Comet boys held to 22 points by Napavine

Courtesy of The Chinook Observer
2/21/2007
By PHIL RAISTAKKAObserver corespondent

DAMIAN MULINIX photoNaselle’s Conor Smith has the ball wrestled away by a Napavine defender Wednesday night. The defense of the Tigers earned them a 54-22 win over the Comets to advance in the District 4 tournament.

NAPAVINE - The Naselle Comets boys hadn't run up against anything like it since they lost to Astoria while scoring only 30 points in the Christmas Tournament half a season ago. The "it" in this case was the defense of the Napavine Tigers who all but shut down the Comets' offense in Naselle's 54-22 loss to the Tigers in their opening game of the District 4 Boys 2B Basketball Tournament played on Wednesday, Feb. 14, in the Tigers gym. Happy Valentines Day, indeed.The Comets were not only held to their lowest point total in years, but they were only allowed to take 35 shots, making a miserly 20 percent of them, and were out-rebounded 40-22. Coach Brian Macy said, "Their defense just kind of took us out of everything we tried to do."It didn't start out that way. With Kyle Burkhalter leading the way, the Comets took a 10-9 first quarter lead. But that lead quickly evaporated as the Tiger "D" held the Comets scoreless in the second period while they were efficiently scoring 16 points. The Tigers led 25-10 at the half.It was to get no better in the second half as Kyle was Naselle's only consistent scorer with 15 game points. In fact, only two other players scored, led by Conor Smith with five points. Seven other Comets did not score a point - the Tiger defense was that tough. Naselle trailed 39-19 after three periods and they were only able to muster up three points in the final stanza while Napavine tallied 15 on the way to their 32-point win.Napavine was led by a group of four shooters, only one of them a senior. Casey Carns, a 6-foot 5-inch junior, led all scorers with 16, Kirk Vigre, a 6-foot 6-inch junior, added 15, Kellen Ashmore, a 6-foot 4-inch senior, had eight, and Blake Anthony, a 6-foot 1-inch sophomore, had seven points. The Tigers are only losing three seniors off their roster this year and they will return nine players next season who average nearly 55 points a game. Remember, this season the Tigers only finished fourth in the locally powerful Central League. But look out next year, if not this season!The teams which are playing in the semi-finals include three from the Central League and one from the Pacific League. The lone representative of the Pacific League, Valley, had to score nine points in the last minute and a half to tie Napavine and then beat them in overtime 60-56 to allow the Vikings to meet Toutle Lake in one of the semi-final games. Mossyrock vs. Cathlamet will meet in the other half of the semis.The losers' bracket has five Pacific teams and three Central teams. With Naselle vs. Northwest Christian in one of the games, a Pacific league team is sure to be eliminated. The other three games feature North Beach vs. White Pass, South Bend vs. Napavine and Ocosta vs. Morton, giving the Pacific League a chance to have four teams still alive in the losers bracket.The Comets jump from the frying pan into the fire with a Monday, Feb 19, losers-out game. The Comets will play Northwest Christian, which lost to Mossyrock in their first tournament game. The Comets and Navigators split in their two regular season league games. If the Comets win their Monday's game, they will play again on Thursday, Feb. 22, in Rochester. If the Comets lose the Monday game, their season is over.





NASELLE (22) - Kyle Burkhalter 15, Conor Smith 5. Austin Burkhalter 2;


FG - 7 of 35 for 20 percent,


3's - 1 of 6,


FT - 5 of 12;


Rebounds (22);


Turnovers (11)





NAPAVINE (54) - Casey Carns 16, Kirk Vigre 15, Kellen Ashmore 8, Blake Anthony 7, Ramirez 2, B. Keller 2, Hilley 2, Lantau 2;


Rebounds (40)