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New era underway at CSLA
Watchmen rebuild with a familiar
face
GFU can't hang on, falls 89-88
Bruins claim wins to open season at
2-0
| A
Shull thing |
St. Paul boys basketball team senior wing Levi Shull the cornerstone of a
strong Bucks team |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
|
 As a new member to the St. Paul
High School basketball team last season, Levi Shull was a key part of the squad’s
third-place finish at the state tournament. This season, Shull is the driving force behind
the Buckaroos.
Shull transferred to St. Paul from Sherwood High School as a junior. The 6-3
wing was an awkward matchup for nearly every team in the state. Most teams don’t have
a such tall players on their teams and if they do, they are primarily used as posts. But
Shull proved to be difficult to defend because he’s quicker than nearly every player
his size. Along with his outside shooting skills and consistent 3-point threat, the
opposition’s defense couldn’t let Shull out of its sight.
Everything went smoothly for the Bucks last season as the squad claimed the
Casco League championship. St. Paul dropped Jordan Valley in the state tournament opener
but then fell to top-ranked Mohawk in the semifinals. St. Paul came back to defeat
McKenzie for the rights to third-place.
Shull said he hoped the momentum the Buckaroos had coming off their football
state championship season would continue to the basketball court.
“Coming off of a state championship in football, we were really shooting
to get the dual title in both football and basketball,” he said. “I mean,
third-place is really good and you could say it was kind of a disappointment, but not
really.”
Shull averaged 12.5 points per game last season. His numbers could have been
better, but Shull usually sat on the bench after the Bucks routinely took leads of 20
points or more.
“Last year, we kind of blew teams out of the water, so I would get
pulled out and not play a lot in the second half,” he said. “This year, I’m
looking to probably have about 16 (points) or so ... If I don’t get that, though,
I’m not going to be disappointed because I know that we’re going to win.
I’ve always had a goal to score 20 a game, but I don’t think that’s a
reality for this year because we’re probably going to do to the same thing we did
last year and get ahead of teams and put in the second string.”
Shull said he thinks this season’s team is a quality one. However, he
worries about is the depth of the squad, especially since the Buckaroos were such a
senior-dominated team last season and few underclassmen got much playing time.
“We’re already better at three positions, but we’re definitely
not as deep,” he said. “We don’t have as many players who can come off the
bench (and) can give us good minutes.”
Even though Shull came from Class 3A basketball, he still had to get used to
the action at the Class 1A level and said he learned a lot that will prepare him for this
season.
“I was kind of intimidated when we played teams like Mohawk because they
were the defending champions and everything, but I learned a lot about how to step up my
game when we play the top teams,” he said. “Last year I wasn’t really used
to that.”
Something that helped Shull not be intimidated this season is his summer
basketball season experience. He played on Oregon’s team at the USA Junior National
basketball tournament in Columbus, Ohio. Shull was on a team made up of players from
Oregon and the team went up against 48 other teams from around country in July.
“That was a really good experience,” he said.
After a tryout at Clackamas Community College, Shull said he was surprised he
made the team.
“I was really surprised I made it,” he said. “I really
didn’t think I was that good of player, but I got there and saw the talent level that
was there and so I then I thought I could play.”
Someone who will be a compliment to the play of Shull is senior Chris
Holsberry, a transfer student from Sherwood High School. A friend of Shull’s since
the fifth-grade, Holsberry, a point guard, will guide the offense of the Buckaroos this
season. Shull said the addition of the 5-10 Holsberry will be key.
“We’re going to get a lot of fastbreaks this year,” Shull
said. “He’s going to open up the offense a lot more because last year we kind of
relied on the post game.”
Shull talked to Holsberry this summer and knew he was going to be moving. He
persuaded Holsberry to move to St. Paul and the plan worked.
“I just told him that I had a great time playing and that I had a lot
more opportunities,” he said. |
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From Nov. 26,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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