THE DALLES guard Colin Noonan (middle) attempts an acrobatic shot in front of the defense of Hood River Valley’s Dallas Buckley in Tuesday’s league contest at Vannet Court in Hood River. The host Eagles won, 62-49.
THE DALLES guard Colin Noonan (middle) attempts an acrobatic shot in front of the defense of Hood River Valley’s Dallas Buckley in Tuesday’s league contest at Vannet Court in Hood River. The host Eagles won, 62-49.
HOOD RIVER – All the bounces that went The Dalles’ way last Friday in their upset win over Pendleton did not go their way Tuesday in the second half against Hood River Valley.
After both teams fought to a 25-all halftime tie, the Eagles used runs of 15-6 and 22-18 in the second half to claim a 62-49 victory in a 5A Columbia River Conference contest played at Hood River Valley high School.
“I thought the kids played hard,” The Dalles coach Bob Townsend said.
“They lost their composure a little bit there, missed some assignments and allowed Hood River to pull away a little in the third quarter. We are getting better, but we just have to sustain it for 32 minutes,” he said.
With less than three minutes left in the third quarter, Tanner Byers hit a layup to inch the Riverhawks to a 32-31 deficit.
However, the Eagles increased their lead to 40-31 using a runner and a foul shot from Dallas Buckley, a layup by Scottie Ziegler and a 3-pointer from Buckley.
Using the momentum from that flurry, Hood River Valley all but sealed its second league win of the season with a 9-1 run on scores from Noah Noteboom, a 3-pointer from Skyler Hunter, a runner by Buckley and a Kam Walker layup in the opening 3:48 of the fourth quarter to make it a 49-32 tally.
“We got the shots we wanted all the way until the end, we just missed some lay-ins,” Townsend added. “We have to get inside a little bit differently against a zone. I felt pretty good about how we went about it in the first three quarters, it is just we missed a few lay-ins and then we got down and started to do things that were against our identity.”
Hood River (9-8 overall, 2-1 league) opened up the first quarter with a 16-11 lead, but the Riverhawks battled back in the second period and had five different scorers spearhead a 14-9 run.
Freshman guard Dakota Murr swished a 3-pointer, Colin Noonan hit on a field goal and a free throw, Angel Esiquio went 2 for 2 from the line, Storm Douthit muscled home a short shot and Coby Conlee made good on a pair of baskets to even the score at 25-apiece at the break.
The Dalles (2-16, 1-2) made good on 18 field goals, three from 3-point land and went 8 for 18 from the free throw line.
Noonan paced the Riverhawk offense with 14 points, Devin Wilson added seven and Conlee tacked on six points.
Hunter drilled six three-pointers on his way to 20 points, Ziegner had 12 of his 15 in the second hal.
Buckley added 12 points and both Noteboom and Kaydin Gibbs ended the night with seven points, as HRV made 21 field goals, nine from beyond the arc and went 9 of 13 from the line.
Now with a 1-2 record in league play, the Riverhawks are still in the thick of the playoff picture.
Townsend is looking for the leadership element to shine through in the final six games of the regular season.
In the three league contests, Townsend said his group has been in contention with a chance to win.
The belief is there.
“These losses are difficult,” Townsend said. “You want to see the kids respond accordingly. You want to see them frustrated and angry, but you want them to come back and be ready to work hard in practice tomorrow.
“That’s what we have to do. We also have to maintain our mental toughness and know that we can compete against everyone in league.”
The Dalles next heads to Hermiston (5-12, 2-1) at 7 p.m. Friday.
Hermiston lost by a 55-51 score to No. 12 Pendleton (11-7, 1-2) Tuesday.
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