Inconsistent Devils topple Panthers
Sunday, January 4, 2009 10:19 AM PST
By Rick McCorkle
Printable version
E-mail this articleScheduling the Portland Panthers for a nonleague game just before league play begins, Lower Columbia College coach Jim Roffler was hoping his Red Devils would put in a solid effort for 40 minutes.
Instead, his Red Devils rolled to a double-digit lead in the first eight minutes before putting their game on cruise-control and coasting to an 80-70 victory at Truman Myklebust Gym on Saturday.
“One of the harder things for a young team is keeping up the momentum after bolting out to a big lead,” Roffler said. “We looked really sharp early, but we definitely weren’t sharp later in the game.”
LCC, which recently finished third in the Clackamas Holiday Tournament held in Oregon City, improved to 7-3 in the preseason. Portland, which has lost 10 of its last 11 matchups, fell to 2-11.
The Red Devils had four players score in double-figures. Alex King knocked down 20 points including three stuffs early in the first half, and dished five assists. Jeray Key added 15 points and four assists, Ryan Freeman netted 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Conrad Ritchie came off the bench for 10 points.
The Red Devils scored the first 11 points of the game and was ahead 31-8 with 6:07 left when Panthers’ center Carl Appleton came alive. Appleton, a bulky 6-foot-3 freshman, scored Portland’s last 15 points of the half as the visitors trailed 40-24 at the break.
Appleton scored 17 of his game-high 28 points in the first 20 minutes.
“We had an inconsistent defensive effort on Appleton,” Roffler said. “Short of me calling out certain guys, we played very poor defensively on him.”
Nearly all of Portland’s made shots in the first half came in the paint, either from short jumpers or seemingly uncontested layups. The lack of interior defense also didn’t sit well with Roffler.
“They had a lot of dribble penetration,” he said of the Panthers. “They outworked us for the most part. I don’t like to see that in any game, particularly when we have only a few games before we start league play. I wanted us to treat this like a league game so we’d be ready.”
LCC led 64-47 when Ritchie drilled a 3-ball from the right corner with 10:52 left. The trey apparently woke up the Panthers, who went on a 18-6 run that included two bombs from Tom Creasey as they trailed 70-65 with 3:15 left.
Midway through the Portland run, LCC’s Clint Burgoyne and Freeman hit back-to-back jumpers, which would be the last two shots the Devils would hit in the contest.
“We were in the double-bonus and trying to be patient with our shots,” Roffler said. “We didn’t want to take bad shots, and we wanted to get the ball inside. Unfortunately, we weren’t patient in doing that because we took too many shots early in the count instead of waiting.”
LCC knocked down 12-16 freebies down the stretch, including 10-12 in the last two minutes. At the other end, Portland’s offense dried up as the Panthers managed only one bucket — a trey from Cedric Ransom — in the last 3:15.
LCC made 55 percent of its shots (29-53). Portland made 24-57 shots (42 percent), outrebounded the Red Devils 37-35 and converted 13 LCC turnovers into 27 points.
“After watching this game I don’t think we’re ready to grind out a tough league schedule,” Roffler said. “The biggest frustration is inconsistencies because we have some guys who play great games one night, and back it with performances that look like they’ve never played basketball before.”
Kekoa Carvalho came off the bench to grab seven rebounds and hand out three assists for the Devils.
The Red Devils entertain the Elite All-Stars on Sunday.
Red Devils 80, Panthers 70
PORTLAND (70) — Carl Appleton 28, Tom Creasey 17, Demetrius Jones 7, Cedric Stewart 2, Demarcus Gentle 0, Russell Millage 10, Clark Ransom 6, Mike Richmond 0.
LOWER COLUMBIA (80) — Alex King 20, Jeray Key 15, Ryan Freeman 13, Clint Burgoyne 5, Jerald Ardoin 2, Conrad Ritchie 10, Kekoa Carvalho 6, Al Dickerson 4, Tim Roffler 3, Garrett DeGraaff 2.
Halftime: LCC 40, PCC 24.
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