McNary’s Tuesday night meeting with Centennial in the Newberg Holiday Tournament final looked nothing like the Celts’ first six games. It was a clash of styles, and Centennial’s won.
The Celts (5-2) came in averaging 71 points per game and allowing just 48, striving on a fast-paced transition offense stemming from their pressure defense. Centennial (6-2) prefers a slower, more deliberate pace, scoring 58 per game while holding opponents to 50.
Tuesday was definitely that slow Centennial pace. The two teams combined for just 35 points in the first half in a game Centennial would eventually win 55-47.
“Back to back and at this part of the year, our guys are ready for a break. I thought we were tired and we talked about the importance of being physically and mentally ready,” McNary head coach Ryan Kirch said. “I didn’t think we did a great job of that. A lot of the things that happened today were uncharacteristic of what we normally do in terms of the pace of the play.”
You don’t have to look much further than the 3-point line where there was a 21-point differential to get an idea of how the offense went. Centennial hit 10 3s, including in some crucial moments, while the Celts went 3-for-20.
“We don’t give up the corner three, and that was one of the first things that we talked about in [the locker room] is they hit four of them after [we were] up 39-30,” Ryan Kirch said. “That goes against our defensive principles. And I think we had some mental breakdowns there where we didn’t stop straight line drives and then we over helped when we weren’t supposed to.”
After the Celts went up 39-30 in the fourth quarter Centennial scored 11-straight points, and outscored McNary 25-8 to close out the game.
Centennial didn’t turn the ball over often, McNary only had three steals in the game, and without their transition offense, the Celts looked stuck at times.
The 47 points is easily McNary’s lowest output of the season. Prior to Tuesday it was 63.
“The ball didn’t move as much as we’d like to, we didn’t take advantage of what we thought we could on the offensive end and we didn’t stay connected when I thought times were tough,” Kirch said. “We pride ourselves on being tougher than the opponents. We miss shots and things like that happen, but I was disappointed in our breakdowns mentally, particularly on the defensive end.”
Those breakdowns let the young stars of Centennial shine. Sophomore Quentin Neal had a game-high 19 points, hitting four 3s while freshman Darius Andrews had 10.
Steven Adams had a team-high 15 points for McNary, while Riley Shagg had nine points, going 3-for-3 on 3-pointers.
The Celts will have a few days off before traveling to Bend for the Holiday Hoopfest Tournament at Summit High School Dec. 28-30.
“We’ve got to practice, we’ve got to get better at our execution and we’ve got to get better at some situational things,” Kirch said. “But also at this point, you all need a physical and a mental rest. We want guys to have a chance to spend time with their families and get off their bodies a little bit and just get away. So the next couple of days there’ll be more just teaching and execution things.”
McNary opens play at the Hoopfest on Thursday, Dec. 28, against Crater at 4:30 p.m.
