Indians down Seaside; host Newport in playoff Wednesday

Indians will advance with a win over Newport

By John Brewington

The South County Spotlight, Mar 2, 2010, Updated Mar 2, 2010

HEADING FOR A BUCKET–Scappoose’s Max Updike drives in for two points during Saturday’s playoff game with Seaside. The Indians host Newport Wednesday.

John Riutta / The Spotlight

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The Scappoose Indians nudged Seaside, 44-41, on Saturday night to earn the Cowapa League third seed to the state basketball tournament.

The Tribe will face Newport in Scappoose. Newport (7-5, 16-9) may be the best No. 3 seed in the state, Scappoose Coach Ryan Svenson said.

Scappoose (7-3, 16-10) had a poor first half against Seaside, and might have missed the playoffs altogether had they not rallied in the second half.

“We did not play real well early,” Svenson said. The Indians hit just one of 13 shots from two point range in the first half, and were down 16-14 by halftime. They did make four threes in the first period, but scored just two in the second period.

“We came back to play a lot better in the second half, but were just one for eight from the line and missed the front end of three one-and-ones. We never put them away. Their best shooter was wide open and had a chance to tie it at the buzzer. Ryan Hess came in to give us a lift in the fourth quarter.”

Svenson said the Indians were up by five or six points with a minute to go and couldn’t get their free throws to fall. The Indians free throw shooting has been one of their stronger suits during the season. They’ve been hitting around 70 percent as a team for the year.

Svenson says Newport will present some problems for Scappoose. “They’re really athletic. They’re young with just two seniors and their best players are sophomores and juniors. They have players 6-foot, 1-inch, 6-3, and 6-4, but they’re not real physical. We’re a little more post oriented than they are.”

The coach does like Scappoose’s chances, though. “We’re 8-1 at home and hopefully we’ll come out and play. (Newport) wants to press, and we need to handle the pressure and rebound. We don’t want to get into a running game up and down the court. They have two division one athletes and we’ll definitely want to pick out spots.”

Game time is 7 p.m.

Scoring:

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