BAKER BOYS BASKETBALL: Bulldogs take down No. 2 Cascade

Feb. 4—The Class 4A boys state basketball tournament is more than a month away, but you could hear its echoes Saturday afternoon, Feb. 4 in the Baker High School gym.

The crowd was loud as Baker and Cascade, two teams with aspirations to be among the final eight at Forest Grove in March, battled in a nonleague contest thick with the tense atmosphere of a playoff game.

Fourth-ranked Baker, relying more heavily than usual on 3-pointers, rallied from a five-point deficit in the third quarter with a 13-0 run, then held off No. 2 Cascade with free throws and a pair of key late steals to win 54-46.

The Bulldogs improved to 19-4.

Cascade, which two days earlier nipped top-ranked Philomath, 50-49, dropped to 15-3.

"They just beat the number one team, and we beat them," Baker coach Jebron Jones said. "On any given day, anybody can beat anybody else."

The game hinged on the third quarter.

Cascade, which led 29-27 at halftime, matched its biggest lead, at 35-30, on 6-foot-5 post Anthony Best's inside basket with 5:43 left in the third quarter.

Baker's Paul Hobson answered with a 3-pointer 13 seconds later. After a two-minute scoreless stretch for both teams, Baker's Hudson Spike swished a 3-pointer and Baker regained the lead, for the first time since the first quarter (also on a Spike long ball), at 36-35 with 3:27 left in the quarter.

Hobson then completed the scoring in the quarter with another 3-pointer, with 1:52 left, to give Baker a 39-35 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Cascade didn't score in the third quarter after Best's basket with 5:43 left, by far the Cougars' longest scoring drought of the game.

Baker outscored Cascade 12-6 in the third quarter, with all of the Bulldogs' points off 3-pointers — two from Hobson, and one each by Spike and Giacomo Rigueiro.

Jones said Baker's barrage of 3-pointers — the Bulldogs had 10 in the game, compared with eight 2-point baskets — was not part of the game plan.

"We took what they gave us," Jones said.

With Cascade playing an aggressive 1-3-1 zone defense for much of the game, Baker players had chances to get open shots from the corners.

"We practice shooting from the corners a lot, so guys feel comfortable from there," Jones said. "I've got a lot of guys that can shoot."

After closing the third quarter with nine straight points, Baker continue the run early in the fourth quarter.

Spike, who led Baker with 16 points, banked in a shot from 14 feet to give Baker a 41-35 lead with 7:32 left in the game.

Then Isaiah Jones soared for a rebound putback. Baker led 43-35 with 6:45 left, and Cascade coach Justin Amaya called timeout.

Best ended the run with a rebound basket with 6:19 left that got the Cougars within 43-34.

Spencer Horne then drove the lane for a basket that cut Baker's lead to 43-39 with 5:29 left.

Baker missed a shot, but Rasean Jones scrambled to collect the offensive rebound, and Hobson took advantage with a tough floater in the lane to boost Baker's lead back to 45-39 with 5:04 left.

Cascade's Landon Knox made an even more acrobatic shot from the key to cut Baker's lead to 45-41, but the Jones brothers answered, as Isaiah passed to his younger brother, Rasean, for an inside basket and a 47-41 lead with 3:35 left.

Cascade didn't go away.

Kaiden Ford swished a 3-pointer with 2:54 left to get the Cougars within 47-44. It was Cascade's first long ball of the second half, after they matched Baker with six 3-pointers in the first half.

But Baker scored the next five points to thwart the Cougars' comeback bid.

And as with so many of the Bulldogs' key stretches this season, this one was ignited by defense.

Jaron Long popped the ball loose from Spencer Horne, and the steal led to Hobson's inside basket with 2:05 left to boost Baker's lead to 49-44.

Then Isaiah Jones stole a pass with 1:33 left, and Cascade fouled Long, who made one of two free throws — including the crucial front end of a one-and-one — to make it 50-44 with 1:05 left.

After the Bulldogs forced a difficult shot from Horne that missed, Long was fouled again with 44.3 seconds left. He made both free throws and Baker was in control, leading 52-44.

"We got the stops when we needed to," Jebron Jones said of the two key steals.

Baker held Cascade to just 17 points in the second half.

The game started with a barrage of 3-pointers, with both teams making four in the first quarter.

Samuel Horne, Spencer's twin brother, made three of the Cougars' 3-pointers, including two from NBA range, to help Cascade to a 17-15 lead after the first quarter.

The Cougars extended the lead to 20-15 on Ford's 3-pointer early in the second quarter, but Rigueiro scored four straight points to get Baker to within 20-19.

Cascade led 29-24 on Best's conventional three-point play with 38 seconds left, but Spike had a key 3-pointer, with 13.5 seconds left, to cut the halftime lead to 29-27.

Spike led Baker with four 3-pointers.

He said he has been trying to be more confident in his outside shooting. The lefthander has textbook shooting form, with a distinctive backspin, and the corner — the open spot against Cascade's zone — is one of his favorite haunts.

Although the matchup between two top five teams was exciting for the fans who packed into the gym, Spike said the Bulldogs tried to treat it as another game.

"We didn't put too much pressure on ourselves," he said.

Baker might well have led at halftime but for missing several close shots that normally fall.

But the Bulldogs partially offset their shooting struggles by corralling at least half a dozen offensive rebounds, two of which led to baskets, including a 3-pointer by Isaiah Jones.

"We place an emphasis on crashing the offensive glass, because a lot of teams don't like to box out," Jebron Jones said. "We got some easy baskets off those."

Offensive rebounds can also lead to open 3-point shots, he said, since the other team, in going after the rebound, isn't able to set up its defense.

"That's the best time to shoot a 3, after an offensive rebound," Jones said.

Baker rarely deployed the full-court press that has befuddled many opponents this season.

Jones said he knew his players were tired after playing three games this week, including the 67-52 win at Pendleton the night before that clinched the GOL title, a game that ended around 9 p.m. Baker's bus didn't return until almost midnight, scarcely 12 hours before tipoff against Cascade.

But fatigue or not, Jones said he was impressed by the Bulldogs' effort against the Cougars.

He noted one play in particular, in the fourth quarter, when Hobson, going for a defensive rebound, boxed out a Cougar for about three seconds, resulting in a key Baker rebound.

"We practice boxing out because it's very important," Jones said.

Isaiah Jones had 11 points and Hobson 10 to join Spike in double figures. Rigueiro had seven points, and his defense helped control Best in the paint.

Landon Knox, Best and Samuel Horne each scored 12 points to lead Cascade.

Baker had an advantage at the free throw line, making 8 of 12 shots to Cascade's 3 of 6.

The Bulldogs were again without starting guard Jaxon Logsdon, who has been out since Jan. 27 with an illness.

Baker, which won its seventh straight game, has only one regular season game left, the GOL finale against Ontario at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 10 in the Baker gym.

Baker clinches GOL title

On Friday, Feb. 3, the Bulldogs traveled to Pendleton to take on the Buckaroos with the league regular season title at stake.

As was the case in the teams' first meeting on Jan. 24 at Baker, Pendleton played tough throughout the first half.

The score was tied at 13 after the first quarter, and Baker led just 28-24 at halftime.

The Bulldogs pulled away in the third quarter and went on to win 67-42.

"Kids played hard tonight and won a league road game which is not easy, especially on their senior night," Jebron Jones said. "We battled through some adversity and trusted each other to finish the game the right way."

In the earlier game, Pendleton was within 37-36 early in the second half, but Baker scored 15 straight points and outscored the Buckaroos 45-20 in the second half to win 80-51.

Hobson led Baker with 19 points Friday at Pendleton. Spike (13), Isaiah Jones (11) and Rigueiro (10) were also in double figures.

Friday's Game

BAKER (67)

Gambleton 0 0-0 0, R. Jones 3 0-2 6, Rigueiro 3 3-3 10, Spike 3 5-8 13, I. Jones 5 1-2 11, Long 2 0-0 4, Hobson 6 3-3 19, Jensen 1 0-0 2, Gentry 0 2-2 2. Totals 23 14-20 67.

PENDLETON (52)

Jennings 2 1-4 5, Rueber 8 3-5 22, Cary 5 0-0 14, Chapman 1 0-0 2, Coiner 2 0-0 4, Hoofers 1 0-0 2, Lehnert 0 0-0 0, Heinrich 1 1-1 3. Totals 20 5-10 52.

Baker 13 15 19 20 — 67

Pendleton 13 11 9 18 — 52

Saturday's Game

CASCADE (46)

Ford 2 0-0 6, Newton 0 0-0 0, Comstock 0 0-0 0, Knox 5 1-2 12, Samuel Horne 4 0-0 12, Spencer Horne 2 0-0 4, Walsh 0 0-0 0, Best 5 2-4 12. Totals 18 3-6 46.

BAKER (54)

Gambleton 0 2-2 2, R. Jones 1 0-0 2, Rigueiro 2 2-2 7, Spike 6 0-0 16, I. Jones 4 1-3 11, Long 0 3-4 3, Hobson 5 0-1 10, Jensen 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 8-12 54.

Cascade 17 12 6 11 — 46

Baker 15 12 12 15 — 54