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Beaverton strikes early and holds off a late Panther rally to prevail By DON HUNT PORTLAND - The Beaverton game plan was simple: Be patient on offense, be physical on defense and hit open shots. The Beavers were successful on all three counts and the result was a 57-52 upset victory over South Medford in a Class 4A state tournament quarterfinals matchup Thursday afternoon at Memorial Coliseum. The top-seeded Panthers dropped into the consolation bracket, where they'll meet fifth-seeded Churchill today at 1:30 p.m. Beaverton, the No. 9 seed, advanced to a semifinal matchup against No. 4 seed and Metro League-rival Jesuit at 7:30 tonight. The Beavers ambushed South Medford with an 11-0 run in the game's opening 21/2 minutes as senior guard Andrew Crossley swished two 3-point baskets and senior post Matt Henderson made a trey and a layup. Ryan Heil finally got South on the board with a pair of free throws at the five-minute mark of the first period, and the Panthers made a couple of strong rallies. But they never recovered from the early deficit and saw their 18-game win streak crash to a halt. Henderson finished with 20 points and Crossley had 16 to lead Beaverton, which has won nine straight games. Heil registered 20 points, six assists and five rebounds to pace South Medford. But Eric Fiegi, the Panthers' 6-foot-9 senior center who came into the game averaging nearly 21 points per game, was held to just 13 as Beaverton coach Nick Robertson sent everyone but the team manager at the South Medford star with orders to bump him around. "I've got four post kids over 200 pounds and they took turns guarding him," Robertson said. "We were able to put a body on him and keep him out of the key. "That was a big factor in the game's outcome. He didn't get a lot of good looks around the basket." Fiegi made just 3 of 8 shots from the field and his only points of the second half came on three free throws. "They totally threw us out of our game," Fiegi said. "We went through some long stretches where we couldn't get anything going offensively. We just weren't prepared for how physical they played us." Despite the nightmarish start, Heil and Fiegi rallied South Medford to within 13-11 late in the first period. But Crossley powered his way to the basket for a layup as time expired in the period and then drilled his third 3-pointer early in the second quarter to give the Beavers an 18-11 lead. "I got off to a great start - I just let it fly and it was going in," Crossley said. "The whole team was confident." By halftime, Beaverton owned a 32-21 advantage and had made 6 of 9 shots from beyond the arc. South Medford, meanwhile, shot an icy 29.4 percent from the field in the opening two periods and no one other than Heil (11 points) or Fiegi (10) had scored. The Panthers wound up hitting just 31.3 percent of their shots. "It's tough when you get down 11-0 and have to play catch-up the entire game," South Medford coach Dennis Murphy said. "It's tough to play uphill against a team like that." Beaverton maintained a double-digit lead through a defensive-oriented third period and into the fourth. Desperate to find someone other than Heil to hit an outside shot, Murphy inserted Jeremy Frantz into the lineup with about five minutes to play and the Panthers down 44-32. The junior guard, who hadn't registered a single second of varsity action all season, swished a 3-pointer from the top of the key the first time he touched the ball and drained another one with 1:42 remaining in the game that cut Beaverton's lead to 49-43. Henderson made a free throw at the other end but Heil retaliated with a driving layup and suddenly the Panthers were within 50-45 with 1:26 to go. Crossley sank two free throws to make it 52-45, but South Medford junior post Boomer Marshall, who had been silent offensively, made a layup and then, after Frantz narrowly missed hitting another trey following a Beaverton turnover, muscled in the rebound basket to trim the Beavers' lead to 52-49 with 42 seconds remaining. But that's as close as the Panthers could get as Beaverton went 5-for-8 at the free-throw line over the final 38.3 seconds to secure its 20th victory against eight losses. South Medford dropped to 24-2. "We felt a sense of urgency in the fourth quarter and got back in the game," Murphy said, "but we never got over the hump. "When you get right down to it, the better team won today." BEAVERTON (57) - Henderson 7-10 4-6 20, Crossley 4-7 5-6 16, Scriven 0-1 3-4 3, Fetzer 1-4 3-6 5, Baran 0-1 3-4 3, Hittner 0-3 0-0 0, Pompili 1-1 0-0 3, Kranda 1-2 5-6 7, Gabel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-29 23-32 57. SOUTH MEDFORD (52) - Heil 5-14 8-8 20, Fiegi 3-8 7-9 13, Marshall 3-9 0-0 7, Walport 0-3 2-2 2, Johnson 1-5 0-0 2, Frantz 2-4 0-0 6, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Lower 1-1 0-0 2, Fischer 0-0 0-0 0, Hagert 0-2 0-0 0, Olson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 15-48 17-19 52. Beaverton................................................15 17 5 20 - 57 South Medford........................................11 10 4 27 - 52 3-point goals-Beaverton 6-11 (Crossley 3-4, Henderson 2-3, Pompili 1-1, Scriven 0-1, Baran 0-1 Hittner 0-1); South Medford 5-17 (Heil 2-6, Frantz 2-4, Marshall 1-3, Walport 0-3, Johnson 0-1). Fouled out-Olson. Rebounds-Beaverton 23 (Henderson 5), South Medford 31 (Fiegi 6). Assists -Beaverton 6 (Baran 2, Kranda 2), South Medford 8 (Heil 6). Total fouls-Beaverton 19, South Medford 31. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.