In the first game without their leading scorer, Styles DeLeon, who suffered a season-ending leg injury Dec. 30, The Dalles High Riverhawks boys basketball team won a non-league contest, 60-55, over visiting Pendleton on Jan. 4.

The Class 4A Riverhawks faced a much stronger opponent in a Jan. 7 home match-up against the Class 6A Willamette High Wolverines (6-5), who won 59-36.

A definition of relevancy in high school boys basketball: Good teams schedule non-league games against you because they want to play better competition, not because they want an easy win; or, they schedule you because a win or a loss won’t adversely affect their power ranking.

Either way, the Hood River Valley boys hoops program, under seventh-year Coach Christopher Dirks, is relevant once again.