IHS slips from second

Published 4:00 pm Tuesday, February 5, 2008

CASTLE ROCK – Matt Kaino won his personal battle with Clint Burgoyne, but the Fishermen lost the war to the league-leading Rockets 62-52 there Tuesday. Kaino out-scored the top candidate for Trico MVP honors 17-13 and nabbed a dozen rebounds, seven of them of the offensive variety, but Burgoyne’s five points on two critical drives to the basket was enough to keep his team undefeated in league play.

The Fishermen had taken an early lead in the first period on two pretty passes from Karl Oman to Ilwaco center Ryan Blake for easy buckets. On the next two plays Blake appeared to block Rocket shots in the paint, but he was whistled for fouls on both occasions. “When Ryan (Blake) is out of the game our defensive and offensive game plans change,” Coach Paul Jarrett explained. “I had to sit him the rest of the first half.”

The Rockets took a 32-25 advantage to the locker room at intermission, but Burgoyne and their center, Zack Gehring, also got into foul trouble in the third stanza. The Fishermen were able to get to within 38-35 at the 3:35 mark of the third period, thanks to 3’s from Ryan Rodenbaugh and Oman. Kaino’s steady scoring, rebounding, and taking three charges, nabbing two steals, and blocking a shot also contributed mightily to Ilwaco’s comeback.

The score was 45-42 after Blake and Oman made layups to begin the final period. The Fishermen picked off two passes on Castle Rock’s next two possessions, but turned the basketball over the first time and the next time missed a shot and failed to secure the rebound. “If we could have gotten the lead at that point, you never know how the game may have turned,” Jarrett conjectured. “The bottom line is that we just weren’t able to get it done, especially when their two best players were on the bench with foul trouble.”

Down the stretch the Rockets blasted to a 17-10 run, with Burgoyne’s two clutch baskets putting the finishing touches on the Ilwaco loss. He scored 10 of his 13 points in the final frame.

Ilwaco was whistled for 18 fouls to 10 for the home team. The Fishermen out-rebounded Castle Rock 31-19, but turned the basketball over 23 times to a mere eight for the league-leaders. For Ilwaco Blake, Oman and Jack Whealdon each had eight points apiece and Rodenbaugh kicked in seven to the total. Kolby Kirby and Jordan DeSimone added two points each for the Fishermen.

The Rockets are now 9-0 in the Trico and 14-3 overall, while Ilwaco dropped to 5-4 in league play and 9-8 for the year. The Fishermen are tied with Stevenson for third place, one game behind second-place Kalama and one game ahead of Rochester, who is currently in fifth.

ILWACO – Karl Oman 8, Ryan Rodenbaugh 7, Jordan DeSimone 2, Ryan Blake 8, Matt Kaino 17, Kolby Kirby 2, Jack Whealdon 8

CASTLE ROCK – Dustin Hamilton 8, Kyle Karnofski 5, Zack Gehring 12, Dalton Morrison 8, Clint Burgoyne 13, Steven Horsley 9, Sam Trinklein 5, Chris Tinney 2

Stevenson game postponedFriday, a power outage during the third period of the JV game caused postponement of the Ilwaco at Stevenson game.

The game is tentatively set to be made up Saturday, Feb. 9. It is likely that the contest will not be made up if it does not have any bearing on final league standings.

Both teams are presently tied for third place in the Trico with 5-4 records and the Fishermen defeated the Bruins 62-61 January 14. Ironically that contest had also been postponed due to weather.