Published:Saturday, February 24, 2007 1:16 PM PST
Serving the South Coast of Oregon

Bruins rally past NB in Far West League playoffs
Saturday, February 24, 2007 1:16 PM PST

Brookings-Harbor scored the final 17 points of the game to grab the Far West League's No. 2 seed for the state playoffs and a home game against La Grande next Friday.

North Bend will be on the road Tuesday against the No. 3 team from the Skyline League, which will be decided when North Valley visits Phoenix tonight. The winner of North Bend's game Tuesday travels to Sky-Em champion Cottage Grove next Friday.

The Bulldogs led 44-36 midway through the fourth quarter when Brookings-Harbor went on a game-ending tear led by Jason Bay and Chase Bansemer.

They each hit 3-pointers to cut the lead to two points and then combined to hit six straight free throws to put Brookings-Harbor in front for good.

Meanwhile, North Bend wasn't getting anything done against Brookings-Harbor's pressure defense.

“What cost us was the press,” North Bend coach John Olson said. “We threw the ball away too many times. We got tentative. The more tentative we got, the more excited Brookings got.”

Bay and Bansemer combined to score 22 points in the fourth quarter, each hitting two 3-pointers and combining to go 8-for-9 from the foul line.

Bay had 14 of his 21 points in the quarter and Bansemer eight of his 12.

“I credit (Brookings-Harbor coach) Bryan (Woods) and his kids,” Olson said. “They really hung tough.”

Luke Clark scored 16 points off the bench for the Bulldogs. Elliot Adams added seven.

The Bulldogs, who lost just two league games and finished second in the regular season, now must win two road games to reach the state tournament.

“We just need to bounce back on Tuesday,” Olson said. “If we sit back there and cry about what we didn't do tonight, our playoff run is going to be awful short.

“We maybe don't like our chances as much as we would have, but we're going to take what we got and we're going to give our next opponent, whoever it is, a good run.”


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