1A basketball preview — Big Sky teams juggle multiple sports prepping for short hoops season

The Rangers (2-0), guided by longtime (25-years) Coach Hollie Darden, won 65-25 in their season opener May 18 against the Lyle/Wishram Cougars, followed by a 57-48 win on May 21 over the Ione/Arlington Cardinals. It marked the Rangers’ first games since Feb. 22, 2019 when they lost 66-49 to the Prairie City Panthers in an OSAA second-round state playoff game.

“It’s nice to be back in the gym again, but it’s definitely been kind of crazy at times,” said Darden, who has 25 players competing on both the junior varsity and varsity squads. “We only had nine players Friday against Ione because two of our kids (Jacob Peters, Josh Taylor) had to leave so they could play in our baseball playoff game on Saturday versus Monroe (a 12-6 Ranger loss).”

Peters and Taylor did a very impressive double duty performance May 18 while playing both baseball and basketball the same day. Dufur, with Peters and Taylor in the lineup, played Portland Christian in a Class 2A/1A state playoff contest (a 16-0 Ranger win) at 4 p.m. in Dufur. It turned out to be a five-inning contest shortened by the 10-run Mercy Rule. After the game, Peters and Taylor traveled to Lyle High School to play in the Rangers’ 6 p.m. basketball season opener there.

“We’ve a pretty good balanced scoring on the team, but Cooper typically scores anywhere from 12 to 20 points a game and he’ll generally lead the team in scoring,” said Darden. “The other starters are all averaging in double figure scoring too and we have some kids who can score off the bench, as well. Our league is pretty tough, and it has lots of good teams. South Wasco has a pretty good team and Ione/Arlington is good too. We’ve tried to put together a good schedule for our kids and we’ll play other top teams like Damascus Christian, too.”

Darden said the season is kind of like a summer league because none of the games are sponsored by the OSAA and there’s no state championship events. “We’re trying to put together a basketball playoff schedule similar to what we did for baseball and maybe we can have either a 16-team or an eight-team tournament at the conclusion of the season during culmination week (June 20-26),” Darden said. “We’re hoping to play it at Baker High School, which is where we usually played the tournament under normal conditions like we had before the COVID pandemic.”

The Rangers play their next game Wednesday versus the Echo Cougars at 7:30 p.m. at Echo High School, followed by an area rivalry contest at home June 2 at 7:30 p.m. against the Sherman High Huskies. The Huskies, guided by Coach Gary Lewis and assistants Bill Martin and Ethan Moore, opened their Big Sky Conference schedule May 18, and lost 59-49 to Ione/Arlington.

Sherman played its home opener Monday versus Echo (results came after the printed edition deadline). The Huskies next game is a 7:30 p.m. home game Friday against the Condon/Wheeler Blue Devils. Sherman has a squad that includes seniors Will James, Jed Harrison, Patrick Ramos, and Wade Fields, along with junior Dillan Stanfield. The young Husky team also has four sophomores and three freshmen.

The South Wasco County High Redsides opened their short eight-game Big Sky spring season May 25 at home versus Sherman (results came after the printed edition deadline). South Wasco, guided by Coach Jim Hull and assistant Zach Hayes, plays its next contest Friday at 6:45 p.m. against the Horizon Christian Hawks in Hood River.

Horizon split its first two games — losing against Valley 10 opponent Open Door last week and defeating Lyle at home two days later. The Hawks, under long-time coach Darren Lingel, feature the coach’s son, Caleb, who was a second team all-league pick as a sophomore. Fellow seniors Kai Robertson and JJ Holste, along with juniors Alex Whitaker and Josh Rogers also are returning varsity players from Horizon’s 2019 Big Sky district championship and 1A state tourney team.

Horizon played at Arlington/Ione on Monday and travels to Condon on Wednesday.