It could be called the gang that never met a shot it didn't like.
After combining for more than 250,000 3-point shots alone last summer, the Oregon boys basketball team has earned its ``Have jumper, will score'' reputation.
``Our first goal was to get 100,000. Then we boosted that up to 250,000. We blew that first one away,'' junior forward Mark Johnson said with pride.
But the Panthers are more than a bunch of long-range gunners. They will get a chance to prove just that when Oregon meets unbeaten and top-ranked New Berlin West in a WIAA Division 2 state semifinal Friday at 1:35 p.m. at the Kohl Center.
``Our quickness and defense give people fits, so it doesn't really matter how tall they are,'' Oregon senior guard Ryan Fiskey said. ``They're going to get tired. Once we get to the fourth quarter, it's a different story.''
Without a player taller than 6-foot-2 in its eight-man playing rotation, the Panthers know what they have to do.
They keep you running and running and ...
``There's no question this is David vs. Goliath. We talked about that right after school. We would not want it absolutely any other way,'' Oregon coach Kevin Bavery said of the matchup with the Vikings (24-0), who are making their first trip to state.
``We're facing the No. 1 team in the state, they're undefeated, and with the size that they have, this is the perfect opportunity for us with absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.''
New Berlin West starts a front line that averages nearly 6-8. Senior 6-10 center John Chappell and his 6-8 brother, Jason, along with 6-5 senior Craig Kromraj average a combined 39.8 points and 22 rebounds per game. John Chappell has also blocked 141 shots (5.9 per game) this season.
But size is something that doesn't matter if you don't have it.
``What we do is get after people. We've won 22 games doing that,'' Bavery said. ``We got to the state tournament for the first time since 1939 playing that way. And no matter what we do, what style we play, we're not going to have a player in our top seven or eight taller than 6-foot-2.
``So it makes no sense for us to do anything other than what we do, and we'll let them adjust to us.''
It all starts with defense, and senior Jesse Breidenbach is the acknowledged leader of the pack. The 6-2 point guard set a school record with 112 steals (4.5 per game) this season and is averaging 8.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. He also leads the team in blocked shots.
Johnson, a 6-2 junior swing man, is Oregon's top offensive threat, averaging 19.7 points per game on 51-percent shooting from the floor. He also has made 42 3-pointers and is shooting 38 percent from long range.
Nate Anderson, Doug Fischer and Steve Garvoille round out the starting lineup. Fiskey, who returned last week after missing six weeks with a broken wrist, Tayler Riese and Lance Bavery provide more firepower off the bench.
``Mark Johnson has the school record for points in a season. Jesse Breidenbach set the school record for steals, and the 22 wins is a school record,'' Kevin Bavery said. ``Most people would look at us as a bunch of overachievers.''
But not the Panthers or their coaching staff.
``Not a lot of people, even in Oregon, at the start of the season felt we were going to be much more than a .500 team,'' Bavery said. ``But we believed.''
By embracing the coaching staff's philosophy of baseline-to-baseline defense and displaying a knack for instant offense, the Panthers proved the naysayers wrong.
``Our kids have bought into what we've been trying to do,'' Bavery said. ``I've always been willing to go out and talk to people like Chuck Tank in Dodgeville. I've always been a big Rick Pitino fan. My JV coach and I went to Florida last fall and spent four days with the Florida staff and watched all their preseason practice. I like what Billy Donovan and his staff are doing.''
More importantly, though, Bavery has been impressed with his players' willingness to listen.
``Our pace is getting up and down the court, pushing the ball and playing tough defense,'' Johnson said. ``All year we've had to play big guys. You just can't back down to them or be scared.
``We haven't had any big guys, so we've just got to go out and box them out and play tough and push their guards around because that's where our advantage is.''
After losing to Lake Geneva Badger in the sectional finals at UW-Whitewater a year ago, Bavery told his players in an emotion-filled locker room what they still needed to do to make that next step.
The Panthers then went out and did it.
``We decided we didn't want to have those kind of tears again. This year, it was all tears of joy,'' said Lance Bavery, the coach's son and the first forward off the bench. ``It was so much more fun and so much better.''
Fischer agreed.
``This is a lot to take in in a week,'' he said following Oregon's 25-minute shoot around practice at the Kohl Center Wednesday morning. ``It's a great feeling.''
Fischer, who took over for Fiskey in the starting lineup following Fiskey's injury, is living for the moment.
``I could not dream of being here. It was a big loss when Ryan (Fiskey) went out. We knew we all had to pick it up,'' Fischer said.
``It's just a great feeling to be a starter and be playing in the state tournament.''
