Published:Wednesday, December 5, 2007 12:34 PM PST
Serving the South Coast of Oregon

Bulldog point guard Cameron Potts tries to pass around both Jordan Shepherd, left, and Jake Graves of Marshfield during the first half Tuesday. World Photo by Lou Sennick.
Marshfield lights up the scoreboard
Wednesday, December 5, 2007 12:34 PM PST

COOS BAY — It’s hard to believe Marshfield coach Doug Miles was nervous about his offense at one point.

His Pirates — fresh off their preseason switch to a more fast-paced attack — put on a scoring display Tuesday, overwhelming rival North Bend 92-65 at Pirate Palace.

The OSAA Endowment Game victory enacted sweet revenge for the Bucs (1-0), whose loss to North Bend (0-2) a year ago marked their first in the Civil War since 2002.

“This was just a lot of fun tonight,” Miles said afterward. “We had to make some last-minute changes to our system, and they worked out real well for us tonight.”

The 92 points easily passed Marshfield’s single-game scoring high from 2006, which came in a 78-76 double overtime loss to Port Angeles of Washington.

“We want to run a lot more this year,” Miles said. “The kids are buying into the change, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

Kyle Tedder scored a team-high 19 points, Jesse McClintock chipped in 16 and Gatlon Giorgis added a dozen — all coming in the first half as Marshfield strolled to a 49-28 lead at the break.

Brogan Oswald, who ended with 13 points, pushed the Pirates ahead early by making his first three shots from the outside. He, Tedder, McClintock and Giorgis  combined for seven 3-pointers in the opening 51⁄2 minutes, helping Marshfield open up a 23-8 lead.

The Pirates carried momentum into the second quarter with a 12-2 scoring run to go up 37-15.

“When a team jumps on you early like that, it’s almost impossible to get back in it,” said North Bend guard Andrew Slack, who led his team with 22 points. “They were hitting everything, and we were just trying to adjust to their defense.”

Marshfield switched to a full-court press midway through the second quarter that stymied North Bend’s ball movement. The Bulldogs committed 30 turnovers in the game, including 16 in the opening half.

North Bend coach John Olson, who seldom wore a smile during the game, said there was much for his players to gain in the defeat.

“Now it’s time for us to start rolling,” he said. “We got that out of our system. We can’t say we’re out of shape anymore after this. This is a defense we’re going to see a lot this year, so we learned a lot tonight. We have something to work off of now, and I think we’re going to respond well from here.”

Slack echoed Olson’s assessment, while giving praise to Marshfield’s level of play.

“That was a good team we played tonight, and did do some good things,” he said. “I thought our man-to-man defense worked well. That’s about as good of a team as we’re going to have to defend this season.”

Slack, who shot 6-for-9 in the second half, helped keep the deficit to less than 20 in the third quarter with 10 points, two assists and two rebounds. He sank a layin off a pass from Elliot Adams to make it 57-38 late in the period, but Marshfield responded big.

Chad Statham came off the bench to drop in five points, including three in an and-one play, and Marshfield was back up by 24 with 2:17 to go.

“Everyone was shooting lights out,” said McClintock, who added five steals, three assists and two boards to his career-high scoring total. “We were feeling good in warm-ups and went out and executed. This was a big night.”

Marshfield took a 65-44 lead into the fourth quarter and increased the advantage with 10 points from Tedder down the stretch. The sophomore guard sank two wide-open 3s, then later knocked in a two-pointer after a baseline drive to give the Pirates their biggest lead of the night at 90-60.

Jordan Shepherd, a 6-foot-3 forward, helped preserve the big lead with four of his eight points in the final period. The starting junior finished with 10 rebounds while making 3 of 5 shots from the field.

“They just couldn’t miss,” Olson said. “It was like a trial by fire for us — playing a team this good this early.”

The Bulldogs got nine rebounds, eight points and three assists from Adams, their 6-foot-6 post, seven bench points from Jake Lucero and six more from Sam Lynass, who also grabbed six boards. Trae Collins and Steffen Drucks added five points apiece for North Bend, which plays its home opener Thursday against Cottage Grove.

Marshfield travels to face Roosevelt on Friday as part of a four-game road slate before hosting the South Coast Les Schwab Invitational.


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