Document text
Dynamic duo lifts Rogue River to new heights Photos by Andrew Mariman / Mail Tribune Rogue River's Derrick Schoner, center, gives opposing defenses fits with his quickness and deadly shooting. The senior guard is averaging a team-high 20.1 points per game entering tonight's showdown with Mazama. High-scoring seniors Jason Luchterhand and Derrick Schoner have the fifth-ranked Chieftains off to their best start in recent memory By TIM PYLE Mail Tribune ROGUE RIVER - A couple of old, rarely challenged axioms to consider: Two is better than one. Winning beats losing. The Rogue River boys basketball team, surprise darling of the first half of the Skyline Conference season, is discovering both those sayings still ring true. Led by high-scoring seniors Jason Luchterhand and Derrick Schoner, the fifth-ranked Chieftains are 12-3 overall and 5-1 in the Skyline entering tonight's 7:15 conference showdown against ninth-ranked Mazama (12-2, 5-1) at Rogue River High. Rogue River's record and second-place position in the conference standings - one-half game back of Illinois Valley, which knocked off the Chieftains, 59-46, on Tuesday - are both unprecedented in recent times. The Chieftains have gone 2-12 in the Skyline each of the last two seasons, and they were 5-9 in conference action in 1998-99 and '97-98. When second-year head coach Scott Anderson was a senior on the '96-97 Rogue River team, the Chieftains won their last four Skyline games to finish 7-7 in league play. But that squad had a losing overall record. Anderson believes Rogue River's last winning season was '77-78. Others think it was sometime in the '60s. No one seems to know for certain. Whatever the case, winning is new to the Chieftain boys - and their supporters. "It's awesome getting the community involved and seeing everybody get excited," says the 22-year-old Anderson, who grew up in Rogue River and was a three-sport standout for the Chieftains. "We had a decent team when I played. We were filling up the gym for our last two games. Now, it's great to see that many fans showing up to all our games. (Tonight), we should pack it out. And we've got fans coming to away games with us. It's a blast." The loudest cheers are generally generated by the heroics of Luchterhand and Schoner, who have grown from starry-eyed sophomores to cool senior captains as starters on the varsity team. Schoner, a 5-foot-8 guard, averages 20.1 points per game. Luchterhand, a 6-4 post, scores 19.3 points per game. Illinois Valley was able to limit the duo to 19 combined points Tuesday, but Luchterhand and Schoner usually perform like the Skyline's - and possibly state's - most potent tag team. And it's not just scoring that the two provide. Luchterhand hauls down 9.1 rebounds, swipes 3.2 steals and blocks 1.3 shots per game while shooting 50.2 percent from the field. "When he puts it all together, there aren't many big men in the state, I think, who can hang with him," Anderson says. Schoner dishes 3.7 assists and makes 2.4 steals per outing while firing at a 40.8-percent clip from the field and an 82-percent rate from the free-throw line. He averages 3.4 3-pointers per game and has drilled 39.2 percent of his long-distance attempts. "Not many people can shoot the ball as well as he does, probably in the state," Anderson says. "He shoots from NBA-type range pretty consistently." A summer of weightlifting has helped Luchterhand become a more formidable presence inside for Rogue River. After adding 15-20 pounds in muscle, Luchterhand feels more comfortable in the paint than ever before while retaining a pretty stroke from the outside and the ability to bring the ball up the court. "This year, I've established myself as a post," says Luchterhand, who had scoring averages of 15.1 points per game as a junior and 11.9 as a sophomore. "I know that I'm stronger than a lot of people. ... And I know my defense has gotten phenomenally better since my sophomore year." Schoner is one of the Skyline's quickest players and a tough on-the-ball defender, according to Anderson. As a kid in Long Beach, Wash., Schoner spent hours honing his long-distance accuracy on a backyard half-court that his father constructed, complete with 3-point lines. Schoner's touch has continued to develop since he moved to Rogue River as a freshman, and he doesn't hesitate to prove it off the dribble or off a pass. "When I drive, I find myself with big 6-5, 6-6 guys, and I can't get much over them," says Schoner, whose scoring average has climbed from 8.8 points per outing as a sophomore and 15.2 last year. "So I like to stay out behind the arc and shoot there. It's nice." Luchterhand and Schoner agree that the biggest difference between these Chieftains and those of the last two seasons is maturity. With eight seniors on its 11-man roster, Rogue River has become more effective in the fourth quarter, when it used to collapse with regularity. "Last year, we'd go into games thinking, 'It'd be good if we won,'" Luchterhand says. "This year, we go into games thinking, 'We're gonna win.' There's a lot more confidence." Despite the Chieftains' lackluster history, neither Luchterhand, Schoner nor Anderson is too surprised at the team's success. "Ever since freshman year, we've been really close-knit," Schoner says of Rogue River's senior group, which also includes guards - and cousins - Ryan and Luke Mortinson, guard Adam Marland and forwards Tony Coma, Aaron Hanley and Zach Badley. "And we've been talking, ever since freshman year, about how our senior year, we're gonna make something happen." They already have. Reach reporter Tim Pyle at 776-4483 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.