Redside boys off to best start in recent years

“I’m pretty sure that this is our best start (8-0) that I’ve ever had and it’s good to see, but we’ll take it one game at a time, because that’s our philosophy,” said Hull. “We really don’t talk about our record much. We talk about winning the games in front of us and then everything will take care of itself. It was a challenge for us to play a real good team like Stanfield and we just came out and dominated them.”

The Tigers had an impressive performance but lost 75-67 in a close game against the No. 10 ranked Class 1A Nixyaawii High Golden Eagles Dec. 15.

“I’m never quite sure exactly what to expect at the beginning of the season,” said Hull. “After losing the 2020 Big Sky League Player-of-the-Year (graduated Garret Olson), you would think that would’ve hurt us pretty bad. What’s been really great is all the kids have just stepped up their game and filled their roles and everyone has just continued to get better.

“We’re scoring more points now than we have in the last two seasons. Garret and (Brock) LaFaver used to be the center of our offense, but we’re playing differently now. We have a lot of slashing type of players, and we play a lot of pressure defense with the group we have now, so it’s a good combination.”

Ongers has emerged as South Wasco’s leading scorer. “Ian has just exploded offensively; he’s our hardest working player and hopefully he’ll continue that trend,” said Hull. “He’s just taken the bull by the horns and he’s our leading scorer and averaging about 20 points per game. We don’t give him the ball all the time. We have a team concept that includes three different types of offenses that we run and he’s just really efficient in all three of them.

“What’s great is that Ian, Oscar Thomas and Brock are always going to play strong games for us. Then we always know that somebody else will also step up like James Best and Remington Anderson-Sheer. We have some really good athletes, and our press is very effective and we’re improving with each game and we’re having lots of fun.”

Against Stanfield, senior guard Oscar Thomas scored 15 points and had a four blocks and a team-high six assists. LaFaver, the Redsides’ senior post, had eight points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

The Stanfield win was the second over a 2A squad for the Redsides, who are one of four unbeaten Class 1A teams. South Wasco’s 72 points per game average is the No. 1-ranked offense out of 77 Class 1A squads. The Redsides were hoping to extend their win streak to nine in Tuesday’s nonleague matchup at home versus the North Lake/Paisley High Cowboys (4-2). South Wasco meets the No. 18 ranked Dufur High Rangers (2-0 Big Sky, 3-2 overall) in its next contest Jan 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Maupin (results after the printed edition deadline).