a 25-game conference home win streak dating to 1998 - this was South Medford's finest performance of the season. With two wins over Roseburg and a road victory over Grants Pass in the books, the No. 2-ranked Panthers, who are 17-1 overall, 8-0 in the SOC and riding a 12-game winning skein, appear destined for a league title and a trip to the Class 4A state tournament in Portland. As coach Dennis Murphy said after the game Tuesday, "This was a huge step." "Unless we choke away a couple of games to people we should beat, we're in real good shape," Murphy added. Roseburg coach Mike Pardon said before Tuesday's game that he thought South Medford's 1995-96 team that went 24-2 and finished third at state was better than the Panthers' current club, and he might be right. The earlier squad featured sharp-shooting guards James Wightman and Mike Vanderhoff and a couple of athletic big kids in Justin Dickerson and Todd Meyerding. In the third-place game at the 1998 state tournament, South Medford drained 11 3-point baskets, including six by Vanderhoff, in an 80-68 victory over South Eugene. But the present Panthers have their own strengths - a marquee big man in 6-foot-9, 240-pound Eric Fiegi, a standout point guard in Ryan Heil and a supporting cast that spits nails. In its 17 victories, South Medford has held opponents in the 40's nine times, the 30's once and the 20's once. That's defense, with a capital "D." "We take a lot of pride in shutting the other team down," says Alan Johnson, a 6-4 senior who is the Panthers' top defender. "We work hard on defense. We know if we get a bunch of stops then the other team is going to have a tough time winning." And unlike some stifling defensive teams, the Panthers aren't a bad offensive squad. Fiegi is averaging 19.9 points per game and Heil 16.1, and as a team South Medford hits at a 66-point clip. And yet the Panthers know if they want to seriously challenge for a state championship, they've got to get better at both ends of the floor. That was the mindset in the locker room Tuesday. "Murph has told us that if we want to beat the very best teams, then we've got to get even better on defense," Heil said. "And the thing is, good defense triggers our offense. We score a lot of our points off turnovers." If the Panthers have another notable advantage, it's depth. Their first three substitutes - guard Matt Smith, wing Pat Lower and post Eric Fischer - would start for most teams. And their next three off the bench - wings Andy Hagert and Shaun Olson and post Tim Carpenter - have their moments. Olson had the game of his life Tuesday, hitting a vital tip-in basket in the fourth period when Roseburg had closed to within seven points, tying up Indians star Joe Newton at the other end that resulted in a turnover and generally causing havoc for the boys in orange and black. Asked if his average of two minutes per game was worth all the hours of practice, Olson smiled and said: "It's worth it just being around these players and coaches every night." Some of Olson's funnest moments, believe it or not, come during wind sprints. As one of the state's top middle distance runners in track, Olson routinely blazes past his teammates. "I get a little flak over that," he said, "but it's the one thing I can beat everyone at." And one of the rare times his teammates taste defeat. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.