Much like last year, The Dalles High Riverhawks boys basketball team has high expectations.
A year ago, the Riverhawks advanced to the OSAA Class 5A state playoffs. The Riverhawks took third place in the six-team Intermountain Conference with a 5-5 record and finished with an 11-11 mark overall. The season ended with a, 59-24, loss to No. 2 Churchill High in a first-round, state playoff game last March. The Dalles qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.
Four of the five starters from that squad return for the 2022-23 season. The Riverhawks did lose four graduated seniors (Jaxon Pullen, David Rodriquez, Tristan Bass, Noah Kendall), but the core group of four players who had the most playing time last year returns. That quartet includes IMC first team all-league guard Styles Deleon, senior center Braden Schwartz and IMC second team all-league award winners Henry Begay and Andre Niko. The senior trio of Schwartz, Deleon and Andy Maney will help provide The Dalles with solid leadership qualities, along with senior guard Joshua Taylor, who transferred from Dufur High School.
A significant change for the squad includes the addition of a new head coach, Jordan Rowland, who took over Nov. 11 for Greg Cummings. He resigned Oct. 28, just 17 days prior to the start of practice Nov. 14. Fifty-one players turned out for the opening day of practice, and they’ll compete for positions on four teams — varsity, JV, JV2 and freshmen. It marks the largest group of players that The Dalles basketball program has had in the past five years.
“I think that we have a lot of talent on the team, and I think we should be as good or better than we were last year,” said Rowland, a Riverhawk assistant coach the last three years. “It was always an aspiration of mine to be a varsity coach. It’s a natural progression for guys to move up in the program. When (Athletic Director) Billy Brost asked me to step up, I was 100 percent ready to move onto the next step in the program. I’ve been a part of this program and what we’ve been developing for four years now. Working with Greg was a lot of fun the last three years and I’ve enjoyed coaching these kids.”
The Riverhawks are competing in the Class 4A Tri-Valley Conference after moving down from the 5A level. Being in the six-team TVC should provide The Dalles with an opportunity to win a league championship.
“I’m excited for the season and what it’s going to bring and what we’re going to be able to do,” said Rowland, 32, in his first season as a varsity head coach. “I think that moving from 5A to 4A is going to change some things. There’s obviously differences when you drop in a classification. I don’t necessarily think that it’s going to be a cakewalk by any means though.”
Rowland has been coaching middle school and high school basketball teams for 10 years. He coached the freshmen and JV teams at Clackamas High School before he moved to The Dalles five years ago.
Gladstone won the 2021-22 TVC title with an 8-2 record (14-8 overall), but they’re rebuilding this season after losing six seniors. The other team in the TVC that had a winning record last year was the Molalla High Indians, who were 12-11 overall and 5-5 in league.
The other three teams each had losing records, including TVC newcomer the Crook County High Cowboys, who were 5-5 in the IMC and 8-15 overall last year. Like The Dalles, Crook County moved down to 4A this year and joins the Riverhawks in the same league again. The Madras High White Buffaloes (6-16) and the Estacada High Rangers (7-16) struggled last year.
“We lost (48-36, Jan. 12, 2022) to Gladstone in a nonleague game last year, so it’s going to be a natural opportunity to get back at them this season and we’ll play them twice,” said Rowland. “I think Josh Taylor will be a nice addition to our team. With everyone being another year developed and being more wiser and a year older, they should be able to perform better than they did last year. Obviously, Styles is one of our senior leaders along with Braden. I think we’ll have a nice mixture of kids who are able to really come out and attack our opponents well. With Braden, Andre, and Will Lee, it gives us a nice three-man combination of big guys.”
The Riverhawks have a deep and talented squad that will provide them with a solid group coming off the bench, including juniors Lee, Nolan Donivan, Anthony Jara and Cooper Cummings.
The Riverhawks open their 23-game schedule Dec. 2 with a 7:30 p.m. road game against the Class 3A Banks High Braves (21-7 last year) at Banks High School. The Dalles plays its home opener Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. at Kurtz Gym versus the Pendleton High Buckaroos.
“I think it’s going to be a great season and I think we’ll be a strong force to be reckoned with,” said Rowland. “I’m just excited to see what we’re going to be able to put together.”
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