Banks rolls past The Dalles in basketball opener

The Riverhawks, guided by first-year Coach Jordan Rowland, were hoping to bounce back and get a win in a Class 4A non-league game Tuesday against the No. 12 ranked Pendleton High Buckaroos (2-1) in Pendleton (result was after the printed edition deadline).

“They (Braves) are a real solid team, and they just outplayed us,” said Rowland. “There were moments where we did really well and then there were some moments that we didn’t do so well. We gave up too many offensive rebounds and we had too many turnovers (20). It’s just the first game of the year. We’re just trying different combinations and seeing what kid wants to go out there and work hard and perform well. It wasn’t a bad game, but it’s just something that we’ll learn from.”

The Braves (1-0) took third place in the Class 4A state tournament last year when they were 21-7; Banks moved down to Class 3A this year.

The Dalles junior forward Andre Niko scored a team-high 20 points to lead eight players in the scoring column. Junior guard Cooper Cummings had eight points, junior guard Henry Begay had seven and senior guard Styles DeLeon had six.

“They (Braves) looked really sharp and it kind of looked like they were playing their fifth game of the season and not their first game,” said Rowland. “Andre had a pretty good game. I think there was good moments for a lot of our players at various times. You have to have 32 minutes of good basketball and not 16 or 24 minutes and you have to play well the whole game in order to come up with a victory.”

The Riverhawks were within eight points in the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t get any closer as the Braves pulled away late in the game to get the win by a double-digit margin.

The Riverhawks play their next contest in a 6:30 p.m. non-league match-up in their home opener against Gorge rival Hood River Valley (see related story this issue).