By BEN MCCARTY
News staff writer
February 24, 2007
By midway through the first quarter of the Hood River Valley Eagles season ending 65-37 loss to David Douglas Thursday night, it was evident why one team would be advancing to the state playoffs while the other would finish the season winless in Mount Hood Conference play.
The Scots opened the game with a 13-0 run, which was not snapped until Adam Williams hit a three-pointer with just over three minutes remaining in the first quarter.
From there on out, the Scots only increased their domination, tightening down on defense and taking the ball to the hoop.
They also held leading Hood River scorer K.C. Christensen, playing in his final game for the Eagles, to a season low 4 points.
Meanwhile, Gamal Ahmed’s and Jordan Baylis each scored 15 points for the Scots, who also got 10 points from JP Pittman.
For the Eagles it is a disappointing end to a disappointing first season back in the Mount Hood Conference.
“I’m just pleased at the effort these guys gave all game and all year long,” Hood River coach Zach Pauls said. “It’s tough to be in a situation where you know you are at a disadvantage.”
The loss is the fifth straight time, and tenth this season, that the Eagles lost by more than 20 points, including an 88-38 loss at Gresham Tuesday.
It was a particularly rough season for the team’s four seniors, Christensen, Jon Ing, Jimmy Lopez and Jordan Fogle, who saw their former coach Phil Vesel leave last summer and switched to the highly competitive Mount Hood Conference.
It hurt and at times and it was hard,” Christensen said. “But you have to look past the wins and losses and look at the growth in my teammates.”
For Christensen, this season was a growing experience for himself and the whole team as they learned how to deal with the adversity the team faced the year, challenges that he felt brought them together as a team.
“I wouldn’t trade this group of guys for any talent,” he said.
The seniors hope that this season’s difficulties will translate into success down the road for the Eagles.
“They just need to keep working hard and keep their heads up,” Ing said.
Throughout the game it was apparent that Douglas simply had more athletic talent on the floor, and the Eagles were never able to get closer than 12 in the second half.
Down the stretch the Scots out rebounded and out hustled the Eagles, who had no answer for anything the Scots tried on offense.
Pauls will now be looking for ways to replace two of the team’s leading scorers and leaders in Christensen and Ing, and develop a plan to be more competitive in the conference.
“We need to get some confidence playing basketball,” he said. “We are going to play a ton of games this summer so we’ll be fun to watch.”
Despite the tough season, Christensen hopes that this team has helped to develop future Hood River Valley teams to have success.
“I think we laid a foundation this year,” he said. “We came to practice and worked hard and cared for each other.”
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