Yamhill’s Nate Bowie takes flight for an acrobatic shot during the IBL semifinals Saturday in Portland. The tired Flyers weren’t able to keep pace, though, and fell to Bellingham.
Photo courtesy
Craig Clark

PORTLAND — With any good vehicle, if you drive it long enough and it inevitably wears out. And by the looks of it Saturday, that’s exactly what happened to the Yamhill HighFlyers.

Playing their fifth game in six days, the fatigued Flyers saw their season come to an end in the International Basketball League’s semifinals, falling 136-105 to the Bellingham Slam at Warner Pacific College in Portland.

“We surprised a lot of people getting this far,” Yamhill coach Bubba Jones said. “What hurt us tonight was what hurt us all year — not having the proper personnel.”

“Bellingham is who we thought they were,” Jones continued. “They’re a team in every sense of the word: poise, hustle, intensity, whatever good word you want to give them.”

Bellingham led 39-28 after the first and was up by 20 at the half, running away with the contest over the final two quarters. The 2008 IBL champs will face Albany — a 124-105 winner over Vancouver in the other semifinal — in the championship game. That contest will be played in Albany on Friday, July 16.

The HighFlyers concluded their first full season with a 14-12 record after winning their first two games of the IBL playoffs.

“For a first-year franchise to go to the semifinals in this league is pretty amazing,” general manager Eric Bailey said. “What I’m more proud about is how we rebounded from our losing streak and started gelling as a unit. Ten to 11 guys started trusting in each other ... and that’s what helped us beat the No. 2 seed in the tournament and get this far.”

A handful of HighFlyers finished the season in the top of the league statistically. Point guard Nate Bowie averaged 23.8 points and 6.6 assists in 25 games with Yamhill, finishing in eighth and sixth in the league in those categories, respectively.

Durrell Nevles was just shy of being the league’s top rebounder. In his 26 games, Nevels averaged 11.6 boards a night, a mere two tenths out of first. He ended as the 15th leading scorer with an even 21 points a contest.

Jason Hartford, who played only half the season because of nagging injuries, was the league’s seventh leading scorer with 23.9 points a game in 12 games. He was seventh in rebounding with 10.1 a night.

Cheyenne Moore finished averaging 23 points a game, good enough for 10th, followed by Curtis Nash in 11th with 22.6 a tilt.
The first full year in the IBL was one of ups and downs for Yamhill County’s only professional sports team.

After coming out the gate red hot with an 8-2 record, Yamhill suffered eight consecutive losses to drop its record to 8-10.

During the losing stretch, Yamhill was riddled with injuries to key players. More than 40 combined points per game, on average, were out of the lineup often, forcing a shuffling of the roster in an attempt to compensate.

Tough, too, was the addition of some new faces. New arrivals contributed well, but it took some time for the team to find its rhythm during that stretch. Still, the HighFlyers got things together at the right time, winning four of their final five games of the regular season.

“With all the outside distractions, I felt pretty good,” Jones said. “It was one of the better first-year programs ... I feel really good about it.”

In their final foray on the hardwood, Nevels led the lackluster offensive effort with 36 points to go along with 17 rebounds. In the postseason, Nevels pulled down 50 boards in three contests.

Bowie was just shy of a double-double himself with 24 points and nine rebounds. He passed out five assists as well. And Moore was the only other HighFlyer in double digits with his 19 points and five rebounds.