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Indians trounce Black Tornado By RANDY HAMMERICKSEN ROSEBURG -- North Medford High's boys basketball team traveled to Roseburg Tuesday with hopes of clinching the outright Southern Oregon Conference championship. Instead, the Black Tornado got ambushed by the Roseburg Indians, 75-49. The loss dropped North Medford (15-4) to 11-1 in the Southern Oregon Conference with home games remaining against Klamath Union and Crater. North needs to win one of those two games to wrap up the SOC title and the league's automatic berth to the state tournament March 9-13 at Portland's Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Garden. "We haven't gotten any respect this year, and maybe we'll get some now," said Roseburg coach Mike Pardon, savoring the win that brought the Indians (9-3) to within two games of North Medford with two to play. "I'm really proud of our kids. "We've played like this in spurts, but not for four full quarters. This is our best game of the year." The Indians shot a sizzling 61 percent (31-for-44) from the field in carving up what many feel is the best defense in the SOC. Roseburg made 12 of 13 shots in the first quarter on the way to a 27-7 lead. Ten of Roseburg's 12 field goals in the opening quarter came on layins. Most were the result of fastbreak opportunities and quick back cuts off the Indians' inside passing game. Roseburg saw its 27-7 first-quarter lead trimmed to 29-18 with 5:13 left in the second quarter on an 8-2 run by North Medford. But midway through the second quarter, Roseburg was pressuring North into turnovers, running and scoring to rebuild the lead to 37-18 and eventually 41-24 by halftime. "We were all pumped up," said Roseburg guard Pat Anderson, who led the Indians with 24 points, including 12 in the first quarter. "We came out for the second half wanting to take it to them again." Anderson made 11 of of 12 shots in the game. The Indians built their lead to 47-28 with 5:59 left in the third quarter on two inside field goals by Hans Christenson and one by Dustin Michalek. By the end of the third period, Roseburg was cruising with a 62-38 lead. North Medford, which shot 36 percent (17-for-47) from the field, battled hard to the end, head coach Gene Quilhaugh said. "They (the Indians) were inspired and played with great quickness," said Quilhaugh. "They were at the basket all night. They shot at point-blank range. "Our kids played real hard and I'm proud of them. We just ran into a buzzsaw. I thought we played better than we did in our wins over Grants Pass and Eagle Point last week. "It's not easy to win them all," said Quilhaugh. "We need to get back home and get to work and take care of business. "No, this won't affect our kids," said Quilhaugn. "This is the best group of kids I've ever coached. They won't give up or stop playing hard." David Husel, Travis Hinkle and Mike Olson all scored eight points to lead North Medford. Point guard Jeff Zimmer, the team's leading scorer, was limited to four points by Roseburg's Matt Linderman and the help defense. "North Medford is a great defensive team, but we play good defense, too," said Pardon. "We don't get a lot of credit for it, but we proved it to the No. 1 team in the conference tonight." When the Indians' weren't forcing North turnovers and running their fastbreak for easy layups, they were running off defensive rebounds, or scoring numerous layups off backdoor cuts. "They (the Black Tornado) overplay the lanes hard and the backdoors were there all night," said Pardon. "We passed the ball real well in finding the inside cutters." Quilhaugn said North Medford does not overplay the lanes. "That's bull," he said. "I'm not going to change our defense because of one loss. We didn't play the backdoors as well as we could have, but I'm still proud of the effort we made. Michalek had 14 points to back up Anderson's 24-point game for the Indians. Christenson finished with 11 points for Roseburg and Joe Gonzales scored nine. NORTH MEDFORD (49) --Husel 8, Hinkle 8, Olson 8, Jantzer 6, Jensen 5, Towne 5, Zimmer 4, McNeil 2, Casebier 2, Mellbye 1, Anderson 0, O'Brien 0, Weyers 0, Brownell 0, Pickrel 0. Totals: 17-47 10-13 49. ROSEBURG (75) --Anderson 24, Michalek 14, Christenson 11, Gonzales 9, Coen 5, Linderman 4, Moss 3, Stone 5. Totals: 31-44 13-16. 75. North Medford ......7 17 14 11 -- 49 Roseburg ............27 14 21 13 -- 75 3-point field goals: North Medford 5 (Olson 2, Towne 1, Jensen 1, Hinkle 1.). Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.