PREP HOOPS: Crater holds on in home opener
Jan. 4—CENTRAL POINT — As the third quarter went on Tuesday night, it looked like a big second-half showing was in the making for the Crater boys basketball team.
Mazama, however, had other ideas.
Crater used a 17-5 third-quarter run to go up by double digits, but the Comets needed every bit of their lead to hang on for a 50-49 nonleague win over Class 4A Mazama in their long-awaited home opener.
Mazama (2-7) had three cracks at a potential go-ahead shot in the final seconds, but drew iron on all three occasions, giving Crater (8-3) plenty of reason to exhale.
"It was a relief," said Crater first-year head coach Bryan Scott when asked how welcoming of a sound the final buzzer was.
Tuesday night was the first time that a Crater team has been able to host a game at its home gym during the 2022-23 school year after seismic retrofitting work forced the Comets volleyball team to play all of their games at Scenic Middle School in the fall.
According to Scott, the Crater boys held their first practice at their home gym on Monday.
"I think it was extremely nice and there was an overwhelming feeling of excitement and anticipation knowing that you're playing on your home turf, inviting everybody and wanting to perform your best," said Scott. "We have been non-stop traveling. We haven't even had our gym to play in and have had to practice at Scenic. I believe that the boys are doing well with the adversity, but I am super excited to have our gym back where we can practice on a full-size court.
"The first home game is done, we did get the W, it maybe not the we wanted to get it but we still got it and now we're able to move forward with some consistency."
Crater trailed by four, 28-24, as halftime arrived, but a renewed effort on the defensive end of the floor allowed the Comets to quickly flip the lead back in their favor playing from behind much of the first half.
Ty Dahlin made a nice move in the paint to put the Comets in front, 31-30, and then got a nice pass from Ashton Acrey to punctuate a 13-3 run that put Crater ahead 37-31.
Cody Dutkiewicz then hit a 3-pointer from the corner in front of his own bench to give the Comets their largest lead of the night, 41-30.
But through the resurgent play of Bryce Worrell, Mazama was able to chip away at the lead, taking advantage of a handful of Crater turnovers and missed free throws to cut it to a one-possession game with less than a minute to go.
The Vikings had the ball in the dying seconds, but couldn't convert, seeing the clock run out during a scramble for the ball at the free throw line.
Dahlin led the way with a team-high 18 points, while Acrey also finished in double figures with 15 points.
"Defensively, we were just missing some rotations (in the first half) and then we obviously got way better on that," said Scott of what changed in the second half as his team built their lead. "It was mostly on the offensive side and converting — it didn't matter what we were running, we were just running it and sharing the ball a little bit better. Cody came off the bench and just played really well — high energy, grabbing rebounds and taking care of the ball. He really helped us a lot in the third quarter."
Worrell scored six of the first eight points for Mazama, which entered the game having lost five of its last six games.
Crater held the lead for just a couple of minutes in the first half, building a 21-16 lead thanks to an 8-0 run to start the second quarter, one that was started by Acrey's layup in transition on a nice long pass from Kyle Bittle from the other end of the floor to give the Comets their first lead of the night.
But Mazama quickly answered with a 12-2 run of its own to retake the lead at 28-23, with Worrell hitting a 3-ponter in front of the Crater bench to tie the game at 23-all.
Worrell scored 17 of his game-high 29 points in the first half, accounting for more than half of the Vikings' point total in the first two quarters.
"We did struggle a little bit guarding him," said Scott, "but we rotated Ben Higginson and Ty on him and that seemed to help a little bit."
MAZAMA (49): Hubble 0, Pelleter 0, Anderson 2, Mayo 4, Hunt 0, Baker 2, Aguiar 8, Worrell 29, Ulloa-Ford 6. Totals: 18 11-15 49.
CRATER (50): Idiart 0, Acrey 15, Higginson 2, Bittle 2, Dutkiewicz 4, Dahlin 18, Hawkins 0, Schwenk 3, Rucker 6. Totals: 15 17-28 50.
Mazama 16 12 5 16— 49
Crater 13 11 17 9— 50
3-point goals — Mazama 2 (Worrell 2), Crater 3 (Dutkiewicz 1, Dahlin 2). Technical foul — Anderson.
NORTH SALEM 53, EAGLE POINT 51, OT: At Eagle Point, Eagle Point's game-tying shot came up short at the buzzer in overtime and North Salem prevailed in what proved to be a seasaw battle throughout.
Junior Hayden Weaver went for 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Eagles (3-9), who allowed a game-tying layup with 8 seconds left in regulation, sending the contest into overtime.
Eagle Point junior Peyton Pierce finished with 14 points, five assists and three steals, while senior Josh Jackson added seven points.
NORTH SALEM (53): O. Ramirez 11, G. Ramirez 0, Soaladaob 2, Gonzalez 0, Huynh 15, Ryder 6, Ochoa 2, Miller 0, Torres 2, Mercado 2, Alvarez 3, Davis 0, Hughes 10. Totals: 18 9-11 53.
EAGLE POINT (51): Jackson 7, Pierce 14, Livingston 2, Brionnes 0, Raber 3, Moreno 0, Smith 0, Weaver 19, Perezchica 6. Totals: 19 12-15 51.
North Salem 9 5 15 17 7— 53
Eagle Point 6 10 10 20 5— 51
3-point goals — North Salem 8 (O. Ramirez 3, Huynh 3, Ryder 1, Alvarez 1), Eagle Point 1 (Pierce). Fouled out — Hughes. Technical foul — Davis.
JV result — North Salem won.
PHOENIX 76, ETNA 53: At Etna, Calif., junior Dylan Harper dropped in 14 of his 31 points in Phoenix's big third quarter that allowed the Pirates to pull away for the nonleague win over Etna.
Harper also drained three 3-pointers and the Pirates (7-5) outscored Etna 25-10 in the third to grab a 59-39 lead.
Phoenix sophomore Diego Hernandez added 13 points while junior Robin Trenbeath and senior Izayah Mooring each pitched in with eight points and two treys.
PHOENIX (76): Trenbeath 8, Je. Selden 2, Mooring 8, Ja. Selden 2, Ponce 3, Hernandez 13, Harper 31, Ayala-Talbott 0, Decker 2, Bolstad 7. Totals: 29 2-4 76.
ETNA (53): Rodriguez 10, B. Case 0, K. Bennett 0, Claussen 2, Tharp 0, Deala 0, D. Case 16, T. Bennett 10, McDonald 0, Stein 5, Shickle 10. Totals: 19 10-14 53.
Phoenix 17 17 25 17— 76
Etna 19 10 10 14— 53
3-point goals — Phoenix 9 (Trenbeath 2, Mooring 2, Ponce 1, Hernandez 1, Harper 3, Bolstad 1), Etna 5 (Rodriguez 1, D. Case 2, T. Bennett 2).
HIDDEN VALLEY 51, ST. MARY'S 37: St. Mary's was unable to overcome a two-point opening quarter and suffered a home loss to Class 4A Hidden Valley in its final nonleague tuneup of the season.
Heemir Patel and Tyson Delplanche each scored nine points to lead the way for the Crusaders (1-8), who trailed 10-2 after the opening quarter and finished the first half with 11 points total.
Nathan Greenberg led the way for Hidden Valley (6-6) with 12 points.
HIDDEN VALLEY (51): Noga 0, Norris 4, Bierty 7, Greenberg 12, J. Iwamizu 7, Daily 0, Stone 0, McCord 0, Fiske 5, D. Iwamizu 9, Griess 2, Kanott 4. Totals: 22 3-5 51.
ST. MARY'S (37): David 2, Friesen 4, Hensman 0, Flowers 3, Kranenberg 0, Foster 5, Walker 1, Delplanche 9, Cooley 3, Lad 1, Patel 9. Totals: 11 12-12 37.
Hidden Valley 10 11 16 13— 51
St. Mary's 2 9 13 13— 37
3-point goals — Hidden Valley 3 (Brierty 1, D. Iwamizu 2), St. Mary's 3 (Flowers 1, Cooley 1, Patel 1).
Girls
CRATER 69, MAZAMA 23: At Klamath Falls, sophomores Lydia Traore and Sage Winslow paved the way for Crater, which used strong second-half defense to limit Mazama to just five points and picked up its sixth consecutive win.
Traore posted 12 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks while Winslow paced the Comets (8-4) with 16 points.
The Comets forced 20 turnovers in the first half and built a 40-18 lead going into the half. After the intermission, Crater leaned on its strong halfcourt defense to help hold Mazama (2-8) to just one made free throw in the fourth quarter.
Sophomores Alexa Gugliotta, Addison Dippel and Isabel McCauley had five assists and five steals each for the Comets.
CRATER (69): Gugliotta 6, S. Winslow 16, Gish 4, Vranes 2, Snow 2, Dippel 5, Munroe 5, Simmons 2, McCauley 4, A. Winslow 7, Traore 12, Idiart 2, Valencia 2. Totals: 27 13-16 69.
MAZAMA (23): Utley 3, McGirr 0, Baley 6, Holbrook 4, Byington 0, Heaton 6, Dorrian 0, Estes 0, Lee 1, Gilmore 3. Totals: 9 5-9 23.
Crater 27 13 10 11— 69
Mazama 7 11 4 1— 23
3-point goals — Crater 2 (Dippel 1, Munroe 1).
JV result — Crater won.
EAGLE POINT 35, NEWBERG 43: At Newberg, Eagle Point made a furious rally to take a brief lead early in the fourth quarter before Class 6A Newberg regained control and snapped the Eagles' nine-game winning streak.
After scoring just three points in the opening frame, the Eagles (10-2) found their rhythm and clung to a 30-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter, but their offense fizzled and too many untimely turnovers proved costly in getting outscored 15-5.
Freshman Kady Ledbetter paced the Eagles with nine points, sophomore Kadence Lindstrom chipped in with eight and sophomore Thianna Deng-Gomes seven.
The win moved Newberg to 7-3.
EAGLE POINT (35): Dole 6, Hanan 0, Garlitz 3, Lindstrom 8, Ledbetter 9, Cabrera 2, Deng-Gomes 7. Totals: 13 9-17 35.
NEWBERG (43): Lindell 2, Landwehr 0, Turpen 8, Maffia 2, Gray 10, Macris 16, Case 1, Blubaugh 4. Totals: 18 5-8 43.
Eagle Point 3 14 13 5— 35
Newberg 11 6 11 15— 43
3-point goals — Newberg 2 (Macris 2). Fouled out — Case.
JV result — Newberg won.
NORTH SALEM 43, ASHLAND 34: At Salem, Abbey Lambert scored 11 points and Ashland continued to show signs of improvement, but the Grizzlies were unable to get the win against Class 6A North Salem.
Ashland (1-6) also got seven points from Laine Carter.
The Grizzlies played the Vikings (3-8) nearly even in the second half, but were unable to cut into the 19-14 halftime deficit.
Emma Juarez paced North Salem with 16 points.
ASHLAND (34): Montgomery 0, Sayre 6, Lambert 11, Carter 7, Vara 0, Lundgren 4, Jarvis 0, Berry 0, Adaine 6, Losinski 0. Totals: 12 7-9 34.
NORTH SALEM (43): Garcia 0, Vipperman 7, Bier 4, Trevino 3, Simmons 2, Juarez 16, Richardson 8, Mendoza 3. Totals: 17 5-12 43.
Ashland 9 5 9 11— 34
North Salem 12 7 12 12— 43
3-point goals — Ashland 3 (Sayre 2, Carter 1), North Salem 4 (Vipperman 1, Trevino 1, Juarez 1, Mendoza 1).
JV result — Ashland 52, North Salem 14.
