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48 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, April 18, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us 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 12, 2005 Resilient Panthers belie their youth By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune EUGENE — When South Medford lost in the quarterfinals last year and dropped into the consolation bracket, odds were that the senior-laden Panthers would bounce back. When South lost Thursday night to Lake Oswego, even head coach Dennis Murphy wasn’t sure what to expect Friday afternoon. What he saw is very encouraging for Panther fans hoping that their team will have something to play for in the late evenings of further state tournaments. South Medford’s young guns of Michael Harthun and Kyle Singler refused to give in to the temptation of playing less than 100 percent in front of only 1,648 onlookers, and the same could be said for the rest of the Panther underclassmen. Advertisement "Murph said this was going to test our character and what really shows character is how you bounce back," said Harthun, who has been brilliant thus far in his first state tourney. "We tried to bounce back hard today and get the ‘W.’ We came out and played with all our heart, the way we could’ve and should’ve played yesterday, and showed how good we really can be." Harthun hovered around the 50-percent mark from the field for the second straight game, and cut down on his turnovers to post a 2-to-1 ratio with his six assists. Maybe more important, Singler broke out of his shooting slump and clearly was on a mission to get off to a fast start Friday. The 6-foot-8 sophomore scored nine of his game-high 22 points in the first quarter. "I really wanted to establish myself early," said Singler, who was 4-for-17 from the field on mostly 15-footers Thursday. "My teammates got me the ball where I could do some damage and I just felt real comfortable out there today." Two players who were involved in minutes only Thursday, juniors Kendall Gielow and Brent Johnson, also got into the act Friday as South totally dominated McNary. Gielow had 14 points and four rebounds, while Johnson, who was a forgotten man by his teammates Thursday, pulled down 11 rebounds and scored six points. More than anything, Johnson said Friday’s effort was about getting back to the basics that got South into the tournament to begin with. "We came out and played as a team and when we play as a team, we’re hard to beat," said the 6-7 post, who was 1-for-1 from the field Thursday in a game where South settled for jumpers instead of challenging 6-9 sophomore Kevin Love. "Hopefully we play that way again tomorrow." Either way it’ll be another game South will be able to chalk up to experience. "The more experiences you have here," added Murphy, "obviously the better it is because you want them to want to come back. Each game they get a better flavor for the tournament, more time on the court and you hope get a desire to come back and say why don’t we try to play in the afternoon first and evening late. We seem to play in the evening early and afternoons late, and I’d like that to change." FORMER PANTHER Alex Chapman had his first run at the state tournament come to an end Friday as his Canby Cougars lost in double overtime to Benson, 71-68. Chapman, who played on South’s junior varsity team last year, and his family moved to Canby over the summer and the 6-foot-8 junior helped lead the Cougars to the Pac-9 Conference championship this season. The center didn’t find much room to roam at the state tournament, however, as he shot 7-for-22 from the field for 14 points and had 13 rebounds in two losses for Canby (22-6). His experience turned especially bitter when his pass with 5.4 seconds to go in the second overtime was stolen and allowed Benson to tack on two game- sealing free throws. ATTENDANCE AT THE state tournament in Eugene may be down this year, but you can’t blame Westview or Canby high schools. Westview brought 10 busloads of fans down to Mac Court for Thursday’s quarterfinal game against Benson, which the Wildcats not-so-coincidentally won 56-50. It didn’t hurt that Westview students got off school at 11 a.m. that day so they could be in town for the 1:30 p.m. tip-off. At Canby, the school received about 500 requests by students to take their finals early so they could be on hand for Thursday’s 3:15 tilt with Jesuit. Given that opportunity, the Cougar faithful were in full force, and in matching T-shirts no less. 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. 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