MAUPIN – As the games grow in importance, the No. 5-ranked South Wasco County Redsides will rely more and more on their hulking trio of Ellis Rager, Ty Herlocker and Brody Myers to take this group to a higher level.
That veteran group combined for 33 points, 38 rebounds, 10 steals and seven blocked shots to help the Redsides defeat Horizon Christian 62-51 in Big Sky hoops action Tuesday in Maupin.
The win all but locked up the No. 2 district seed and a bye for the Redsides, who have won five of their last six games after a forfeit loss against Ione on Jan. 22.
“We got a long road ahead of us with districts and hopefully state and I think if we play like we know we can, like we have in the past couple of games, on offense and defense, we have a good end-of-the-season ahead of us,” Rager said.
Even with a badly bruised ankle sustained Saturday, Rager posted his 16th double-double of the season with 17 points, 15 rebounds and four steals.
The senior realizes the magnitude of post activity and physical play as the postseason approaches.
“I think all of us still have a lot of untapped potential that we can bring out in the future and, hopefully, that all eventually comes out around state time,” Rager added. “We have a strong core of posts. We can sub them in and out and there is no drop-off at all. I think that can make a difference.”
Although the final score shows a dominant Redside performance, Horizon Christian played one of its better halves this season, using a full-court pressure defense that limited SWC to 8 of 27 shooting from the field and 15 turnovers.
Staked by 10 first-half points from Jared Bryan and nine from Ian Walker, the Hawks led 15-9 after the first quarter and 27-25 at the half.
SWC senior Travis Hayes did much of the heavy lifting for his team in the opening stanza with 18 points and five field goals, but the rest of the team had three baskets.
In the second half, however, the Hawks could not sustain their offensive surge, and the Redside defense methodically wore them down.
Horizon (9-12 overall, 6-6 league) managed one third-quarter field goal and converted on just 9 of 36 shots from the field in the second half, as SWC erased a 29-28 deficit with a 34-22 run in the final 13 minutes and 45 seconds of action.
“We really did give South Wasco our best tonight. South Wasco is a really good team and it showed there in the second half,” said Horizon head coach Sam Trevino. “They kind of just wear you down with their continuous physical play. They are not going to give you anything easy in the paint, so you have to earn everything. We couldn’t get inside and we struggled on our 3-pointers (2 for 18), so it made it tough for us to get anything going.”
With the Redsides ahead 38-32 to start the fourth quarter, they were able to finally put the Hawks away in the opening 2:12 of the frame.
Rager had a rebound and a putback, Travis Hayes followed with a steal and a layup, Haven Stephenson hit on 1 of 2 free throws and Rager added a layup to cap a 7-0 spurt to swell the lead to 45-32.
On four occasions, Horizon inched to within a 10-point deficit, the last time coming on a steal and a layup by Ethan Evans that made it a 59-49 game with 1:28 on the clock.
Much like last Friday’s road loss to Sherman, SWC fell behind 7-0 in the first two minutes, and the team showed frustrations due to a lack of execution and continuity.
All it took was settling down and trusting in the process to help the Redsides overcome an early deficit.
“It was stuff that we weren’t doing. We were playing bad ball. They are a good team, I am not saying they are not, but we didn’t play up to our potential in the first half,” Hayes said. “Even though we played like that in the first half, we still maintained a close game. In the second half, we came out with a lot of energy and did what we had to do.”
Hayes scored a game-high 25 points on six field goals and 9 of 10 from the line, and he added five rebounds and two blocks.
Myers had 10 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and five assists, and Ty Herlocker finished with six points, two blocks, 14 rebounds and a steal.
Bryan was held to five second-half points and ended up with 14 to lead Horizon.
Walker had 12 points, Evans totaled 11 and Derek Johnston scored eight points.
The Redsides (18-4, 9-3) wrap up their regular-season schedule at Ione Friday and Saturday, hosts Mitchell-Spray at 5:30 p.m. on senior night.
Horizon is tied for fourth place in league and appears in line to host a district play-in game against Condon-Wheeler.
The Hawks finish their schedule at Mitchell-Spray and at home against Ione Saturday.
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