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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 12, 2006 South Medford players from left, Tony DeSimone, Myles Daley, Brent Johnson, Kyle Singler and Jon Grimes sit on the bench after coming up two points short in the OSAA 4A state championship Saturday at McArthur Court in Eugene. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Love hurts: South loses state championship By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune EUGENE — South Medford advanced to its first state championship final with a buzzer-beating shot. The top-ranked Panthers almost added their first boys basketball title with another Saturday night in front of 6,995 strong at McArthur Court in Eugene. As time seemingly stood still, Michael Harthun’s desperation 3-pointer caromed off the backboard and checked back against the front rim as a teaser before finally escaping the basket to give No. 2 Lake Oswego a 59-57 triumph. "Knowing Mike, if it goes up, it has a good chance," Panthers junior Kyle Singler said of the off-balance shot. "It was actually closer than I thought it was going to be." And much closer than Lakers standout Kevin Love wanted it to be. Advertisement "It took forever to hit the backboard and come off," said Love, who joined Singler and Harthun as first-team all-tournament selections. "I saw it go up and thought, ‘OK, that’s off,’ then it seemed like 10 more seconds went by before it finally went off the rim in a fast motion." It was the way a state championship game should be, save maybe the final result if you’re a South Medford fan. "It is disappointing, but our effort was there," said Singler, who had 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. "We just got beat by a better team." Considering how the action went back and forth, the more accurate description is that the Panthers (27-2) were simply outlasted on Saturday. "We just had no counter punch to Lake Oswego," said Singler, who held Love scoreless in the fourth quarter until an intentional foul allowed his 6-foot-10 buddy to notch two foul shots. "Whenever they scored, it seems like we had a little drought where we didn’t counterpunch their attack. If we could’ve just hit them a little more with a couple baskets, it would’ve been a different ending." Instead, the ending saw Love run and jump on the scorer’s table pounding his chest and proclaiming his dominance. He finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots. "I knew it was going to be close with them," Love said of the Panthers, who hadn’t lost to a team from Oregon until Saturday. "It feels amazing right now. I can’t even explain it." The No. 3-rated junior in the nation did, however, know how to explain such a loss to Singler (rated No. 6). Love went through the exact same emotional roller coaster last year as he watched Jesuit rally for a 57-53 victory in the title game. "I told him to keep his head up and I love him because he’s such a great athlete," Love said of their post-game hug. "There’s always next year for him, and also us." Buoyed by the play of Singler and senior Kendall Gielow, South managed a 14-13 lead in the first quarter. Lake Oswego (26-3) used a 10-0 run over the last 2:50 of the first quarter and first two minutes of the second, however, to pull ahead 20-14. Two baskets by Harthun and a 3-pointer by Gielow allowed South to trim its deficit to 29-28 at intermission. Despite the narrow margin, South Medford coach Dennis Murphy said he was looking for even more from his squad. "We just didn’t attack the basket at all," said the 18th-year coach. "We knew they were going to be in a zone and thought we had some advantages, but we just didn’t attack like we could’ve." Gielow tacked on two free throws 25 seconds into the second half to put the Panthers ahead 30-29, but that was the last lead South would see as Lake Oswego scored the next four points to build a cushion it never relinquished. The Lakers led 44-38 after three quarters and used pinpoint shooting from the free-throw line to withstand a Panther rally. Lake Oswego was 11 of 12 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, while South scored on nine of its 11 possessions in the final stanza — with one empty trip resulting from Harthun’s near-miss. "That’s a tough play and, to Mike’s credit, it was a great effort to get the shot off," said Murphy. The Panthers actually got the ball back with 13 seconds to play, but Lake Oswego swarmed Singler after he brought the ball past halfcourt. Singler passed to Gielow, but the senior had the ball knocked from his hands by Vincent Thomas. An ensuing pileup resulted in a jump ball, with South retaining possession but with only six-tenths of a second to work with. The Panthers designed a play to get the ball to Singler, but he was double-covered and freshman brother E.J. Singler inbounded the ball to Harthun, who had to dip under a defender’s arm for a leaning 3-pointer that could have won the game for South. "We had opportunities," said Murphy, whose team earned its highest placing in school history and a school-record third straight trophy. "When it gets down to the end like this, you play better teams so you’ve got to execute better, and we just didn’t do that." However, the Panthers were pretty close. South was 20-for-45 from the field (44 percent) and was a blistering 6 of 12 from 3-point range in the first half. The Panthers also boasted a 2-to-1 ratio in assists (10) to turnovers (five), but were outrebounded 28-19. "I’m so proud of them," Kyle Singler said of his fellow Panthers. "They came out and fought hard. We’re just a band of brothers, there’s nothing that can split us apart." Gielow led the scoring surge with 21 points in his best showing of the tournament and had some shining moments on defense against Love. "The first two games I didn’t really get off to a good start and couldn’t get into the flow," said Gielow, who was 6 of 13 from the field and 6-for-6 from the foul line against the Lakers. "I just went out today and tried to get the easy buckets and got a few of them to drop, but I guess it wasn’t enough in the end." Harthun added 17 points and four assists, while senior post Brent Johnson, who earned a second-team all-tournament nod, had three blocked shots and three more rebounds to finish second behind Love in that category. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail Love hurts: South loses state championship ">[email protected] . 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