Site search
sponsored by
News
ENLARGE
Grabbing hold: Sutherlin’s Nathan Shetters steals the ball from a Wilsonville player as teammate Willie Martineau looks on last Saturday. With much of the attention towards the Bulldogs drawn towards senior star Justin Parnell, the rest of the team has quietly stepped up to help Sutherlin reach the OSAA 3A State Championships for the third time in four years.
|
ENLARGE
|
Happy times: Sutherlin coach Craig Stinnett shares a moment with senior Justin Parnell after last Saturday’s 3A state playoff victory over Wilsonville. Stinnett says despite the big numbers Parnell has put up this year, Parnell’s teammates have stepped up immensley to help the Bulldogs return to the 3A State Championships.
|
SUTHERLIN — Having a player the caliber of Justin Parnell has helped the Sutherlin High boys basketball team reach the OSAA State Championships again.
Helped that is.
No doubt about it, the Northwest Nazarene-bound senior, who some consider to be the best player at Oregon’s 3A level, has at times carried the Bulldogs to victory throughout the season. He leads the Bulldogs in almost every statistical category, including scoring (23.5 points per game), rebounding (9.5), assists (3.1), minutes played (600) and 3-pointers made (52).
But, much to the surprise of some, there actually have been four other people on the basketball court with him all year long.
“We’ve all worked together as a team, and we don’t mind if Justin gets all the press,” Sutherlin senior Brady Wolford said. “As long as we get back to Gill, that’s all that matters.”
That’s exactly what’s happened for the Bulldogs (16-7 overall), who rebounded from an at-best mediocre start to sharing the Far West League title with North Bend, knocking off No. 9 Wilsonville in last week’s state playoffs and earning its third state tournament berth in four years. They’ll play Marist (20-8), the No. 3 team out of the Sky-Em League, in the state quarterfinals at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis.
Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., with the winner moving on to face either Greater Oregon League champion LaGrande (21-3) or Sky-Em League title winner Pleasant Hill (24-3) in the tournament’s semifinals Friday afternoon.
And despite the eye-popping numbers the 6-foot-3 Parnell has put up this season, the Bulldogs collectively agree that it’s the team’s play, not one player, which has gotten them back to Gill.
“Any coach in the world will tell you that there’s no way in the world that one kid can do this for you,” fourth-year Sutherlin coach Craig Stinnett said. “Look at (current Louisiana State freshman) Ben Voogd last year. Justin’s been compared to Ben Voogd and our team’s been compared to Siuslaw, and I don’t think that’s a fair comparison.”
Siuslaw, by the way, went two-and-out at last year’s state tournament amidst talk that Voogd was the Vikings’ only really talented player. Stinnett added that Siuslaw did have a good supporting cast of players for the well sought-after player, but that supporting cast had a bad tournament.
That’s why the Bulldogs agree that with the caliber of teams they’ll be facing in Corvallis, the rest of the roster will have to step up much like it has throughout the season.
“Most teams have that one person who just stands out,” said Sutherlin point guard A.J. Wilder, the team’s second-leading scorer at 6.7 points per game. “Justin is that person, and we’re not going to take anything away from that. But he understands that when he has that open jump shot, he should take it and when other guys are feeling it, he’ll kick it out to them. He’s so versatile that he recognizes those things.”
And it’s shown. Wolford went off on North Bend in a seeding game between the Far West League co-champions two weeks ago in Reedsport, scoring a game-high 20 points. In a game at Brookings-Harbor on Jan. 27, senior Willie Martineau scored all of his 12 consecutive Sutherlin points on 3-pointers during a key run the fourth quarter.
Helped that is.
No doubt about it, the Northwest Nazarene-bound senior, who some consider to be the best player at Oregon’s 3A level, has at times carried the Bulldogs to victory throughout the season. He leads the Bulldogs in almost every statistical category, including scoring (23.5 points per game), rebounding (9.5), assists (3.1), minutes played (600) and 3-pointers made (52).
But, much to the surprise of some, there actually have been four other people on the basketball court with him all year long.
“We’ve all worked together as a team, and we don’t mind if Justin gets all the press,” Sutherlin senior Brady Wolford said. “As long as we get back to Gill, that’s all that matters.”
That’s exactly what’s happened for the Bulldogs (16-7 overall), who rebounded from an at-best mediocre start to sharing the Far West League title with North Bend, knocking off No. 9 Wilsonville in last week’s state playoffs and earning its third state tournament berth in four years. They’ll play Marist (20-8), the No. 3 team out of the Sky-Em League, in the state quarterfinals at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis.
Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., with the winner moving on to face either Greater Oregon League champion LaGrande (21-3) or Sky-Em League title winner Pleasant Hill (24-3) in the tournament’s semifinals Friday afternoon.
And despite the eye-popping numbers the 6-foot-3 Parnell has put up this season, the Bulldogs collectively agree that it’s the team’s play, not one player, which has gotten them back to Gill.
“Any coach in the world will tell you that there’s no way in the world that one kid can do this for you,” fourth-year Sutherlin coach Craig Stinnett said. “Look at (current Louisiana State freshman) Ben Voogd last year. Justin’s been compared to Ben Voogd and our team’s been compared to Siuslaw, and I don’t think that’s a fair comparison.”
Siuslaw, by the way, went two-and-out at last year’s state tournament amidst talk that Voogd was the Vikings’ only really talented player. Stinnett added that Siuslaw did have a good supporting cast of players for the well sought-after player, but that supporting cast had a bad tournament.
That’s why the Bulldogs agree that with the caliber of teams they’ll be facing in Corvallis, the rest of the roster will have to step up much like it has throughout the season.
“Most teams have that one person who just stands out,” said Sutherlin point guard A.J. Wilder, the team’s second-leading scorer at 6.7 points per game. “Justin is that person, and we’re not going to take anything away from that. But he understands that when he has that open jump shot, he should take it and when other guys are feeling it, he’ll kick it out to them. He’s so versatile that he recognizes those things.”
And it’s shown. Wolford went off on North Bend in a seeding game between the Far West League co-champions two weeks ago in Reedsport, scoring a game-high 20 points. In a game at Brookings-Harbor on Jan. 27, senior Willie Martineau scored all of his 12 consecutive Sutherlin points on 3-pointers during a key run the fourth quarter.
“Justin is one person, but he’s more of a team player than everybody thinks he is,” said Martineau, who has shot 39.5 percent (34 for 86) from long range this year.
“He’s not a ball hog. If he’s double teamed, we just pop open for the openings we have. It kind of comes to our advantage.”
That advantage was nowhere to be found during the Bulldogs’ non-league schedule.
Sutherlin did open the season ranked No. 4 in the preseason 3A Coaches Poll. But after rebounding from a season-opening loss to Hidden Valley with four consecutive wins, dropped four of their last five games in 2005 and dropped completely out of the rankings.
Stinnett and his coaching staff juggled starting lineups during that 5-5 start to try to find a good mixture of players. But by the time league play rolled around, the Bulldogs began to understand their roles and have reeled off an impressive 11-2 record ever since.
“The pressure was off of us at that point because we started out thinking that we had to be good,” sophomore post player Nathan Shetters said of the Bulldogs’ mentality just before league play started. “That made us realize that we weren’t and we had to start working a lot harder.”
When Shetters, who stands at 6-1, showed he can handle himself defensively in the paint, it allowed the 6-3 Parnell to move out of the key more against guards from other teams. And the rest of the Bulldogs have stepped up on defense, too, allowing just under 44 points per game since just before the FWL schedule began.
Still, the Bulldogs have their doubters headed into Corvallis this week. But by now, they’re used to it.
“People Online and in other places keep saying we’re going to go two-and-out,” Stinnett said. “That’s OK. We just use that as motivation.”
• You can reach sports reporter Jon Mitchell by e-mail at jmitchell@newsreview.info, or by phone at 957-4219.
“He’s not a ball hog. If he’s double teamed, we just pop open for the openings we have. It kind of comes to our advantage.”
That advantage was nowhere to be found during the Bulldogs’ non-league schedule.
Sutherlin did open the season ranked No. 4 in the preseason 3A Coaches Poll. But after rebounding from a season-opening loss to Hidden Valley with four consecutive wins, dropped four of their last five games in 2005 and dropped completely out of the rankings.
Stinnett and his coaching staff juggled starting lineups during that 5-5 start to try to find a good mixture of players. But by the time league play rolled around, the Bulldogs began to understand their roles and have reeled off an impressive 11-2 record ever since.
“The pressure was off of us at that point because we started out thinking that we had to be good,” sophomore post player Nathan Shetters said of the Bulldogs’ mentality just before league play started. “That made us realize that we weren’t and we had to start working a lot harder.”
When Shetters, who stands at 6-1, showed he can handle himself defensively in the paint, it allowed the 6-3 Parnell to move out of the key more against guards from other teams. And the rest of the Bulldogs have stepped up on defense, too, allowing just under 44 points per game since just before the FWL schedule began.
Still, the Bulldogs have their doubters headed into Corvallis this week. But by now, they’re used to it.
“People Online and in other places keep saying we’re going to go two-and-out,” Stinnett said. “That’s OK. We just use that as motivation.”
• You can reach sports reporter Jon Mitchell by e-mail at jmitchell@newsreview.info, or by phone at 957-4219.
