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South runs away from North photo by Drew Fleming By Don Hunt South Medford High basketball coach Dennis Murphy warned his players that Friday night�s game against archrival North Medford would be filled with physical play. A bump or two here. A push or two there. And pity anyone who enters the paint. The Black Tornado lived up to its reputation as a rough-and-tumble team but committed 28 fouls in the process, and South Medford responded by making 33 of 39 free throws en route to a 69-55 victory at North Medford High. The win came on the heels of South Medford�s 59-54 win over No. 2-ranked Grants Pass on Tuesday and improved the Panthers to 16-5 overall and 9-3 in the Southern Oregon Conference. North Medford dropped to 9-11 and 6-5 in the SOC. "We knew they would come out and bang us around, but we kept our composure and just played our brand of basketball," said South Medford junior guard Ryan Heil, who sank 17 of 18 free throws and scored 23 points. "It�s easy to get caught up in that style of play, but we didn�t." Eric Fiegi, the Panthers� 6-foot-8 junior post, registered a game-high 25 points. Using a full-court press to full advantage, the Panthers nearly blew the game open early by soaring to leads of 10-0 and 17-2. When Jared Mulholland buried a 15-foot jumper 1� minutes into the second quarter, it was 19-2 and North Medford seemed on the verge of collapse. But the Tornado then went on an 8-0 run, with senior post Kevin Foreman accounting for six of the points on a pair of layups and two free throws. Heil retaliated with six points near the end of the first half that gave the Panthers a 37-22 lead at the break, but North Medford again battled back. The Tornado twice crawled within five points in the final period, the last time at 54-49 with 4:10 remaining following a rebound basket by Foreman. The Tornado then had two chances to draw closer but failed to connect. After a timeout to clean blood off the floor � this game wouldn�t have been complete without it � the Panthers went to Fiegi and he banked in an 8-footer from the right wing with 3:47 left to give the visitors a little more breathing room. Fifteen seconds later, Boomer Marshall fired a 60-foot pass to a streaking John McKay, who got fouled as he went in for a layup. McKay made both free throws to pad South�s lead to 58-49, and the Panthers made 10 of 13 free throws over the final 2:08 to win going away. Foreman and Ben Anderson each scored 15 points to pace the Tornado, and Foreman added 12 rebounds. "It takes a lot of energy to come back from as far down as we were tonight," North Medford coach Gene Quilhaugh said. "We expended so much energy that when it came time to find that extra gear to get us over the top, we just didn�t have it." Quilhaugh paid tribute to Fiegi, the Panthers� rangy center who excelled no matter how many Tornado defenders came at him. "He played tougher in the paint than I expected," Quilhaugh said. "He got some key rebounds and putbacks. He�s really matured over the course of this season." For that matter, so has the rest of the Panthers. With just four seniors on the roster, South Medford has been through some growing pains. It had trouble winning on the road against good teams early this season, but has now won at Grants Pass and North Medford in successive games. "We�ve grown up a lot since the beginning of the season," Murphy said. "We�ve had problems shooting well against good teams, but we�re working our way through that problem. We�ve matured mentally and physically and that�s allowed us to relax out there." However, the Panthers weren�t able to breathe easily until the final minute of play Friday. SOUTH MEDFORD (69) � Fiegi 25, Heil 23, McKay 8, Mulholland 6, Marshall 4, Johnson 2, Tomlins 1. Totals: 18 33-39 69. NORTH MEDFORD (55) � Foreman 15, Anderson 15, Weeks 9, Burchfiel 8, Olson 6, Poulton 2, Lucas 0, Timmerman 0, Wessells. O�Brien 0. Totals: 15 10-18 55. South Medford ..................................... 19 18 10 22 � 69 North Medford ....................................... 2 20 18 15 � 55 3-point goals � Anderson 3. Fouled out � Poulton, Olson. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.