Burkhalter drops 33 points in South Bend road win

1/9/2008 12:01:00 AM

Photos by DAMIAN MULINIX/Chinook ObserverNaselle’s Conor Smith drives to the basket on a breakaway off a steal for two of his team-high 16 points in the Comets’ 55-34 win over Willapa Valley Thursday night at Raymond High.

Austin Burkhalter is triple-teamed by Viking defenders while trying to score in the paint in the second half of Thursday’s game. Burkhalter scored 14 points in the win.

Three's the lucky number for CometsAustin Burkhalter drops 33 points in South Bend road win

By PHIL RAISTAKKAObserver corespondent

SOUTH BEND - Austin Burkhalter dropped in 33 points to lead the Naselle Comets to their third win a row in a Pacific League basketball game played in South Bend Saturday, Jan. 5. The Comets used the two middle quarters to pull away from South Bend for a 67-46 win. The victory raised the Comets' league record to 3-2 and 5-5 overall. South Bend dropped to 3-2 in league, 5-4 overall.Austin came within one rebound of a double-double as he also had nine rebounds. He drained six 3-pointers, including four in the third quarter when the Comets outscored South Bend 20-6, with 16 of the Naselle points coming from Austin's hot hands. South Bend had opened the game with a 12-11 first quarter advantage only to see the Comets gain control with a 19-10 second period. That rally had given Naselle a 30-22 halftime lead."Austin was six for nine from 3-point land - one of those was a 35-footer to end the first half," said coach Brian Macy. "Offensively, I hope this is a sign of things to come. We have been struggling all season with our shooting. Our free throw shooting definitely needs to improve as we are shooting below 50 percent for the season."Kyle Burkhalter gave the Comets two players in double figures with 13 points and he also added seven assists. Six other Comets put points on the scoreboard led by Conor Smith with six and Gabe See with five.Macy summed up the Comets current status in this manner, "Defensively we put together a very good effort. We want to get where we consistently play 32 minutes of high intensity basketball. Since the (Astoria) tournament we seem to be putting things together."The Comets hope to continue with that positive progress when they play North Beach at Oyehut this Friday. In their first game with North Beach about a month ago, the Comets came up on the short end of a 74-62 score.

Naselle (67) - Austin Burkhalter 33, Kyle Burkhalter 13, Smith 6, See 5, Sultemeier 3, J. Hines 3, N. Hines 2, Mendoza 2, Macy, Erickson;

FG - 27-56,

FT - 3-8; Rebounds: A. Burkhalter 9;

Assists: K. Burkhalter 7

South Bend (46) - Randy Eang 11, Chase Michell 11, Lorton 10, Rogers 3, Howard 2, Lazelle 2, Graves 2, Davis 2, Cox 2, Vongmixay 1, Spoor, Huber, Boyes ;

FG - 18-58, FT- 8-13.