The No. 16-ranked The Dalles High Riverhawk boys basketball team concluded its finest season in 11 years Friday, losing 59-24 in the first round of the Class 5A state playoffs at Churchill High in Eugene.
The Midwestern League Champion No. 2 ranked Lancers (21-5) showed that they’re worthy of their high recognition, as they had a dominating performance vs. the Hawks (11-11). Churchill advances to the 5A state championship tournament March 9-12 at Oregon State University’s Gill Coliseum in Corvallis.
Churchill and four other Midwestern teams — Eagle Point, Crater, and Ashland — won playoff games Friday to advance to the eight-team 5A state tourney. Eagle Point defeated Hood River.
The Hawks, guided by Coach Greg Cummings, fell behind early and trailed 18-7 after the first quarter and were down 31-12 at halftime. The Hawks struggled offensively and scored four points in the third, as the Lancers went up 51-17 after three quarters.
“It was the expected outcome by everybody else, but it wasn’t expected by us,” said Cummings. “We just couldn’t get into any kind of rhythm offensively and we struggled defensively. We struggled offensively and we just couldn’t put the ball in the hole and that’s the reality of the game. They’re a very solid and well coached (by Kelly Bokn) team, they’re very athletic and they were just better than us tonight for sure.”
Bokn coached Redmond High to the 2003 Class 4A (large schools) state title, and a runner-up finish in 2004.
Samaje Morgan, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, scored 14 points, and Ty Weiskind, a 6-4 senior, added 10 points for the Lancers. Henry Begay had nine points for The Dalles.
Friday’s contest marked the final game of the The Dalles High School basketball careers of seniors Jaxon Pullen, David Rodriguez, Noah Kendall and Tristan Bass.
“Our seniors really kind of anchored us this year,” said Cummings. “Jaxon has been a starter for three of his four years on the team. I feel like I’ve been blessed to have coached him since he was in fifth grade. Tristan is a wonderful kid who works extremely hard. He got hit by the injury bug early in the season, which kind of derailed his year. He’s another kid that I’ve coached since he was in fifth grade, so I’m really going to miss him. Noah has been a wonderful teammate and a great addition to our roster even though he didn’t get a lot of playing time, but he always had a great attitude. David had some injuries, which limited his playing time, but he never complained, he always worked hard in practice, and he was a great teammate, so we’ll miss him as well.”
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