february 10, 2012

The Pioneer Log Sports

11

Final Pacquiao and Mayweather good, but never great push

BY JODI SNIDER
Staff Writer

Viva Cor-VEGAS
BY GILLIAN SULLIVAN-BING
Staff Writer

BY SCOTT PISAPIA
Staff Writer

Last Tuesday night in Newberg, Ore., the Pioneers fought a hard battle against the George Fox Bruins as the game ended in four overtimes. Unfortunately, the Pios fell to the Bruins by only four points. The final score was a season high 116-112, with both teams alternately taking the lead throughout the entire game. The Pios led for the majority of each overtime. At one point, with only about 1:30 remaining in the first overtime, the Pios were up five points, but this wasnt enough to stop the Bruins. Team high scorers were Marcus Wells (12) with 21 points, James Hollins (13) with 20 points and Ross Erickson (13) also with 20 points. Both Hollins and Erickson contributed a solid effort on the boards; Hollins had 13 boards and Erickson grabbed 10. This loss put the Pios at 10-10 overall and 5-6 in conference play. Saturday night, the Pios took on the Linfield Wildcats in McMinnville, Ore. Despite the difficult loss earlier in the week, the Pios kicked it into drive the second half of Saturday nights game. Down one point at half time, the Pios didnt concede: they emerged from the locker rooms ready to play and took the lead back early in the second half, continuing to dominate the court throughout the remainder of the game. Wells was a big contributor, scoring 12 of his 14 points in the second half alone, helping surge the Pios forward. The Pios won by a 10-point margin, with final score at 80 to 70. Hollins was the high scorer for the Pios with 28 points and a team high 5 boards. Erickson also contributed 5 boards and 12 points. Wells again finished with 14 points, and PJ Taylor (12) contributed 13. This win will make the Pios 11-10 overall and 6-6 in conference play. The Pios are now no. 6 in conference. This means there are only four games left between them and the conference tournament. I got a chance to catch up with senior PJ Taylor on how he felt these last two games went. Tuesday night, he said that the team fought hard and played their hearts out but that they lacked in communication. He felt that with better communication, they could have come home with the win. On Saturday, Taylor said they continued with that same effort from Tuesday and came out playing hard. He said that they moved the ball well, which helped to develop a good offensive threat. They worked on their lack of communication, and it paid off as they came back with the win. Taylor knows how good the team is and can be. With hope he said, The team has to just keep working hard and win these next few games. Lets all hope they can finish the next few weeks with big wins.

Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. are two of the greatest welterweight boxers the sport has ever seen. Mayweather (42-0, 26 KO) is celebrated for possessing some of the best defense in the game along with precise punches and a strong understanding of his opponents strengths and weaknesses. Pacquiao (54-3-2, 38 KO) is acknowledged for his hand and foot speed, large repertoire of punches and experience in the ring. For the past few years, promoters and fans have begged for the two boxers to fight and settle the argumentwho is better? Everything seemed to align perfectly for this to happen; they were dominating the sport and it seemed as if their paths would inevitably cross. The idea of this mega-fight for the welterweight belt began a flurry of excitement from fans, promoters and the boxing world. Rumors were afloat that if they united in a Pay-Per-View mega-fight, Pac-

quiao and Mayweather would take home 40 million dollars each. But the excitement has quickly run dry, as both camps hold a number of excuses for why the fight is not happening: blood testing, performance enhancing drugs, money, legal issues, fighting weight, etc. Both sides argue that the excuses are purposely being left unaddressed because that opponent is scared. At this pace, the two fighters are going to duck each other into retirementand for this, their reputations should be forever tarnished. The truth is, there is one thing keeping this fight from happeningand thats heart. They both have the talent, the work ethic, the intelligence, all of the intangibles necessary to dominate in this sportbut they are both missing the heart to help them get into talks of greatness. Im talking Michael Jordan scoring 38 points while battling the flu heart. Im talking Cal Ripken Jr. playing 2,632 straight games heart. And Im really talking Muhammad Ali heart. Ali represents everything that

Mayweather and Pacquiao arent. During Alis heyday, Joe Frazier and Ali were at the top of the boxing world. Prior to their first fight, both boxers were undefeated. Ali was banned from boxing for over three years because of his refusal to go into the military when he was drafted. In their first fight, Ali got dropped with a strong left hook, but got up immediately as his jaw began to swell. He finished the round and the fightbut he lost. Did he stop there? No. Ali and Frazier fought two more times; Ali winning both. He finished his career (56-5, 37 KO) as arguably the greatest fighter to ever live. The boxing legend recently celebrated his 70th birthday in his hometown, Louisville, Kent. Boxing promoter Bob Arum urged Pacquiao to attend the party, noting that Pacquiao, a singing hobbyist, might even get to sing for The Greatest. Lets just hope Pacquiao accepted the offer, and invited Mayweather as his plus one. Its the closest the two boxers will ever come to greatness.

Athlete of the Week Cassie Beucherie

PHOTO BY MAGGIE MCDERMUT

BY CIERRA HIGGINS
Staff Writer

I sat down with Cassie Beucherie (14) to talk about the success the womens basketball team has had this season. Beucherie plays guard and post for the team, and, although she only gets an average of 4.2 minutes per game, she has the highest accuracy of field goal shooting for the team. She also recently earned college athlete of the week in her hometown. Why do you think the team has had so much success this year? Our team has had success because we came together at the beginning of the year and designated goals that we all knew we would work toward. Weve done that thus far. How does it feel to be 7th in the nation? Its pretty mind-boggling. It

was really cool to be in the top 25, and once we broke into the single digits it was awesome. What is different between this years team and last years? We only lost one senior, and we have almost all the returners from last year. Theres not really a difference, but an enhanced urgency to reach our goals. I guess just more of what we had last year. What is the team dynamic like? Were family, we all get along so well. Yeah, we can have a little bit of an upsetting practice, but in the end but we all get together and laugh it off. What have you brought individually as a player? I have brought my voiceIm really loud on the bench. I also work our starters as hard as I can in practice so they can become better and work the other teams.

What is different about your current team then other teams youve been on in the past? Compared to high school, there is a lot less drama. Its really relieving to be on a team that works so well together and to be on a team that has so much experience. There is a lot more experience on this team than any other team that Ive been on. What goals do you have for the remainder of the season? Our goal is to win the conference tournament. I dont want to set out a specific goal for the final four or anything, but I want to go further in March Madness than we did last year. How important are your fans to your success? In order to have a good game we need a good audience, and thats what weve been lacking I think, but we really appreciate all the support we can get.

This weekend, the Lewis & Clark Frisbee teams, Bacchus and Artemis, competed against a host of collegiate Ultimate teams in the Trouble in Corvegas Frisbee tournament, which took place at the Oregon State University campus in Corvallis, Ore. While undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to showcase their skills, this tournament was something of a substitute for the highly anticipated Ultimate showdown in Las Vegas each spring, in which the LC teams will unfortunately not be participating this year. Corvallis may be a far cry from the sumptuous sin of Las Vegas, but LCs Ultimate lineup was in no way lacking in enthusiasm, bringing the same energy to the ride down to Corvallis as a roadtrip to Vegas. The LC mens team, Bacchus, competed against 11 other teams hailing from as far away as Utah and as close as our neighbors from Reed College and Portland State University. Bacchus was placed in Pool A, pitting them against a number of tough competitors, including the University of Oregon, Gonzaga University and Pacific Lutheran University. During the first day of competition, Bacchus performed extremely well, falling to Oregon but coming back with two consecutive wins against Pacific Lutheran (13-8) and Gonzaga (137). On Sunday, Bacchus dropped a tough loss to the University of Victoria only to pull ahead of the University of Utah (13-12), securing an impressive no. 5 ranking in the tournament overall. The womens team, Artemis, competed against a smaller but no less challenging list of teams. The competitors in their pool, including the University of Oregon, Western Washington University and Pacific Lutheran University, proved to be formidable opponents, beating LC in all three games on Saturday. Sunday proved no less challenging, pitting Artemis against the Canada hailing University of Victoria as well as Willamette University, both of which defeated LC. Artemis picked up a forfeit win in their last game of the tournament against Puget Sound University, allowing them to finish out the weekend with a no. 7 ranking overall. According to Sarah Stratton (12), this weekend was a learning tournament, allowing the team to try out new strategies that they will perfect over the course of the season. Artemis found their opponents use of the zone offense particularly challenging, and this tournament gave the team the chance to practice defending it. Regardless of the outcome, this weekend provided the opportunity for both teams to see how they measure up against a wide array of teams of varying ability. Trouble in Corvegas was just the first of a number of upcoming tournaments Artemis and Bacchus will be tackling this year.