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Cavemen prove to be too much for Tornado By Kris Henry GRANTS PASS � Too tall, too deep, too deadly from the outside. Any one of those three factors can catapult a team to victory. The combination of all three can make things downright ugly for opposing teams. North Medford found that to be the case Tuesday night as second-ranked Grants Pass added "too physical" to the list in a 79-45 rout at Heater-Newman Gym. "This was definitely our best league game," said Grants Pass coach Bill Cowell. "We put everything together tonight." The Cavemen blocked 11 shots, converted 11 of 17 3-point attempts and made it almost impossible for North Medford to find an opening on offense. Grants Pass (15-0, 5-0 SOC) led by as many as 35 points in the third quarter and managed a 20-point cushion two minutes into the second quarter. "Most of tonight keyed off our defense," said Cowell. "I thought that�s the best we�ve played in the full court since Christmas." Grants Pass wasted little time in separating from North, outscoring the Black Tornado 19-6 in a first quarter that featured three 3-pointers, six steals and four blocked shots by the Cavemen. "They jumped on us early and we didn�t come out very fired up," said North senior Kevin Foreman. "When you try to play catch-up the whole game, it�s just tough to come back in this gym against a great team." It didn�t help the Tornado�s cause that Grants Pass was whistled for only two fouls in what was a very aggressive, physical first half of play. Conversely, North (5-9, 2-3 SOC) was charged with 10 fouls. Regardless, the Cavemen had enough other factors going their way. Grants Pass connected on 29 of 54 field goals, with most coming either off drives to the basket against the undersized Tornado or on wide-open 3-point attempts. "We kind of sagged off to concentrate on (Ian) Elseth," Foreman said, "but they just have so many outside shooters. When we�d go down, they�d just kick it out deep and their shots were going in all night." Elseth, last year�s SOC player of the year, used his 6-foot-7 frame to score 14 points and block five shots. Playing off Elseth, Jerrod Dastrup had three 3-pointers and 15 points, Andy Dobner had three treys for 13 points and Tyler York connected twice from beyond the arc for 12 points. "We�re capable of playing like that when we get going up and down the floor, but we haven�t been able to force that tempo very much until tonight," said Cowell. "We wanted to look to Ian early and react off of how they defended him, and our guys shot the ball really, really well tonight." North didn�t have that same sort of luck from the outside, connecting on only 8 of 27 shots in the first half and 19 of 62 for the game. The Tornado missed its first seven 3-point attempts before hitting three late in the fourth quarter. Gabe Burchfiel led North with 13 points, while Ben Anderson added 12 and Foreman had seven in tight quarters down low. Kory Mahr, a 6-4 reserve post, added four blocks in a two-minute stretch during the third quarter that helped Grants Pass bump its lead to 61-26. NORTH MEDFORD (45) � Weeks 4, Poulton 0, Foreman 7, Hovland 3, Deline 0, Taylor 2, Anderson 12, Lucas 0, Timmerman 0, Burchfiel 13, Wessels 0, O�Brien 4. Totals: 19-62 4-6 45. GRANTS PASS (79) � Cohen 6, Olson 3, York 12, Minor 4, Dobner 13, Hill 0, Berg 4, Dastrup 15, Lathen 4, Richard 2, Mahr 2, Elseth 14, Rahn 0. Totals: 29-54 10-16 79. North Medford.........................................6 10 14 15 � 45 Grants Pass............................................19 24 21 15 � 79 3-point goals � North Medford 3-11 (Anderson 2, Hovland 1), Grants Pass 11-17 (York 2, Dastrup 3, Dobner 3, Olson 1, Cohen 2). JV score � Grants Pass 52, North Medford 49. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.