By BEN MCCARTY
News staff writer
January 2, 2008

On a good night, the Cascade Locks Pirates’ offense runs like a well-oiled machine, with Dan Nolin and Derrick Harbaugh able to run off screens and slash through the opponent’s defense for lay-ups or kick-out passes for three-pointers. Saturday night’s game against Arlington in the championship game of the Bear Mountain Classic was not a good night.

The Pirates never got in sync on offense or defense and the Honkers pulled out a 51-43 win. The Honkers led by nine at the half, only to see the Pirates put together a run in the fourth quarter to tie the game. However, after Harbaugh tied the game at 43-43 with a driving lay-up with 4:15 to go, the Pirates went scoreless the remainder of the game.

“We had three good minutes of intensity,” Pirates coach Phil Nolin said. “The rest of it stunk.”

From the opening moments of the game, it was apparent that nothing was going to come easy for the Pirates. The Honkers kept Nolin and Harbaugh from being able to get good cuts to the basket, and crashed the boards on both ends of the floor. Several times throughout the game the Honkers had three or four chances on offense thanks to strong offensive rebounding.

After Nolin tied the score at 15-15 early in the second quarter, the Honkers went on a 13-3 run punctuated by a three-pointers by Josh Ball and Ethan Weiser to up by 10 at halftime.

Turnovers frustrated any Pirate rallies in the first half, as much of the starting lineup was on the bench for large stretches of time in foul trouble.

“We were never in sync in offense,” Nolin said.

Nolin hoped that his team would be able to chip into the lead in the third quarter, but the Honkers continued to make life rough on the Pirates, beating them to rebounds and forcing turnovers throughout the quarter. By the end of the quarter the Pirates were only able to take two points off the lead.

The Pirates were eventually able to rally in the fourth, using a 9-1 run which included a three-pointer by Kyle Prowett – one of only two the Pirates hit in the game – to tie it up before the offense went silent over the final four minutes.

The Pirates were led in scoring by 16 points from Harbaugh and 12 from Nolin while the Honkers got 20 points from Brandon Millet and 13 points each from Josh Ball and Joey Evens.

The loss gave the Honkers needed momentum heading into Big Sky league play next week. Coming into the season, Arlington coach Ted Proctor emphasized defense for his squad, and it paid off in two tournament wins were they held both of their opponents to less than 50 points.

“One of the things I stressed this year is defense and it’s starting to come around,” Proctor said. “It’s so encouraging that we can score 45-50 points and still be in the game.”

The Pirates, who won the tournament last year, now have some things to work on before they get rolling in league play with a game at Dufur before hosting Ione on Saturday.

“We’ve go to get on the boards and run the offense,” Nolin said.

• Jewell beat Edyville to take third place in the four-team tournament.

• In the first game of the tournament, the Pirates routed Jewell 54-35. Several Jewell turnovers allowed the Pirates to take an 18-point halftime advantage and they rolled from there. Phil Nolin took advantage of the big lead to rotate in his bench for much of the second half and they did a good job of holding the line as the Pirates never trailed by less than 15 in the second half. The Pirates were led by 23 points from Dan Nolin, while the Blue Jays got 15 points from Ross Trottier and 11 points from Matt Prendergast.

In the other first day game, Arlington easily topped Eddyvillle 73-46 behind 20 points by Millett and 13 from Ball.

• Millet was named MVP of the boys tournament after scoring 20 points in both wins for the Honkers.