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Grants Pass shocks Jesuit, reaches semifinals By CLIFF PFENNING PORTLAND � Grants Pass stunned Portland�s Jesuit High and put the first wrinkle into the tournament seeds with a dramatic 51-48 victory in the quarterfinals of the OSAA/U.S. Bank Class 4A boys basketball state tournament Thursday afternoon at Memorial Coliseum. Senior Andy Dobner made a three-point shot at the buzzer and was mobbed by anyone wearing Grants Pass blue as the school reached the semifinals for the first time since 1962, when it last won the title. The Cavemen (25-2) led by eight points with six minutes left in the game only to have Jesuit, the third seed and champion two years ago, battle back to a 48-all tie with 30 seconds left. Dobner�s shot came at the end of a frantic 10 seconds of dribbling and passing in front of the Grants Pass bench. "This is the kind of thing you dream about, that you practice every day," said Dobner, who made all five of his three-pointers and finished with 15 points. "I�m always practicing that shot, counting down, 3, 2, 1, shot. "This is an incredible feeling. We�re in the semifinals." Grants Pass, the sixth seed, will play second-seeded Churchill (23-3) in the semifinals at 7 p.m. tonight. Churchill survived a scare from seventh seed Clackamas before winning 50-49. No. 1 Jefferson and No. 4 Benson will play in the other semifinal. The Cavemen trailed 26-24 at halftime, but raced through the third quarter behind Dobner and junior guards Tyler York and Brant Minor. They led 44-36 with six minutes left. But Jesuit, which won the state football title in December, found another level of intensity and rallied. Senior point guard Mike McGrain, the football team�s quarterback, spurred the comeback with two short jumpers and a three-point shot with 30 seconds that tied the score and set up Dobner�s heroics. On the final Grants Pass possession, the ball went from York to Minor to 6-foot-7 forward Ian Elseth, who drew every Jesuit defender to his spot under the basket. He easily found Dobner in the left corner. "When the ball got to Ian I saw Andy wide open and I knew he was going to make the shot because he hadn�t missed all day," said York, who also had 15 points. "I was just hoping he would get the shot off in time." Jesuit coach Gene Potter left a stunned locker room and had praise for the Cavemen and their ability to win minor aspects of the game. Jesuit got off 17 more field-goal attempts, and had 10 more offensive rebounds, but the Cavemen made 9 of 12 three-point shots and had 14 assists on 18 baskets. "We raised our game and made a run, it�s just too bad we made so many little mistakes and got down by eight before then," he said. "Everybody will remember the last-second shot, but it�s the little things, not getting an offensive rebound or a loose ball, that made the difference before that. "Grants Pass took our best shot and won." The win by Grants Pass was the first true upset in the first year of the experiment to seed the Class 4A tournaments. The biggest upset in the girls tournament last week was No. 9 beating No. 8 in the first round and No. 2 beating No. 1 in the final. The top four seeds in the girls tournament reached the semifinals. York said the Grants Pass student section, which contained around 100 fans, helped the Cavemen survive the Jesuit onslaught at the end of the game. "They gave us a big lift," he said. "We�re four hours away from here, but we had great support. That made a difference." Elseth, who made just 2 of 9 shots but had three assists, said Grants Pass will try and pick up the tempo of the game against Churchill, which features four players who average double figures in points: 6-6 senior Jeff Rhode, 6-8 senior Drew Summers, senior guard Joel Worcester and 6-4 junior Jordan Kent, whose father is the coach at the University of Oregon. "They have a pretty big team and they like to slow the game down," Elseth said. "We want to run more. We�ll see if we can do that." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.