Davis leads Pios to victory

For the last four years, the game plan for Lewis & Clark men’s basketball opponents has been easy to devise, but harder to execute. Simply stopping the guy wearing No. 3 for the Pioneers had to be the plan. But, considering that the man wearing that jersey was Scott Davis ’02, carrying out the plan was a difficult challenge.

To look at Davis, you would never think he was the object of all these defensive basketball schemes. Maybe it was the spiked hair with highlights; maybe it was the boyish face with the gentle grin; maybe it was his soft-spoken manner, both on and off the court; or maybe it was because he never really looked 6 feet 5 inches and 205 pounds —that is, until you tried to keep your body between him and the hoop.

Quietly and calmly, like everything else in his life, Scott Davis could flip a switch and take absolute control of a basketball game. If that seems difficult to believe, just ask the coaches, players, and fans from Mississippi College. The Choctaws were 22-2 and had not been defeated on their home floor heading into this year’s second-round NCAA III National Tournament game. They also had not seen a point guard as big or as athletic as Davis. With 20 points and 4 assists, Davis and the Pioneers left Clinton, Mississippi, with a win that night, just as they left most games over the past four years.

Davis’ career as a Pioneer is now complete. His list of honors seems end-less: two-time Northwest conference Player of the Year, second-team All-America, four-time all-league first-team selection, two-time Lewis & Clark’s Joe Huston Male Athlete of the Year, two-time all-NCAA West Region, and, well, you get the picture. Not to mention that Davis also leaves Palatine Hill as the school’s second all-time leading scorer (1,949 points to 1964 grad James Boutin’s 2,128 points), third all-time leader in assists (376), and third all-time leader in steals (179). His career record for the Pioneers was 81-29.

—by Tom Galbraith 

Sports Briefs

Mari Kotake ’05

was named the National Golf Coaches Association Women’s Golf Freshman of the Year for NCAA III. Kotake won both the fall and spring Northwest Conference tournaments, and placed 36th overall in the nation.

Neil Weare ’02

won the Northwest Conference individual cross country title, the first at Lewis & Clark since his coach, David Fix, won in 1968. Weare also won the 5,000 meters at the conference track meet. And, he became the first recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in the College’s history.

Reid Schooler ’02

took the Northwest Conference high jump title and qualified for nationals, while Sara Schipani ’02 finished her tennis season with an undefeated record at No. 1 singles.