Comets are league champs

2/13/2008
By PHIL RAISTAKKAObserver corespondent
NASELLE - In an emotional game Saturday, the Naselle Comets put together a huge fourth quarter to wrap up the outright championship of the Pacific League and the top seed in the District IV boys basketball tournament. The Comets doubled up the Northwest Christian (NWC) Navigators 22-11 in the final frame to record a 60-46 win. The win avoided a three-way tie for the top spot in the league and district.The Comets finished the regular season with a 12-2 league record, 14-6 overall. NWC dropped to third place in league with a 10-4 record. Tacoma Baptist finished in second place with a 11-3 mark. The Comets next action will come in the District IV Tournament at Montesano on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m., against the survivor of Thursday's South Bend at Mossyrock single elimination game. If the Comets win their first game they will advance to play on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 6:30 p.m., at WF West High School in Chehalis. If the Comets should lose their opener, they would fall into the losers bracket and their second game would be at Montesano on Monday, Feb. 18, at 5:30 p.m.Three weeks ago, the Comets boys had to come from nine points down in the fourth quarter to force a tie and then beat NWC 68-65 in overtime. It didn't come easily for the Comets in the rematch Saturday either. There were 11 ties and five lead changes in the first three quarters of play. In fact, Naselle didn't take the lead for good until Austin Burkhalter drained a 3-ball from the deep corner as the third quarter horn sounded. Up until that point the two scrappy, quick teams took turns knocking each other down. Kyle Burkhalter opened the scoring with an offensive rebound put-back for his only field goal of the game, Nick Hines added a hoop and the Comets had a four-point lead. NWC came back with six straight points, two by Dan Mailhot to forge a tie and then a lead change. By now, it had become evident that defense was going to play a major role in this game as both teams struggled to put points on the board. Conor Smith's six first quarter points had countered the NWC balanced scoring in 12-10 first quarter.The Comets were to finish with four double digit scorers, Austin Burkhalter with 20, Conor Smith and Nathan Sultemeier, both with 11, and Nick Hines with 10. Smith earned a double-double with 10 rebounds, Kyle added nine boards and Austin eight. The Comets shot 39 percent, but they were 4-of-9 from behind the arc. NWC shot just 31 percent. The Comets only made 62 percent of their free throws, on 24-of-39 shooting.The Comets went on a 10-4 run to open the second period. Austin was to nail has first 3-ball and put in seven points in the quarter. However, just as quickly as that lead was opened, the cat-quick Navigators came back with their own 6-0 run for a 12-10 quarter. The teams went in at the break tied at 22.The fast, sometimes frenzied action continued through the third stanza as neither side could gain much of an advantage. After two ties and three lead changes, the Comets suddenly found themselves in a pickle when Kyle was called for his third and fourth fouls in rapid-fire order. Kyle was forced to the bench with 4:04 left in the quarter and the Comets found themselves down by four points. The Comets did not panic, instead whittling away at the lead with a 10-3 run. A hoop by Austin and two freebies by Erickson tied the score yet again and Austin's three pointer put the Comets back in front just before the horn. The Comets 16-13 third period gave them the lead at 38-35 going into the final quarter.The Comets opened the fourth quarter without the services of Kyle, who was still on the bench with his four fouls. However, the remaining nucleus sucked it up and played some of their best ball of the year. Smith opened with a foul line jumper, Austin slammed in another three from the deep corner followed by a free throw and See and Sultemeier each went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. The result was a 9-3 Naselle run in the first four and a half minutes of the quarter, good enough for a 10-point Comets lead with 5:28 left to play. Sultemeier continued his hot foul shooting with two more in two tries and Austin added another freebie. Kyle reentered the game at mid-quarter to add some assistance to the Comet attack. Two Naselle steals led to two more Sultemeier free throws and Hines was to score seven points in the last three minutes on a drive to the hoop and four more free throws after being fouled on trips to the rim. The Hines-led late scoring surge saw the Comets outscore NWC 9-6 in the final three minutes for their 60-46 win and their long-awaited Pacific League championship.Coach Brian Macy said, "I really don't know the last time Naselle won a league title. At the start of the year I thought we could win it, but we got off to a slow start and we played a tough non-league schedule. But we really picked it up in the second half of the season."Prior to the game, senior night Senior Night festivities honored four-year starter Kyle Burkhalter and cheerleader Whitney Cooper and their parents.

NORTHWEST CHRISTIAN (46) - Cameron Hamilton 12, Ryan Fox 10, Steven Dunn 10, Robbie Groeschell 6, McRae Armstrong 2, Dan Mailhot 2, Peter Morgan 2, David Sowers 2, Cameron Vanlierop 2, Skyler Cook, Airick Owens, Cole Stormans;
FG - 20-65 (31%),
FT - 5-12 (42%)

NASELLE (60) - Austin Burkhalter 20, Conor Smith 11, Nathan Sultemeier 11, Nick Hines 10, Kyle Burkhalter 3, Alan Erickson 2, Gabe See 2, John Hines 1, Drew Macy, Leonel Mendoza;
FG - 16-41(39%),
3's - 4-9 (44%),
FT 24-39 (62%);
Rebounds: Smith 10, K. Burkhalter 9,
A. Burkhalter 8; Assists: K. Burkhalter 2, Sultemeier 2, N, Hines 2, See 2;
Steals: K. Burkhalter 3, Smith 3, A. Burkhalter 3, N. Hines 2