WHIZZ, WHIRR, WOW...FISHERMEN DOMINATE NASELLE
When Astoria Basketball Coach Chris Hunt looked over his 2006-07 boy's basketball team, he knew that they had the ability to create havoc for their opponents.
Hunt now calls his kids "a bunch of sharks".
"Our kids start pressing and it's like the smell the blood in the water," Hunt remarked. "The ability of our guys to cause turnovers and create easy opportunities for our offense has improved as the season has gone along."
That improvement reached it's highest level of the young season as Astoria throttled Naselle in the nightcap of the 36th Annual Vince Dulchich Memorial Tournament, with a 66-30 win at the Brickhouse.
The Fishermen jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead within the first 90 seconds of the game and never looked back, improving their record to 7-2 on the year and notching their 7th straight win. The last time Astoria lost on the court was in the Madras Tournament to Columbia River, Wa., on December 2nd.
"Our guys are finally getting into condition," said Hunt. "We knew that it would take a few weeks, but now we're seeing what this team is capable of when our press leads to transistion baskets."
Naselle, who dropped to 4-3 overall with the loss, found themselves down 18-5 at the end of the 1st quarter and never recovered from the early spurt by the Fishermen. The Astoria lead grew to as many as 24 points in the first half as the Fishermen blistered the nets with 49% shooting from the field while causing 17 first half Naselle turnovers.
Leading 40-20 at the break, Astoria continued to build on its' lead, which ballooned to 37 points in the second half, as the Fishermen held back any hope of a Comet comeback by keeping the pressure on the full 94 feet until late in the game.
Led by Andy Murray, who got his first start of the season, every player except one for Astoria made it into the scoring column. Murray and Brian Anderson paced the Fishermen with 10 points a piece, with Murray adding in 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals for good measure. The Comets were led by Junior Kyle Burkhalter, who led all scorers with 13 points, along with 7 rebounds and 2 assists.
Astoria next faces the winner of the Knappa-Banks matchup on Friday night in the Championship game of the Dulchich Tournament, a game that can be heard on 1370 AM KAST, immediately following the Girl's Championship contest.
NASELLE 5 15 14 6 - 30
Burkhalter K. 13, Heagy 8, Smith 2, Burkhalter A. 3, Sultemeier 2, Griss 2, Hines, Erickson
ASTORIA 18 22 16 10 - 66
Murray 10, Poyer 9, Macareno 8, Alfonse 6, Landwehr 6, Robinson 4, Culver 4, Anderson 10, Faulkner 2, Davis 4, Christensen 3, Dalton
FIELD GOALS- AST: 28-66-42%, NAS: 12-43-28%
3-PT FG'S- AST: 2-6-33%, NAS: 1-11-9%
FREE THROWS- AST: 8-14-57%, NAS: 5-12-42%
REBOUNDS- AST: 44, NAS: 29
TURNOVERS- AST: 16, NAS: 28
Hunt now calls his kids "a bunch of sharks".
"Our kids start pressing and it's like the smell the blood in the water," Hunt remarked. "The ability of our guys to cause turnovers and create easy opportunities for our offense has improved as the season has gone along."
That improvement reached it's highest level of the young season as Astoria throttled Naselle in the nightcap of the 36th Annual Vince Dulchich Memorial Tournament, with a 66-30 win at the Brickhouse.
The Fishermen jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead within the first 90 seconds of the game and never looked back, improving their record to 7-2 on the year and notching their 7th straight win. The last time Astoria lost on the court was in the Madras Tournament to Columbia River, Wa., on December 2nd.
"Our guys are finally getting into condition," said Hunt. "We knew that it would take a few weeks, but now we're seeing what this team is capable of when our press leads to transistion baskets."
Naselle, who dropped to 4-3 overall with the loss, found themselves down 18-5 at the end of the 1st quarter and never recovered from the early spurt by the Fishermen. The Astoria lead grew to as many as 24 points in the first half as the Fishermen blistered the nets with 49% shooting from the field while causing 17 first half Naselle turnovers.
Leading 40-20 at the break, Astoria continued to build on its' lead, which ballooned to 37 points in the second half, as the Fishermen held back any hope of a Comet comeback by keeping the pressure on the full 94 feet until late in the game.
Led by Andy Murray, who got his first start of the season, every player except one for Astoria made it into the scoring column. Murray and Brian Anderson paced the Fishermen with 10 points a piece, with Murray adding in 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals for good measure. The Comets were led by Junior Kyle Burkhalter, who led all scorers with 13 points, along with 7 rebounds and 2 assists.
Astoria next faces the winner of the Knappa-Banks matchup on Friday night in the Championship game of the Dulchich Tournament, a game that can be heard on 1370 AM KAST, immediately following the Girl's Championship contest.
NASELLE 5 15 14 6 - 30
Burkhalter K. 13, Heagy 8, Smith 2, Burkhalter A. 3, Sultemeier 2, Griss 2, Hines, Erickson
ASTORIA 18 22 16 10 - 66
Murray 10, Poyer 9, Macareno 8, Alfonse 6, Landwehr 6, Robinson 4, Culver 4, Anderson 10, Faulkner 2, Davis 4, Christensen 3, Dalton
FIELD GOALS- AST: 28-66-42%, NAS: 12-43-28%
3-PT FG'S- AST: 2-6-33%, NAS: 1-11-9%
FREE THROWS- AST: 8-14-57%, NAS: 5-12-42%
REBOUNDS- AST: 44, NAS: 29
TURNOVERS- AST: 16, NAS: 28
posted by Danny Havel at 10:10 AM
3 Comments:
Hey I have one comment about this game, and that is if this is such a big win, would a game against Jewell or a 1A school from eastern Oregon be a good win for the Astoria varsity? Come on, the Naselle Comets are in the smallest classification in the state of Washington... Lets invite some 4A teams that have some caliber to the Vince Dulchich tournament...or even better at least have 3A teams... I would just be happy to make this a premier tournament.
Well, first of all, I don't think anyone claimed that this was a BIG win for Astoria, just an impressive performance by a team that has struggled at times early in the season.
As far as the teams in the Dulchich, I agree, the teams are not at the same classification level as Astoria and they should be. Competition for quality opponents for Holiday Tournaments is fierce. The Astoria Athletic Department should try to get some other quality 4A schools (Central, Marist, Siuslaw, North Bend, etc.) to come up. I like that Knappa is in this tournament...I think both Logger teams will give the Fishermen all they can handle tonight.
The tournament is set up as a fund raiser. During the holidays it is difficult to get large school teams and their supporters to make the commitment. Summer baseball tournaments are just the opposite everyone loves to come to the coast. By the way if Astoria loses you would not here any small school complaining...
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