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By PAUL MATLI
The Astorian
Tuesday night was a golden one for the Astoria boys basketball team as they flipped the script on their rivals and finally tasted victory in the Clatsop Clash.
Coming into Tuesday evening, the Seaside boys had a stranglehold on the rivalry. The Seagulls swept Astoria the past two years and won three out of four games the year prior. With the Seagulls going through a bit of transition, they were ripe for the taking and their rival took advantage.
Behind a first quarter explosion and a defensive showcase, the Astoria boys basketball team cruised to a 52-31 victory. The Fishermen started fast, scoring 17 points in the opening quarter, and allowed just seven in the first half as they led 27-7 after one half. Seaside did respond in the third quarter with a renewed defensive intensity to win the quarter 10-9, but Astoria turned on the jets once more and closed things out in the fourth.
For head coach Alex Eterno and his senior group, this win allowed them to shave off years of frustration.
“The boys came out aggressively, they played hungry,” Eterno said. “Seaside plays a very physical brand of basketball, so it’s nice to see us put the ball in the hoop because they are getting better and better. Our big thing is to push the tempo and our boys did a very good job of that.
“It’s been a struggle for Astoria basketball to get wins versus them so it’s nice to finally get a win, but it’s just one. Letting our boys know it feels good, but it’s just one win. Our mentality is one game at a time and not let the moment be bigger than it is.’
After defeating Tillamook in open league play, the Fishermen are now 2-0 in league play and are set to host 4A No. 2 team Scapppoose this coming Friday. The Fishermen will hope to ride the wave of good shooting and defense to knock off the Indians and make a big early league statement.
Eterno credited the entire team for the victory. He said the Fishermen’s defense is what made the difference against their rival and he’s hopeful the boys will continue working on that end of the floor.
“Quin Gohr has been our leader on both sides of the court,” Eterno said. “He gets downhill, does a good job getting to the free throw line. Magnus did a very good job tonight both offensively and defensively. Cooper Jones won’t show up in the stat book, but his help on defense was great tonight. Orrick and Mulu played great on the defensive end, so it was a team effort from our guys tonight.”
For Seaside, this game will be seen as a letdown after they played so well against The Dalles on Friday. The Seagulls were coming off their biggest victory of the season against the Riverhawks and looked to be turning the corner on the offensive end, but it was not to be. Seaside was not able to make enough shots in the first quarter to match Astoria and they fell behind 17-4.
Despite the loss, Seaside still has the defensive intensity and offense to challenge most teams in the Cowapa League this season. If they find a consistent offensive identity, the young team will be set up to be challengers for the Cowapa League title next season as they have just four seniors graduating from this year’s team.
The victory improves Astoria’s record to 9-4 and Seaside’s dropped to 3-8.
Quin Gohr led a balanced scoring effort for the Fishermen with 18 points. He was joined in double figures by sophomore big man Magnus Kryzanek, who had 11 points. In total, the Fishermen had all eight of their rotation players score at least one bucket.
Seaside’s scoring was led by senior guard Caleb Lefever and junior Hayden Halsen. Lefever had a team high of eight points, while Halsen netted seven in the Seagulls’ defeat.
Seaside girls flex
There’s a changing of the guard in the girls game, at least for one season.
After seeing rival Astoria run the local girls basketball scene for many years, the Seaside girls have finally cemented themselves as the top dogs.
The senior-heavy group came in with through-the-roof expectations and have so far lived up to them. A tough nonleague schedule didn’t trip them up much and neither would a rough shooting first half Tuesday night.
Despite coming in as the massive favorites and most in attendance expecting the game to be a thirty plus point thrashing, the young Astoria Fishermen proved to be a tough out in the first half. Though the Seagulls press and physicality has overwhelmed teams all year, Astoria did a very good job breaking the press and handling the physicality for being such a young team.
The Seagulls only led 26-22 as the teams entered halftime. But the third quarter would see the Seagulls flex their muscles and pull away. Seaside came out of halftime strong like they always do and swarmed to the ball with even more intensity than normal. This led to them outscoring Astoria 21-5 and putting the game away by a total score of 58-37.
“With the experience, we knew the shots we were taking were going to fall,” Seaside head coach Marla Olstedt said. “Seven for 40 is a lot of shots and the girls have confidence to know that they’re going to fall and that happened. No matter the opponent we want to play to the standard that we set and it worked out in our favor.”
Though Seaside came in as the heavy favorites, Olstedt said rivalry games never go as planned and she’s happy the girls handled their business.
“The Clatsop Clash forever has been the game where you throw out the preseason schedule, throw your rankings out because you know how competitive this game is,” Olstedt said.
Despite the loss, Astoria Head Coach Jordan Ax was pleased with his team’s performance and said Tuesday that the light finally clicked for his young group.
“We matured this game,” Ax said. “You always want to win the game, but there are times when you see growth in your team where it starts to click and tonight was a good example of that. We handled the press really well, we were composed for most of the game and defensively we were able to execute what we wanted to do.”
With the Cowapa League being a three-horse race between Seaside, Tillamook and St. Helens, Ax is hopeful the young Fishermen will continue improving throughout the season.
“We have an extremely young team,” Ax said. “My expectation this year was just to get the girls to love basketball and prepare them for the future. If we can make some noise this year and get a couple wins late against some of these teams that will give us confidence going into the summer. We’re looking to get better a day at a time this year and working towards the ultimate goal of the future.”
Seaside had a balanced scoring effort once again. Carly Corder and Makenna White led the Seagulls with 14 points. Freshman Jahzara Marshall had 11 and Lili Miller scored all six of her points in the first quarter, but battled foul trouble all night.
Astoria was led by Kyah Gohr and Lucy Jannusch, who both had eight points. Freshman guard Kilee Svensen had seven for the Fishermen.
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The Astorian
Tuesday night was a golden one for the Astoria boys basketball team as they flipped the script on their rivals and finally tasted victory in the Clatsop Clash.
Coming into Tuesday evening, the Seaside boys had a stranglehold on the rivalry. The Seagulls swept Astoria the past two years and won three out of four games the year prior. With the Seagulls going through a bit of transition, they were ripe for the taking and their rival took advantage.
Behind a first quarter explosion and a defensive showcase, the Astoria boys basketball team cruised to a 52-31 victory. The Fishermen started fast, scoring 17 points in the opening quarter, and allowed just seven in the first half as they led 27-7 after one half. Seaside did respond in the third quarter with a renewed defensive intensity to win the quarter 10-9, but Astoria turned on the jets once more and closed things out in the fourth.
For head coach Alex Eterno and his senior group, this win allowed them to shave off years of frustration.
“The boys came out aggressively, they played hungry,” Eterno said. “Seaside plays a very physical brand of basketball, so it’s nice to see us put the ball in the hoop because they are getting better and better. Our big thing is to push the tempo and our boys did a very good job of that.
“It’s been a struggle for Astoria basketball to get wins versus them so it’s nice to finally get a win, but it’s just one. Letting our boys know it feels good, but it’s just one win. Our mentality is one game at a time and not let the moment be bigger than it is.’
After defeating Tillamook in open league play, the Fishermen are now 2-0 in league play and are set to host 4A No. 2 team Scapppoose this coming Friday. The Fishermen will hope to ride the wave of good shooting and defense to knock off the Indians and make a big early league statement.
Eterno credited the entire team for the victory. He said the Fishermen’s defense is what made the difference against their rival and he’s hopeful the boys will continue working on that end of the floor.
“Quin Gohr has been our leader on both sides of the court,” Eterno said. “He gets downhill, does a good job getting to the free throw line. Magnus did a very good job tonight both offensively and defensively. Cooper Jones won’t show up in the stat book, but his help on defense was great tonight. Orrick and Mulu played great on the defensive end, so it was a team effort from our guys tonight.”
For Seaside, this game will be seen as a letdown after they played so well against The Dalles on Friday. The Seagulls were coming off their biggest victory of the season against the Riverhawks and looked to be turning the corner on the offensive end, but it was not to be. Seaside was not able to make enough shots in the first quarter to match Astoria and they fell behind 17-4.
Despite the loss, Seaside still has the defensive intensity and offense to challenge most teams in the Cowapa League this season. If they find a consistent offensive identity, the young team will be set up to be challengers for the Cowapa League title next season as they have just four seniors graduating from this year’s team.
The victory improves Astoria’s record to 9-4 and Seaside’s dropped to 3-8.
Quin Gohr led a balanced scoring effort for the Fishermen with 18 points. He was joined in double figures by sophomore big man Magnus Kryzanek, who had 11 points. In total, the Fishermen had all eight of their rotation players score at least one bucket.
Seaside’s scoring was led by senior guard Caleb Lefever and junior Hayden Halsen. Lefever had a team high of eight points, while Halsen netted seven in the Seagulls’ defeat.
Seaside girls flex
There’s a changing of the guard in the girls game, at least for one season.
After seeing rival Astoria run the local girls basketball scene for many years, the Seaside girls have finally cemented themselves as the top dogs.
The senior-heavy group came in with through-the-roof expectations and have so far lived up to them. A tough nonleague schedule didn’t trip them up much and neither would a rough shooting first half Tuesday night.
Despite coming in as the massive favorites and most in attendance expecting the game to be a thirty plus point thrashing, the young Astoria Fishermen proved to be a tough out in the first half. Though the Seagulls press and physicality has overwhelmed teams all year, Astoria did a very good job breaking the press and handling the physicality for being such a young team.
The Seagulls only led 26-22 as the teams entered halftime. But the third quarter would see the Seagulls flex their muscles and pull away. Seaside came out of halftime strong like they always do and swarmed to the ball with even more intensity than normal. This led to them outscoring Astoria 21-5 and putting the game away by a total score of 58-37.
“With the experience, we knew the shots we were taking were going to fall,” Seaside head coach Marla Olstedt said. “Seven for 40 is a lot of shots and the girls have confidence to know that they’re going to fall and that happened. No matter the opponent we want to play to the standard that we set and it worked out in our favor.”
Though Seaside came in as the heavy favorites, Olstedt said rivalry games never go as planned and she’s happy the girls handled their business.
“The Clatsop Clash forever has been the game where you throw out the preseason schedule, throw your rankings out because you know how competitive this game is,” Olstedt said.
Despite the loss, Astoria Head Coach Jordan Ax was pleased with his team’s performance and said Tuesday that the light finally clicked for his young group.
“We matured this game,” Ax said. “You always want to win the game, but there are times when you see growth in your team where it starts to click and tonight was a good example of that. We handled the press really well, we were composed for most of the game and defensively we were able to execute what we wanted to do.”
With the Cowapa League being a three-horse race between Seaside, Tillamook and St. Helens, Ax is hopeful the young Fishermen will continue improving throughout the season.
“We have an extremely young team,” Ax said. “My expectation this year was just to get the girls to love basketball and prepare them for the future. If we can make some noise this year and get a couple wins late against some of these teams that will give us confidence going into the summer. We’re looking to get better a day at a time this year and working towards the ultimate goal of the future.”
Seaside had a balanced scoring effort once again. Carly Corder and Makenna White led the Seagulls with 14 points. Freshman Jahzara Marshall had 11 and Lili Miller scored all six of her points in the first quarter, but battled foul trouble all night.
Astoria was led by Kyah Gohr and Lucy Jannusch, who both had eight points. Freshman guard Kilee Svensen had seven for the Fishermen.
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