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Grants Pass trips cold South photo by Alex Szlachtianshyn By Kris Henry South Medford has stumbled upon a bit of a problem if it truly aims to contend for the Southern Oregon Conference boys basketball title. Whenever the Panthers play a formidable foe, their shooting eye tends to close. Facing a stiff, but passable, test in No. 2-ranked Grants Pass, South Medford simply was horrid from the field in letting the Cavemen escape the Panthers� gym with a 49-39 victory. South Medford followed a 7-for-30 shooting effort in the first half with a 4-for-25 swing in the second half for 20 percent accuracy against good, but certainly not stifling, defense. "I don�t know if it gets any uglier," said South Medford coach Dennis Murphy. "You can�t win if you can�t shoot, and we�re not very good shooters. "Some of it you have to attribute to Grants Pass� defense, but you have to step up and make shots." In a game billed as a toe-to-toe confrontation between the league�s top giants, the Ian Elseth-Eric Fiegi dual was made into an afterthought thanks to South�s struggles from the field. For the record, Fiegi had six of South�s seven field goals in the first half and finished with 14 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots. Elseth, last season�s SOC player of the year, scored the first nine points for the Cavemen but was saddled with early fouls and wasn�t asked to make much of an impact in the second half. "We didn�t shut Fiegi down by any means but Kory Mahr did a good job of at least containing him," Grants Pass coach Bill Cowell said in praising his backup center. Tuesday�s win helped Grants Pass remain unscathed at 13-0 and 3-0 in the Southern Oregon Conference, while South Medford dropped to 9-4 and 1-2 in league. "Any time you win over here it�s a special thing," said Cowell. "South deserves a lot of credit because they defended us really well and scoring points didn�t come easy for us tonight." The points may not have come easy, but at least they made it to the scoreboard as Grants Pass� grip on the contest was never seriously threatened. The Cavemen converted 7 of 8 free throws in the final 2:10 to ice a game in which they never trailed. "As long as we�re not turning the ball over we�ve got pretty good free-throw shooters," said Cowell, "so if we get to the free-throw line, we feel pretty good." With Andy Dobner in his face much of the night, South�s Ryan Heil never quite found a rhythm. Heil, the fourth-leading scorer in the SOC, went 0-for-12 from the field and didn�t score until late in the third quarter. Heil finished with six points, as did John McKay, who was only 2-for-10 from the field. Fiegi and some sound Panther defense paved the way for South�s only ray of hope at a late run against Grants Pass, with the 6-foot-8 post swatting away potential layups time and again. South unfortunately couldn�t do much with its second chances. "Every time he�d make a block we�d get the ball back but what did we do with it?" said Murphy. "We�d just burp it up. Burp, burp, burp." Tyler York hit two big 3-pointers in the first half and scored a team-high 14 points for the Cavemen, while Jerrod Dastrup used two long-range bombs to score 10. Grants Pass played without starting guard Brant Minor, who was forced to sit one game after being ejected from last week�s game against Klamath Union. South has little time to find an answer to its shooting woes with North Medford coming to the Panther gym Friday. The Black Tornado dropped to 2-1 in league after Tuesday�s 70-54 loss at Roseburg. Friday�s game time has been moved up to 5:15 p.m., with the varsity girls game between South and North slated to follow at 7. GRANTS PASS (49) � Elseth 9, Berg 7, York 14, Dastrup 10, Lathen 3, Mahr 4, Dobner 2, Olson 0. Totals: 15-46 14-18 49. SOUTH MEDFORD (39) � Fiegi 14, Marshall 3, Johnson 4, McKay 6, Heil 6, Lower 4, Mulhollen 2, Tomlins 0, Smith 0, Hilgendorf 0, Burnett 0. Totals: 11-55 17-21 39. Grants Pass..............................................16 14 8 11 � 49 South Medford..........................................8 13 7 11 � 39 3-point goals � Grants Pass 4-12 (York 2, Dastrup 2), South Medford 0-15. JV score � Grants Pass 43, South Medford 39. 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.