South Medford's Kyle Singler swoops to the hoop over North’s Spencer Stefanson for two of his career-high 41 points on Tuesday at North Medford High. (Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli)
Kyle Singler made like a human rocket booster Tuesday night at North Medford High.
The South Medford senior fueled an otherwise lethargic Panther team with career-highs of 41 points and 20 rebounds as the state's No. 1-ranked Class 6A boys basketball team churned out a 78-45 Southwest Conference victory over its cross-town rival.
"There's no question that Kyle put us on his back and carried us tonight," South Medford coach Dennis Murphy said. "The rest of the team didn't come ready to play, but he certainly did."
Singler's point total came within two points of Eric Fiegi's school record of 43, set in 2002. He was 17 of 26 from the field and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. He also produced four assists, two blocked shots, a steal and yet another thunderous dunk off a backboard pass from junior point guard Michael Harthun.
"The most important numbers for me are the 20-1 (South Medford's season record), the 11-0 (the Panthers' SWC record) and our No. 1 ranking on the West Coast," Singler said. "What I do individually is just frosting on the cake."
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"If you would have asked Kyle how many points he had during the fourth quarter, he wouldn't have known," South Medford senior wing Van Dellenback-Ouellette said. "With him, it's all about winning. If he thinks he needs to get more aggressive offensively, he'll do it, but he's always trying to get everyone involved. He's just an amazing player."
North Medford coach Scott Plankenhorn had the right blueprint to stage a stunning upset: slow the game's tempo, be extra patient on offense and hustle back on defense. The plan worked splendidly in the first quarter as the Black Tornado used seven points from Jordan Ellis, three-point plays from Danny Berger and Josh Pecktol and a short jumper from Michael Williams to build a 15-10 lead after one period.
Ellis put an exclamation point on the impressive North Medford quarter when he swished a 28-foot jumper at the buzzer.
"I've got to give them credit for the way they played in the first quarter," Singler said. "That's the best I've seen them play."
North Medford (7-14, 3-8 SWC) extended its poised effort through the first 51/2 minutes of the second stanza. Ellis funneled in a rebound basket after Singler smothered a shot from Pecktol, giving the Tornado a 25-23 lead at the 2:28 mark of the period.
But then the 6-foot-9, 215-pound, Duke-bound Singler slipped on his rocket booster and completely took over the game. He powered home a layup, a three-point play and two rebound baskets before drilling a 3-point basket at the first-half buzzer.
That's 12 points in 21/2 minutes. His cousin, sophomore guard Mitch Singler, added a layup as South Medford tallied the final 14 points of the half to grab a 37-25 edge at the intermission.
"I was feeling pretty good," Singler said of his second-period onslaught that left the crowd of about 1,500 buzzing.
On the final play of the half, Singler said his first option was to pass the ball to Harthun on a backdoor cut, "but that wasn't open so I just took one dribble and shot it. It was a long shot but I was feeling it and I just knew it was going in."
Singler had 27 points and 12 boards at halftime in personally outscoring the Tornado.
"Singler is just outrageous — we had no answer for him when he decided to take over the game," Plankenhorn said. "But I really liked what we did for the first 14 minutes of the game. We made them play our tempo. We passed up semi-open shots for wide-open shots and showed a lot of composure.
"But it's tough to do that for a whole game against a team like South."
The Panthers went on a 21-6 run in the third quarter to take a 58-31 advantage and led by as many as 33 points in the fourth.
South Medford outscored the Tornado by a combined 58-16 in the middle two periods.
"The game became a track meet in the second half and there's no way we're going to win one of those against South Medford," Plankenhorn said. "But we're going to take something from this game. We're still in the playoff hunt and we're playing our best basketball of the season right now."
Ellis paced the Tornado with 14 points while Harthun augmented Singler with 12 points and six assists for the Panthers. Harthun scored all of his points in the second half.
SOUTH MEDFORD (78) — K. Singler 41, Harthun 12, Grimes 6, M. Singler 5, Anderson 5, E.J. Singler 4, Dellenback-Ouellette 3, DeCoste 2, Granger 0, Duran-Chaparro 0, Boyd 0. Totals: 31 13-16 78.
NORTH MEDFORD (45) — Ellis 14, Berger 7, Budavari-Jasper 7, Pecktol 6, Williams 5, Waldron 3, Slowey 3, Stefanson 0, Blaschka 0, Holland 0, Herd 0. Totals: 15 11-19 45.
South Medford 10 27 21 20 — 78
North Medford 15 10 6 14 — 45
3-point goals — South Medford 3 (K. Singler 1, M. Singler 1, Anderson 1), North Medford 4 (Williams 1, Ellis 1, Berger 1, Budavari-Jasper 1).
JV Score — South Medford 61, North Medford 39.
Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail dhunt@mailtribune.com
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