1A boys basketball roundup : Hawk boys overwhelm Dayville-Monument

Horizon’s momentum continued in the second period, as they displayed a potent offensive, led by junior Mason Bates (team-high 17 points), Gutierrez and senior Caleb Yuan (14 points). The Hawks outscored the Tigers 24-3 in the second quarter to build a 38-5 halftime lead and they extended the margin to 55-12 after three quarters.

“It’s nice to be tall and so we were able to dominate them (Tigers), because they don’t have any tall guys,” said Yuan. “We ran some plays that I can capitalize on by just posting up down low where I can get some easy baskets. I think we have a good chance of going to state this year, because we all know each other pretty well and we’ve been playing together for three years now.”

The Hawks, guided by second-year Coach Kim Linder, equaled their season high in total points scored, which they also had in a 60-35 win on Dec. 9 over Dayville/Monument at Condon High School. The 16 points allowed was a season best defensive mark for a Horizon opponent this year.

“We’ve got some guys that worked really hard in the offseason so that they could step into the roles that they have in replacing two seniors (Alex Whitaker, Josh Rogers) from last year who scored a lot of points for us,” said Linder. “Our big guys (6-foot-3 seniors) Caleb and Arthur Li both stepped up nice with their scoring inside and we just had a really good overall team effort by everyone. I was really pleased with how well we played and I’m looking forward to building off of this win.”

The Hawks had a balanced offense with six players scoring, including 10 points for Li.

“We won a pretty important game over Dufur (1-1 league, 3-4 overall) in our league opener (a 52-40 win, Dec. 17), but we know South Wasco is at the top and all the rest of us are fighting for second place. We have a chance of beating them (South Wasco) if we play well and I do think that’s where we should be if we keep working hard and improving. Our goal is to qualify for the state playoffs this year because we didn’t make it last year. We know that we have to keep getting better, have our players get healthy. Some of our other guys stepped up and played well in roles that they’re not used too today.”

The Hawks were without two starters as sophomore Markeith Harris (injury) and senior Luke Wells (sick) were unable to play against Dayville/Monument. Horizon’s losses have been road games at Columbia Christian (4-4) and Mannahouse Christian (7-0), the No. 1-ranked Class 2A team. Horizon was missing two starters in each of those contests and has not played a game this season with its complete varsity roster available.

South Wasco climbs to No. 9

The No. 9-ranked South Wasco County High Redsides (7-1) will play their first game in 11 days when they travel to Southern Oregon to meet the North Lake High Cowboys (5-3) in a 6 p.m. non-league match-up Wednesday at North Lake High School. South Wasco won 70-29 at home over North Lake exactly one year ago on Dec. 28, 2021.

Dufur spits two games

The Dufur High Rangers split two non-league games last week against top-20 ranked Class 1A teams. The Rangers won 38-35 in a low scoring game over the No. 20 ranked Perrydale High Pirates (6-4) Dec. 19 at Perrydale High School. Dufur followed with a 67-38 loss to the No. 19 ranked Joseph High Eagles (9-2) at home Dec. 22. The Rangers allowed a season high point total for an opponent in the loss to the Eagles.

Sherman County wins two

The Sherman County High Huskies (0-2 league, 5-3 overall) won two straight non-league games on back-to-back days last week. The Huskies won 58-28 over Dayville/Monument Dec. 19 at home, followed by a 52-16 road win over the Griswold High Grizzlies (1-7) Dec. 20 in Helix. The 16 points by the Grizzlies was the fewest points allowed by a Huskies opponent this season.