Dufur is steadily finding its flow

Ranger head coach Tony White liked what he saw from his group.

They have had only eight official practices coming in to a game against the defending state runner-up.

“The kids played hard tonight. Nixyaawii jumped up early, but we caught our breath and stayed with them the rest of the way,” White said. “I can see the confidence starting to grow and as we continue to practice and improve, I see good things on the horizon for this team.”

Dufur had three players hit double figures in the game, led by Connor Uhalde, who had seven field goals and went 4 of 10 from the line for 18 points.

Bailey Keever was good for 16 points and Kolbe Bales tacked on three 3-pointers as part of his 15-point effort.

Senior point guard Hunter Melton paced Nixyaawii (8-1 overall) with 18 points, Fredy Campos tallied 15 and Angel Corona rounded out the scoring leaders with 13 points.

On Friday, Dufur played against No. 2 and undefeated Damascus Christian, a team that defeated them, 73-51, on Dec. 5 in Damascus.

This time around on Monday, the Rangers trailed by 13 points in the second half, and got as close as a five-point deficit, 63-58, after 3-pointers by Bales and Keever with a minute left in regulation, but Damascus hit 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch to secure a 66-58 road win.

“I am not sure Damascus thought they were going to come in and have a game like that after how they treated us down at their place,” Coach White said. “That was a 20-point difference. It was 30 at the half and it was never close. I think it would be exciting to get through league and possibly see them in the playoffs because I really don’t think they want to play us again.”

Dufur had the advantage early on and led by a 15-12 score after one quarter, but Damascus rebounded with a 25-18 run to push the lead to 37-33 at the half.

The Eagles (6-0) then ran their advantage to 13 points in the third quarter on the heels of a 16-7 spurt.

Damascus made 23 field goals, eight from long distance, and shot 13 of 15 from the line.

Ben Shields had 17 points, Ryan Patrick tacked on 16, Silas Marvin scored 14 and Hunter Straub poured in 12 points to lead the Eagles.

Keever had a team-high 22 points, 13 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Rangers, who hit seven 3-pointers, 15 2-point shots and converted 6 of 11 free throws.

“I think our outside shooting smoothed out a little bit,” White said. “It helps out that we had Kolbe there as an outlet and then we had Bailey able to hit the three-ball, so it stretched things out a lot. It will open up our inside game.”

Bales added 16 points, Uhalde notched nine, and Hagen Pence hit two field goals for four points and Curtis Crawford had three points to round out the Dufur scoring leaders.

“I feel like we played pretty well tonight after coming off a 20-point loss to these guys earlier in the season,” Bales said. “We came out and had a week of practice, so that helped us a lot. We actually came out and shot the ball really well, but we have to play better defense. I felt that we played pretty good, especially since we started a little later in the season because of football.”

Dufur (1-4 overall) next hosts the three-day 1A Hoop Classic Tournament at Dufur High School from Dec. 28-30.

The first tournament contest is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Monday night against No. 24-ranked Pacific High School (4-4).