EUGENE -- If anyone was looking for an argument for the implementation of a shot clock in high school basketball, Saturday night's Class 5A girls championship final was one.
The Springfield Millers endured Willamette's extreme slow-down tactics and clinched their second consecutive state championship with a bizarre 16-7 victory over their 5A Midwestern rivals at Matthew Knight Arena.
Springfield led 4-0 at the end of the first half, 7-1 at the end of the third quarter, and never came close to letting Willamette into the game down the stretch of the lowest scoring championship final in the history of Oregon high school basketball at any level.
"We don't care how we did it, we just won it," Millers coach Bill Wagner said. "They did what they felt they needed to do and our kids had great composure with that.
"I'm so proud of this group. Like I said, I don't care how we got it done, we got it."
In his attempt to neutralize Mercedes Russell, Springfield's 6-foot-6 junior post, Willamette coach Paul Brothers, the former Oregon State quarterback, perhaps harkened back to the time when Pacific-8 Conference rivals held the ball against powerhouse UCLA in the pre-shot clock era -- frustrating the Bruins center then known as Lew Alcindor and fans alike.
