 |
Tigers upended, 76-49
Buck earns national honor
CST's Cheney swims into record books
Watchmen can't hold on to late lead,
fall 43-39
Bruins flounder, drop pair
Bruin women unable to gain ground
Sports Calendar
| Heading
to a title |
The Bucks prepare for Friday's important rematch with Perrydale |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic Sports Editor
Email Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
|
 Once was all it took for the St. Paul High School boys basketball team.
The Bucks suffered their first league loss in two seasons Jan. 7 when
Perrydale surprised the Bucks, handing them a 54-48 loss. Just before the game, senior
Robert Wilson had his head shaved by senior teammate Damian Wylie. For the Bucks it was a
sign that they would recommit themselves and not suffer another loss by having nearly
everyone shave their heads.
“I felt (Perrydale) controlled the game from start to finish,” said
St. Paul coach Buell Gonzales Jr., who also had his head shaved. “It was very
uncharacteristic for these guys to not show up. They beat us to loose balls, they
out-rebounded us and the guys decided that it’s not going to happen again. To them,
(shaving their heads) is a symbol for them to show their togetherness and their
commitment.”
Junior guard Levi Shull said the loss hurt the Bucks.
“It was a wake up call,” he said. “It showed us what we had to
work on.”
Senior point guard Bryan Schmitz said the loss made the Bucks think twice
about the season.
“We didn’t want to lose after that ever again,” he said.
And the Bucks haven’t. They’re on a nine-game win streak and head
into Friday’s 7 p.m. home matchup against the Pirates with confidence. The Pirates
have lost two league games this season and when they arrive in St. Paul for the rematch,
the winner will virtually claim the Casco League title.
“It’s a big rivalry,” he said. “There’s no love
lost, which is good. It’s never been dirty; there’s never been a lot of trash
talking. It’s always been really competitive and within the last few years that
Perrydale has been competitive at the state level and that’s added to it.”
The Bucks are in the midst of one of their most successful seasons.
They’re ranked No. 2 in the state with a 17-3 overall record and 12-1 Casco League
mark.
The Bucks have already beat two No. 1-ranked teams this season — Mohawk
and Columbia Christian. The win over Mohawk was especially impressive. The majority of the
players on the team also played on St. Paul’s championship football team. The long
season curbed St. Paul’s practice time to two weeks coming into the game against the
Indians, a team that’s been one of the state’s best for the past few seasons.
“We broke (Mohawk’s) two-and-a-half year home win streak and they
had been practicing since the beginning of November and we had two weeks of practice and
came in there and played our game,” Gonzales said. “We limited our turnovers,
defended really well and outscored them by 12 in the fourth quarter and that’s kind
of the way we’ve done it this whole year.
“We’ll hang with teams and keep it close and then our defensive
intensity will pick up some shots and the kids’ ability to stay within the structure
of our offense, which shows maturity, helps us.”
One of the things that has helped the Bucks this season doesn’t even
have anything to do with its play on the court. Gonzales said the football team’s
state title gives the Bucks an edge.
“That kind of confidence and that kind of teamwork is invaluable,”
he said.
But the Bucks still had to show what it could do on the court. The practice time
the Bucks had before the season was drastically shorter than almost every other team in
the state. Gonzales said even though the Bucks were playing football into December,
he’s glad they were there.
“I would never think of having them give up the time they spent in
football for an extra 20 days of practice,” he said. “The amount of confidence
that comes from winning a state championship in football is huge.”
But starting the season late isn’t new to Gonzales. In his three years
at the helm of the Bucks, the football team made it to the semifinals his first season and
played in the finals in the following two seasons. Gonzales figured the Bucks missed
approximately 50 practices due to the success of the football program.
“This group of seniors haven’t had (the practices) everybody else
has had,” he said. “That’s a whole season and a half, practically, spent in
the gym practicing. It changes some of the stuff we do and you’re definitely going to
peak later in the season, which is a good thing.”
Coming into the season, Gonzales was charged with improving a team that made
the state playoffs. Guards Joel Halter and Brian Raymond played critical parts for the
Bucks and Gonzales had to find a way to succeed without them once they graduated.
“At the end of last year, I was really concerned with where we were
going to get some of our scoring,” he said. “Joel and Brian were huge parts of
scoring output. If Joel wasn’t scoring, he was giving it to someone who was. Brian
was great at both ends of the floor. He was a great defender and penetrator. Post play is
all about guard play and if you don’t have guard play, you’re not going to
compete at the end of the season, so that was my biggest worry was replacing them.”
The wishes of Gonzales were answered. Bruce Shull took over as the
superintendent of the St. Paul school district. Shull’s son, Levi, played on Sherwood
High School’s junior varsity team.
“He’s a huge part of the team,” Gonzales said. “He gives
us a basketball player, a basketball player that we haven’t had since I’ve been
here. He’s a basketball player that’s 6-3 who shoots well, passes well, dribbles
the ball well, can score and if I could have asked one thing from last year that I could
have for this year, it would have been a legitimate scoring threat from anywhere.”
Shull has been huge for the Bucks. His outside shooting has lifted the Bucks
in a few games. Shull even scored 22 points in one half of play this season.
“It’s been pretty awesome,” Shull said. “I never would
have had this opportunity at Sherwood. To be on a team that has a chance to win state this
year is pretty incredible. I have a hard time grasping that.”
Wylie is the team’s lone returning starter from last year’s team.
Gonzales said he knew what to expect from the 6-2 senior. But the addition of 6-5 post
senior Steve Sammons has been huge. Sammons came on late last season and provided an
offensive presence in the post the Bucks needed.
“I knew Damian would mature and he’s consistently been the hardest
worker and the best defender that we’ve had,” Gonzales said. “Steve’s
ability, his maturity, and ability to score in the post has been a real plus. That was
something that I knew would come and I’m really pleased with that.”
Gonzales has also had his share of players he was unsure about. Junior guard
Anthony Barrera didn’t play last season and Gonzales said he wasn’t sure where
he would fit in with the Bucks this season.
“He’s our best shooter,” he said. “He’s more of a
set shooter. He struggled a little at the beginning of the year trying to find his niche
within the team, but now it’s starting to come together. And that was something at
the end of last year that I wasn’t sure of, I mean where his spot would be.”
Schmitz was another question mark prior to the season. He quit the team last
year but Gonzales gave him a chance to prove himself this season. Schmitz has responded,
Gonzales said.
“You coach kids and you’re around them a lot and you want to be
understanding and you want to help them and don’t want to hold kids accountable for
what they do when they’re 16 or 17 years old,” he said. “Regardless of what
his reasoning was, I think he’s moved on and has worked hard. He’s been a leader
by his work ethic and his determination. He really wants to contribute and that’s
nice.”
What’s also been nice for the Bucks are what players credit for their
success — teamwork, mental composure and few turnovers — things they hope to
utilize Friday when they attempt to exact revenge on the Pirates.
“Everybody knows their roles pretty well, too,” Schmitz said.
“We’re prepared. Everybody’s been thinking about it for a little while.
It’s been in the back of our minds.” |
|
From Feb. 12,
2003, Newberg Graphic
Click Here to Subscribe |
|
|
