Timing is everything, and the Hood River Valley boys basketball team benefited from good timing this past week in its, 59-51, conference opening win against visiting Crook County.
The Cowboys, last season’s unbeaten Intermountain Conference champions, had the host Eagles reeling on the ropes in the second half of Friday’s game at Vannet Court. A third-quarter scoring burst gave Crook County a 41-37 fourth-quarter lead before the home team closed out the game with a spark of its own. The win sets up Hood River for Friday’s scheduled matchup at Gorge rival The Dalles (6-6 overall).
High-scoring HRV (7-2 overall) has thrived in part because of its outside shooting this season, but a cold stretch put its then four-game win streak in jeopardy, as Crook County erased a 24-21 halftime deficit. The Eagle defense, playing the passing lanes to create 11 steals and 22 turnovers, proved the difference.
“Our shooting was off, and we actually had trouble scoring, finishing with 59 points after scoring 80 plus in our last three,” Coach Christopher Dirks said. “We struggled to hit our shots from three and finished (at) 25 percent. We did, however, improve our defense and got our interior scoring going to pull off a late comeback and win.”
Hunter Hough scored just two points in his 21 minutes, but his team-high (tied) six rebounds and four steals were pivotal. Efficient senior Clayton Cook led the way for HRV, with 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting and six rebounds in 19 minutes. Senior guard Emanuel Romero added 15 points, five assists and four steals of his own.
Dirks was relieved with the win, but perhaps more relived with a sense of normalcy last week. “First of all, we were very excited to just be back in the gym for a relatively smooth week of school, practice, and games. Very thankful for that.”
That said, the smooth week didn’t serve as an accurate predicator of things to come by week’s end – especially after how the week started. Hood River entered the Crook County game coming off a superb shooting night Jan. 11 in an 81-79 nonleague win against visiting Banks.
“Against Banks we had another great shooting night with 14 threes at 60 percent,” Dirks said. “One area that really needs improvement is our defense. We had done a good job scoring, but we are letting teams score a lot, as well. Overall, I felt like it was a quality win against a good opponent.”
Banks is a top Class 4A program, which has a 30-point win over Crook County on its season resume. The Braves shot 57 percent for the game, but as most teams have been, were bothered by HRV’s pressure defense. The Eagles scored 25 points off 20 Banks turnovers.
Cook had another good game, scoring 21 points on 9-for-15 shooting with six assists. Romero, back from an illness, added 17 points and a team-high three steals.
“Clayton was very consistent this week averaging about 20 points at 60 percent shooting, five rebounds, and four assists,” Dirks said of Cook. “He helped us out greatly in both wins.
“Looking ahead, we are going to try and not get too far out. We have a game on Tuesday at Prairie in Vancouver. We are going to focus on that game before we look at The Dalles. It felt good to get a few wins at home, but we are going to get back in the gym and practice and keep making improvements as we move forward with league games.”
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