The Stark Truth

Final: Highline 95, OC 78. Look for a game story and notebook online and in our print editions.

3:12 timeout: Highline 90, OC 64. Outside of Mt. San Jacinto (Calif.), which torched OC 107-73 in a California tournament in December, the Rangers only allowed two teams to get into the 80s all season. That gives you an idea of how efficient Highline has been today.

Looking ahead: OC will play the Lower Columbia-Chemeketa loser Saturday at 4 p.m. If they win that one, they’ll play for 4th and 7th on Sunday. Highline can get ready for Saturday’s 8 p.m semifinal against the LCC-Chemeketa winner.

5:47: Highline’s emptied its bench. Gibler played about 6 minutes this half and never came back. Score is 86-55. No Cinderella comeback today. For a few fleeeting moments it looked like they had a chance for one of those folk-lore type wins after crawling back into it after falling behind 15-0 and later 24-4.

9:04: This one’s starting to feel like garbage time. OC’s not taking a lot of high percentage shots and the deficit grows. Highline 79, OC 52.

10:55: Timeout: Highline 71, OC 50. (Biggest lead was 71-48).

14:31: Timeout. Highline 60, OC 44. Highline’s led by as many as 18 this half.

17:18: Nelson hits 3rd 3 of the second half and Thunderbirds have forged ahead 49-32. OC uses a timeout. Can they make another run? Seems a little unlikely, but you never know.

Second half starts: Highline hits a couple 3s and its 43-30. Make it 3 3s. It’s now 46-32.

Halftime stats: Gibler has 16 points (7-10 FGs) and 7 rebounds for Highline. Edwards has 12 points on 4-5 shooting from 3-point range. Curry leads Rangers with 9 points. OC is 1-11 from 3-point range and shot 29.4 percent. Highline shot 42.4 percent. T-Birds outrebounded OC 29-16.

Halftime: Highline 39, OC 30. Pretty good comeback for OC after getting buried early. I’ll have some halftime stats is a few minutes.

One-tenth of a second left: Curry fouled by Gibler on a putback. He misses first FT, makes second.

:38: LP Neloms misses front end of 1-and-1 for OC.  Highline going to take last shot of the half. Gibler tips in a shot but it’s called goaltending. Bad call.

1:06: Once again, they’re having scorekeeping problems. Highline leads 39-29.

2:28: Highline’s Vaughn Gaines hit two FTs and it’s 34-28.

2:50: It’s a 5-point game. OC’s Pillard follows a Rios miss on break to make it 32-27. That caps a 14-2 OC run.

3:21: Highline 32, OC 25. Thompson makes two FTs.

4:14: Artis hits 3 to pull Rangers within nine (32-23).

5:38: Curry scores in the lane. Highline 30, OC 18. Timeout Highline. Rangers started to play, but can they overcome that 15-0 deficit and Highline’s inside advantage?

7:04: WOW! WOW! Tysaiah Curry just slammed Dr. J-style. He took off from just inside the foul line and tomahawked it home to get OC within 30-16. That was a Sportscenter highlight slam.

8:31: Highline 30, OC 13. Gibler has 12.

13:17: Timeout OC. It’s not getting better for the Rangers. Highline’s been almost perfect from the field. Kelly Edwards has hit three 3s and Shedrick Nelson just drained another to make it 24-4.

15:22: Tysaiah Curry gets a shot to drop, OC trails 15-2.

15:52: It’s 13-0. OC brings in reserves LP Neloms, Dietrich Rios and Brandon Thompson.

OK, the game tipped off at 2:15 and it’s not been a good start for OC. Highline leads 7-0. Coby Gibler has four of Highline’s fourpints Make it six and it’s 9.0 with 17:55.

Nomake it 11-0. Gibler scores again with a baseline jumper.

The noon game between Whatcom and Blue Bend (Pendleton, Ore.) is in overtime, so the OC-Highline quarterfinal, scheduled to start at 2 p.m., will be delayed a bit. Ryan Sweet, former South Kitsap standout who played a year at Olympic, just scored to put Whatcom up 79-73.

Sweet had 22 points and 14 rebounds in a loss to Clackamas Thursday night, and it looks like he’s having anohter big game. Whatcom hung on for an 82-80 victory.

OC-Highline should start in about 20 minutes.

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.