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Bulldogs nip North in thriller Photos by Drew Fleming North Medford's Mike Olson (10) blows past North Bend's Alden Peterson (33) in the opener. Drive length of court in final seconds By DAVID DAUGHERTY With a scant 7.9 seconds to play in regulation, and trailing 61-60, North Bend coach John Olson dug into his playbook and called for his trusty eight-second play. Olson gambled that his inexperienced team could execute the play by going the length of the floor in less than eight seconds to win the game. The risk was rewarded. Senior guard Alden Peterson scooted coast-to-coast in four seconds for the game-winning basket, helping the Midwestern League Bulldogs pull off a thrilling, 63-61 victory over North Medford on Tuesday night in the first round of the Abby's Holiday Classic at the North High gym. The Bulldogs will face McNary in the semifinals tonight at 7:45 p.m. at the North gym, while the Black Tornado will host McMinnville at 3:45 p.m. "We did what we needed to do tonight," said Olson, whose team improved to 2-2 on the season. "He (Peterson) was supposed to pass it off, but he didn't." Peterson's heroics saved the day for North Bend, which led the entire contest until North Medford took its only lead of the game at 61-60 with 7.9 seconds on the clock. "The first thing coach (Olson) said to us in the huddle was he had confidence in us," said Peterson. "We really didn't know what was going on. We didn't know if we were winning or losing, so there was no panic on our part." North Medford's Casey Casebier (40) drives to the basket. North Bend jumped on the listless Tornado in the first quarter, outscoring the home team 21-8. North rallied in the second quarter, but still found itself staring at a seven-point halftime deficit, 35-28, behind the play of post Matt Johnson, who tallied nine first-half points. "I don't think we are that good and they are that bad," said Olson. "We only scored 35 points in our season-opener. Tonight we kicked it up and just made the most of it." "We chose to play in the middle of the floor and not be aggressive," said North Medford coach Gene Quilhaugh, whose team dropped to 2-5 with its initial first-round loss in 10 Holiday Classics. "I just don't know why we chose to do that." North Bend increased its lead to nine, 51-42, at the end of three periods, before the North defense came to life. With North Bend's inside presence of Johnson sitting on the bench in the second half due to a recurring knee injury, North Medford upped its pressure and leaned on undersized senior post Tate Mellbye. Mellbye's 11-point second-half effort cut into the Bulldogs' advantage and injected life into the sluggish Tornado. "We knew they (North Medford) would come back," said Olson. "We didn't have anyone to lean on in the second half and didn't execute down the stretch." With the Tornado trailing 58-52 late in the fourth period, Tornado guards Charlie Jensen and Wes Towne buried key 3-pointers to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 60-59. After Towne's 3-pointer, Jensen stole an errant North Bend pass and raced the length of floor in hopes of giving his team its first lead of the night. But Jensen lost the ball in traffic and when the smoke cleared, the Tornado's Thomas O'Brien picked up the ball, spun around at the foul line and buried the go-ahead basket with 7.9 seconds to play. That set the stage for Peterson, who took the inbound pass, knifed through traffic and cut through an unguarded lane to score the easy 2-pointer, while drawing a foul. "The play really didn't set up for us," said Peterson. "I was supposed to penetrate and pass off. I was a little surprised nobody came out to stop me." Peterson's three-point play put the final nail in the coffin. "We're not playing in game situations like we do in practice," said Quilhaugh. "The game was lost in the first five minutes of the first quarter and the first three of the third. I just don't have the answer for that." Mellbye led the Tornado with 17 points, while Towne added 15 and O'Brien 12. Peterson led North Bend with 13 points NORTH BEND (63) -- Moe 10, Praus 6, Schrader 11, Speasl 3, Johnson 8, Peterson 13, Hunter 3, Johnson 9. Totals: 26-48 6-13 63 NORTH MEDFORD (61) -- Olson 9, Weyers 0, Oliver 0, Foreman 0, Mellbye 17, Towne 15, Jensen 5, O'Brien 12, Casebier 2, Schlichting 0, Clark 2. Totals: 25-60 9-19 61. North Bend ............21 14 16 12 -- 63 North Medford .........8 20 14 19 -- 61 3-point goals -- North Bend 5 (Johnson 2, Speasl 1, Schrader 2); North Medford 3 (Towne 2, Jensen 1). Fouled out -- Schrader, Schlichting. MCNARY 50, MCMINNVILLE 46 -- Senior post Shiloh Rowland scored 12 points, while his McNary teammates made crucial fourth quarter free throws to help Valley League representative Celtics down defending champion McMinnville. The Celtics were a perfect 8 of 8 in the final period from the foul line to secure the win. Brian Zielinski added 10 points for McNary, which will face North Bend in one of tonight's semifinal matchups. Travis Jones led McMinnville with a game-high 17 points. MCMINNVILLE (46) -- Hurl 0, Briggs 2, Pratt 8, Paterson 3, Noble 2, West 8, Jones 17, McCoy 4, Johnson 2. Totals: 17-46 9-15 46. MCNARY (50) -- Zielinski 10, Hess 3, Cross 2, Ellison 8, Taylor 1, Rowland 12, Zahradnik 4, Lent 2, Medford 8. Totals: 19-38 11-18 50. McMinnville .............8 11 12 15 -- 46 McNary ....................13 15 8 14 -- 50 3-point goals -- McNary 1 (Zielinski); McMinnville 3 (Jones 3). Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.