HOOD RIVER — An eight-point road win Feb. 6 at Hillsboro has the Hood River Valley (HRVHS) boys basketball team back on track for one of the Northwest Oregon Conference’s four automatic state playoff berths.
The Eagles won 67-59 at Hillsboro, completing the two-game sweep this season of the Spartans. The game was the first of four straight scheduled on the road for Coach Christopher Dirks’ team. The Hillsboro win moved HRV (8-11 overall, 5-5 NWOC) into a fourth-place tie with Centennial (9-10, 5-5).
Hood River has road games Feb. 9 at La Salle, Feb. 12 at Canby, and Feb. 20 at Centennial. Parkrose leads the NWOC at 10-0, Canby is second at 9-1, Wilsonville is third at 7-3, followed by HRV and Centennial.
Hood River’s road win at Hillsboro came on the heels of a 70-65 overtime home loss Feb. 3 against Wilsonville. The Eagles led by eight points after the first quarter, but Wilsonville outscored HRV 27-14 over the next two periods to lead 40-35, entering the final eight minutes.
JJ Poole scored for Hood River, teammate Cooper Wells added a basket off a feed from Deacon Ybarra, who added a three-pointer to give the Eagles the lead. Hood River’s 14-2 run left the Eagles holding a 49-44 advantage.
Wilsonville came back behind its inside game, led by 6-foot-7 Luke Brainard, and 6-7 Aazzee Breaux. It didn’t help HRV later when Wells had to go to the bench due to foul trouble.
Hood River never led in the extra four-minute period, when they were outscored 16-11. Wilsonville was 12 for 17 from the foul line in overtime.
Ybarra led Hood River with 23 points, Poole added 21, and Talon Britt had 10.
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