THE GORGE – With three of its final fourth games at home, fourth-ranked South Wasco County is in prime position to finish first in the 2025-26 Big Sky League regular season boys basketball standings.
The Redsides (19-2 overall, 9-0 league) took a big step toward that end Jan. 27, with a 67-57 home win over second place Ione/Arlington (13-5, 8-1). South Wasco survived a three-minute lull to start the second half when Ione crawled back from a 35-25 halftime deficit to pull within four.
Jason Hull, who finished with cc points, made a 3-pointer to restart the Redside offense. The South Wasco lead was 49-35 to start the final period and Ione never got closer than the final 10-point margin the rest of the way. Hull finished with 30 points and Rowen Huff added 13.
Klickitat/Glenwood is in third place in the Big Sky at 6-3, 12-5 overall. The Vandals lost 73-67 on Jan. 30 at Ione, which snapped a five-game win streak.
Horizon Christian is in a three-way tie for fourth with two weeks to play in the regular season. The Hawks won two road games this past week over Spray/Mitchell/Wheeler and Sherman. In the latter contest, Horizon had to hold off a second-half comeback by the Huskies, who overcame an 18-point halftime deficit only to lose, 52-51.
Landon Whitaker led Horizon with 23 points. Sherman freshman Diego Ambriz scored 13 second-half points to spark the Husky comeback.
In Big Sky girls play, three teams on the West half of the league are 1-2-3 with the final one third of games remaining. Ninth-ranked Dufur continues to lead with a 7-0 conference mark, 17-2 overall. Trout Lake is at 6-1 (13-4 overall), and South Wasco County had won five straight to move into third at 5-2 (6-13 overall).
Dufur pushed its win streak to 15 with a 56-19 victory at Condon on Jan. 30.
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