THE DALLES — The Dalles High School’s (TDHS) boys basketball team lost, 71-70, to Molalla High School in Kurtz Gymnasium on Feb. 2 in a Class 4A Tri-Valley Conference game.
The Riverhawks (9-11, 1-3), led by Coach Brian Stevens, got off to a slow start against the Indians (17-2, 3-1). Molalla controlled the first half, leading 38-30 at the break. Calder Morrison led The Dalles in first-half scoring with 16 points, while Oliver Stevens added 13.
“The second half started rough for us,” Coach Stevens said. “Molalla came out aggressive, and their post, Kurt Pederson, scored three straight buckets in the paint. He finished as their leading scorer with 24 points.
“We continue to struggle defending post players due to being undersized, so I made an adjustment and subbed in Hudson Case, a 5-10 guard, to defend Pederson in the post. Hudson flat-out won that matchup, giving up only four points to him the rest of the game.”
Offensively, The Dalles went cold as a team to start the second half, falling behind by as many as 16 points in the third quarter. However, Oliver Stevens quickly changed the fortune for the Riverhawks. He scored 29 points in the second half — 13 in the third quarter and 16 in the fourth. He helped cut the lead to 71–70 with eight seconds remaining.
The Dalles was late to foul, leaving only 2.2 seconds left for the Riverhawks to operate. Stevens rebounded a Molalla missed free throw, pushed the ball to half-court, and narrowly missed a half-court shot to win the game.
Stevens, a junior, finished with 42 points, two rebounds, four assists, two steals and five deflections, shooting 16-25 (64 percent) from the floor. Morrison was The Dalles’ second-leading scorer with 19 points.
Stevens surpassed 1,000 in career points — in less than two seasons of play. He is leading Oregon 4A boys basketball in scoring at 25 points per game on 62 percent shooting and ranked third in assists at 4.9 per game.
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