By James Day
Silverton High athlete Sam Roth has decided to take his basketball skills to Northwest Nazarene University.
Roth, who helped lead the Foxes to the 2015 OSAA Class 5A state championship and was a two-time all-state selection, has signed a letter-of- intent to play for the Crusaders, an NCAA Division II school in Nampa, Idaho.
Roth will play for Coach Scott Flemming, who is entering his second year with Northwest Nazarene. The Crusaders were 8-18 overall and 4-16 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference last season.
“Sam is coming off an excellent high school career,” Flemming said in a statement announcing the recruitment of Roth and three other players. “He has been part of a great program and it is evident that he has been well-coached. He is a bigger guard with very good perimeter skills.
“Sam is an outstanding student, a young man of strong faith and someone that will be a leader on our campus.”
The 6-3 Roth averaged 14.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game in the state championship year and 13.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.1 blocks per game as a senior.
His father and coach at Silverton, Steve Roth, told Our Town that NNU would be a good fit for Sam.
“He definitely did a lot of homework and put a lot of thought and prayer into this decision,” Steve Roth said. “He is excited about the challenge of playing at that level, but I think the decision was really based more on academics than basketball. He is interested in pursuing a degree in engineering and NNU has a solid program.”
Basketball-wise the coach said Sam’s defensive abilities might be his best path to playing time.
“I envision him becoming somewhat of a defensive stopper in college who can guard a number of positions,” Steve said. “He’ll certainly need to get stronger and continue to build his skills if he is to earn significant playing time.
“I do look forward to watching him play as a dad and not a coach. Obviously, I’m really proud of him.”
One of Northwest Nazarene’s GNAC opponents is Western Oregon. Which means Roth will be playing a game in Monmouth once a year.
Les Schwab Bowl: Noah Dahl of Silverton played a key role in the game-winning drive as the South team beat the North team 16-14 on June 25 at Hillsboro Stadium. Dahl was the main ball-carrier on the final drive that led to a 45-yard field goal by Zach Ermerson of Mountain View with 1:35 left that overcame a 14-13 deficit. The annual all-star football game included players from Class 6A and Class 5A teams. Dahl will attend the University of Oregon in the fall.
Here is a look at how athletes with Silverton-area ties fared with college programs … and please get in touch with me if you know someone I am missing!
Morgan Anderson: The Oregon State University junior from Silverton High continues to rise up the all-time lists for the Beavers. Anderson is second all-time in the 1,500, third in the 5,000 and fifth in the 800 after a season in which she turned in the fastest time for OSU in the 800, 1500, 5,000 and had the second-fastest time in the mile. Anderson finished 12th in the 5K at the Pac-12 Championships.
Devin Geiger: The George Fox junior from Silverton took fourth in the Northwest Conference high jump and was eighth in the long jump.
Kayla Stocker: The former all-state catcher for the Silverton softball team moved to the outfield at Chemeketa and batted .302, second on the team, in her freshman year. Stocker played in all 36 games and hit three home runs and added 16 RBIs.
Dustin Meyer: The Pacific University infielder from Silverton played in eight games and started twice in his freshman campaign, batting .200 with three RBIs.
Bradley Cock: The junior catcher from Silverton by way of Clackamas Community College turned in a sparkling error-free season for the Corban University baseball team. Cock handled 88 chances without an error while playing in 18 games with 13 starts for the Warriors. He threw out five of the eight runners who attempted to steal on him.
J’Rett Baker: The sophomore javelin thrower from Silverton took 10th for Corban in the Cascade Collegiate Conference championships with a throw of 155-2. He is sixth on the Warriors’ all-time list with a 167-11 throw in 2015 and his seasonal best this year of 163-9 is eighth on the Corban list.
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