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Elseth edges Rouhier for top SOC boy honor MT file photo Eagle Nick Rouhier plans to play at Navy. By RANDY HAMMERICKSEN Grants Pass boys basketball coach Bill Cowell got an early indication of how valuable junior center Ian Elseth would be to the Cavemen's season. Elseth, a 6-foot-7 junior post, couldn't play in the team's conference opener at Eagle Point in January. Grants Pass lost the game, 58-35. That humbling wasn't a true indicator to how the season would go for Cavemen, but it did tell Cowell what Elseth meant to his team. Grants Pass rallied, winning 12 of its next 14 games, and captured its first SOC title since 1980. It finished the regular season tied with Roseburg, then won a playoff for the league's No. 1 berth to the Class 4A state tournament. Now come the rewards. Cowell was voted SOC coach of the year by his peers and Elseth was voted player of the year by one vote over Eagle Point High senior guard Nick Rouhier. Elseth received 97 points and Rouhier 96. Roseburg center Joe Newton, a 6-7 sophomore, was another point back at 95 in one of the closest votes in the league's history. "I was a little surprised to win the award," says Elseth. "I didn't think I was the best player in the league. I thought it was Nick (Rouhier), but I'll take it. "It helps to have a lot of good players around you." Rouhier, who missed the first seven games of the Eagles' season -- they lost six of those games -- led his team to a fourth-place finish in the SOC and a berth in the state playoffs. He averaged 17.1 points a game despite the late start due to a broken collarbone suffered in football. "It's disappointing I didn't win it," says Rouhier, of the top player award. "I'm not going to scoff at it (his first-team selection), but being player of the year was one of my goals this year." "I guess playing on a team with a losing record hurt me. I'm disappointed, but I'll get over it." Rouhier is awaiting word on his expected acceptance to the U.S. Naval Academy, where he plans to play Division I college basketball. Rouhier, 17, plans to attend the Naval Academy's prep school in Rhode Island next year before entering the academy in Annapolis, Md., the following year. "What I'm going to miss the most from high school is going out and playing ball with my friends for our school," says Rouhier, a four-year varsity player for Eagle Point. "It seems like it went too fast." In addition to the aforementioned three, other first-team selection all-stars are 5-10 South Medford senior point guard Steve Hilgendorf and 6-2 sophomore guard Brant Minor of Grants Pass. Elseth averaged 12.1 points and 7.5 rebounds a game for the Cavemen. In addition to being the team's leading rebounder, he was a fierce competitor and clutch shooter from inside and outside, Cowell says. "He did a lot of things for us," says the coach. "He can be a dominant player again for us next year. He worked hard in the weight room, and he leads the work ethic our team showed this year on the weights and on the court." Elseth shot just over 50 percent from the field and was a reliable 3-point shooter. "All of our starters shoot the ball real well," says Elseth. "That really helped us." "Ian really improved his shooting and the rest of his game this year," says Cowell. "It helped having a gym to shoot in after not having one the year before when our new gym was being built." The Cavemen had to practice and play home games at North Grants Pass Intermediate School while their new gym was being built two years ago. Hilgendorf broke the South Medford single-season record for average assists per game at 6.3. He averaged 12.3 points a game for the Panthers. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA