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Teamwork makes all the difference for the Cavemen in victory By Don Hunt PORTLAND - Grants Pass High basketball coach Bill Cowell was simply hoping to keep Wednesday's game against Jefferson close for 3 1/2 quarters, and then somehow find a way to win it during the final few minutes. "I thought if we could keep the game in the 30s or 40s, we'd have a shot," he said. Cowell never dreamed his Cavemen could win a high-scoring affair against the high-flying Democrats, a team that features two Division I recruits and a horde of other superb athletes. But they did just that, exploding for 28 points in the fourth period to collect an 82-68 victory in the biggest upset to date in the Class 4A state tournament. They did it by sinking 20 of 31 shots from the field, including an 11-of-14 effort in the first half. They did it by drilling a tournament-record 28 free throws in 38 attempts, including a 24-of-29 performance in the fourth period, when the Democrats found themselves down by as many as 18 points and in a desperate fouling mode. But most of all, they did it with teamwork. This was a classic case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. "I thought we had a chance if we did things right, but I never dreamed we'd execute like this," Cowell said. "We made a lot of good decisions out there. We did a lot of improvising on the fly." GP's strategy was to drain a minute or so off the clock on each possession before attacking the basket. But when the Democrats began to gamble defensively, the Cavemen found themselves getting layups and open perimeter shots, sometimes just a couple of passes into their offense. The Cavemen also handled Jefferson's full-court pressure fairly well. They wound up with 20 turnovers, but also burned the press with a half-dozen layups, contributing to their 65-percent field-goal percentage. "We had them frustrated," senior post Brant Minor said. "I think a lot of teams they play get intimidated by their quickness, their athletic ability and some of the trash-talking they do, but not us. We just played our game." It certainly helped the Cavemen that Jefferson didn't have a shot-blocking big man in the middle. Kory Mahr, GP's 6-foot-5 senior center, went 7-for-7 from the field and Minor went 5-for-6. Each finished with 15 points. It also helped to have a veteran point guard like Tyler York, a three-year starter who broke down the Democrats' press, went 11-for-12 from the free-throw line and finished with 19 points. But this isn't the same Grants Pass team from a year ago that advanced to the semifinals. This team doesn't have a big man like Ian Elseth, who is now playing at Oregon State, and it lacks depth. Until Cowell cleared his bench with less than a minute remaining, the only reserves who saw the floor were senior post Bart Baily and senior guard Derrick Draper. Both played vital roles in the victory as Baily scored eight of his 11 points in the fourth period when both Mahr and Minor were on the bench in foul trouble, and Draper went 3-for-4 at the line with two assists and only one turnover in 13 minutes. But neither Baily nor Draper would probably even make Jefferson's roster. Brandon Lincoln, the Democrats' 6-4 senior point guard, is headed to Oregon on a full ride and Thomas Gardner, a 6-4 junior wing who buried a couple of NBA-range 3-pointers Wednesday, is being heavily recruited by Kansas. The Jayhawks, currently the No. 1-ranked NCAA men's team, like Gardner so much that head coach Roy Williams made a trip to Portland late last month to watch him play. York and Minor, meanwhile, are being recruited by the likes of Southern Oregon, Western Oregon and Willamette. In other words, the Democrats' marquee players are better and their bench is deeper. And that's what made this win so special for Cowell. Asked if it was his biggest at Grants Pass, he said, "Well, our win over Jesuit (in the semifinals) last year is hard to top, but we knew going into that game that we had a good chance to win. "Tonight, we knew we pretty much had to do everything right." Fueled by a lights-out shooting performance, they pretty much did. 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.