Dufur boys finish first in Big Sky, advance to state playoffs

The Rangers, guided by Coach Hollie Darden, have won three straight and are in the playoffs for a fifth straight year. The No. 4-seeded Rangers are hoping their win streak will continue as they seek to advance to Thursday’s championship game. Last year, Dufur advanced to the second round of state before losing 78-64 to the Crosshill Christian Eagles on Feb. 29, 2020.

“We’re excited about this tournament, and we feel like we have a chance to win the championship and that’s our goal,” said Darden. “The kids are doing some good things and we’ve had pretty balanced scoring, which is what I prefer to see, because that makes us more difficult to defend. That’s kind of the way we’ve played all season, which makes it kind of nice. Nixyaawii is considered as one of the favorites to win it too. Their kids play basketball all the time on the reservation, so they’re pretty strong.”

Dufur played a first-round game June 21 against North Clackamas Christian, quarterfinals followed June 22 (results came after the printed edition deadline), with semifinals on Wednesday.

Dufur came into the playoffs with momentum from winning its final two games of the short 10-game spring season. The Rangers won 69-56 over the Ione/Arlington Cardinals (6-2) in their final league matchup June 14 at Ione High School.

“Cooper Bales, Josh Taylor, Jacob Peters and Caleb Olson have all stepped up and played really well, along with everyone else on our team, because they’re all doing a nice job for us,” said Darden.

The Rangers jumped in front 20-4 after one quarter, before the Cardinals came back trimming the margin to 32-26 at halftime. The Rangers then regained the momentum in the third, outscoring the Cardinals 24-11 to take a 56-37 advantage after three.

The Rangers had a balanced offense with five players scoring in double figures, including a team-high 14 points by senior Cooper Bales. Sophomore Josh Taylor and senior Caleb Olson both had 13 points. Senior Jacob Peters and freshman Henry Begay each scored 10 and senior Alex Barrett added eight points.

A day later, Dufur added a 63-47 nonleague win over the visiting Trinity Lutheran Saints (8-4) of Bend. After falling behind 17-15 after the first quarter, the Rangers displayed their highly prolific offense in the second, utilizing rock solid defense, as well.

Dufur outscored Trinity Lutheran 16-5 in the second to grab a 31-22 halftime advantage. The Rangers’ momentum continued in the second half as they outscored the Saints 16-11 in the third and 16-14 in the fourth. Peters led Dufur with 18 points, Olson had 16 and Bales scored 13. A total of eight Rangers scored in the contest.

The South Wasco County High Redsides boys basketball team finished in second place to Dufur in the league standings and also qualified for the state playoffs for a second straight year. Last year the Redsides reached the second round of the playoffs before losing 43-40 to the Joseph High Eagles on Feb. 29, 2020.

South Wasco, guided by Coach Jim Hull, won its final home game 62-54 over the Country Christian Cougars (6-8) in a nonleague matchup June 14 and then lost 57-55 to Ione in its final Big Sky contest Friday at Dufur High School.

“We led for a majority of the game (versus Ione) and we had a nine-point lead at the end of the first quarter, so it really was a very disappointing and tough loss,” said Hull. “We had too many turnovers (14) and in order for us to win, we have to have fewer than 10, especially in a big game like this against a good team. You can survive having 15-20 turnovers against bad teams, but you can’t do that against good teams. We also shot poorly from the free throw line (11-for-23), which really hurt us too down the stretch, when we missed some key free throws late in the game.”

South Wasco played a first-round state playoff game June 21 versus Trinity Lutheran. Quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final were scheduled June 22-24.