Rangers show their mettle

Even in defeat, Dufur coach Tony White complimented his team for taking it up a few notches against a tough opponent.

“They answered the bell tonight,” White said. “It is a tough thing with teams. Sometimes, you really don’t know what is going on with their heads. They did, they came out tonight and they had a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of intensity and they did Dufur proud. They really did. They played well.”

With 1:30 left in the game, the Rangers were down by four points and had the ball for a chance to inch closer.

A misfired shot then led to a Horizon layup to run the Hawk lead to six points.

Dufur then missed a pair of shots on its next possession and Horizon sank two free throws for the final margin.

In the first quarter, the Rangers had a strong start and ran out to an eight-point lead.

With the scoring of guard Jared Davis, the Hawks rallied to make it an 18-16 deficit heading into the second frame.

There, Horizon created some space with a 14-8 run and then built on the four-point halftime lead with a 14-12 output in the third quarter to go ahead, 44-38.

Davis finished with 23 points, as Horizon hit 21 field goals, six from 3-point territory.

Horizon’s all-league post player Mason Bloomster was held in check for the most part with just 14 points.

Dufur had 12 2-point shots, six threes and added a 2 for 5 outcome from the free throw line with Caleb Morris leading the charge with 14 points.

Jake Kortge had 12 points and Bryson Caldwell and Bailey Keever added eight points apiece.

White sees this game as a litmus test for his squad going forward.

“It definitely does a lot for our confidence,” the coach said. “When you play the No. 1 team in the state and play them man to man, straight-up and stand toe-to-toe with them for 32 minutes, that’s a huge boost.”

Ione, Sherman and Condon-Wheeler are next on the schedule, so White is looking for the same fire he saw on Friday.

“The trick is not having that letdown, where we think we can do this and then we go out and play a team not nearly as tough and play down instead of playing at that same intensity,” the Ranger coach said. “That is the big challenge. We need to stay at this same level.”

Dufur (6-4 overall, 2-1 league) hosts Sherman at 7:30 p.m. next Friday.