DUFUR – Through four games, the No. 5-ranked Dufur Ranger boys’ basketball team is off to a flying start.
Saturday, they used a balanced scoring attack, pressure defense and broke open a 42-30 halftime advantage with a 24-6 run in the third quarter to preserve a 76-56 win over South Wasco County in a Big Sky Conference opener in Dufur.
Early indications are when the Rangers reel off 65 points or more, they are 3-0 and a tough group to defeat.
“It is coming along and I am excited for them,” said Dufur head coach Tony White. “I know they are happy. It is nice to be 3-1 now, especially to get that first league win. South Wasco beat us here in our first league game last year, so we are pretty excited about that.”
With five minutes and 23 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Redside senior Colton Nannini hit a basket to make it a 48-34 score, but from that point on, the Rangers held SWC to no field goals and just two free throws.
Much of the Dufur onslaught is credited to the defense against a road-weary Redside team that played in a physical contest at Stanfield Friday night.
Up by 14 points, Bryson Caldwell started the 18-2 run with a layup, and Caleb Morris followed with a 3-pointer to make it 53-34.
Jake Kortge then added a layup and Morris hit a basket to move Dufur in front, 57-34 with 2:42 left.
Nannini sank two free throws to stop the 9-0 run, but Morris had a hot hand with consecutive hoops, Caldwell canned a long ball and Morris tacked on a breakaway layup to cap the 24-6 run and give the Rangers a commanding 66-36 cushion entering the fourth quarter.
“In the second half, they established their presence and they got inside the game plan that we talked about,” White said of his team. “It really didn’t hurt that South Wasco did not shoot the ball very well in that third quarter, but yeah, we shot the ball well and we executed our offense and we played well on the defensive boards.”
In the fourth quarter, the Ranger lead swelled to as much as 36 points just three minutes in, but the Redsides ended the game on an 18-2 run to close the gap to 20 points.
All told, Dufur (3-1 overall, 1-0 league) hit 29 field goals, four from 3-point range, as Morris, who scored 13 points in the third quarter, ended up with a game-high 25 points.
Caldwell added 16 points and the duo of Jake Kortge and Bailey Keever combined for 10 field goals and 4 for 6 from the line for 24 points (12 points each).
White liked the fact that seven different players made scoring contributions.
“That is something we have been working on,” the Dufur coach said. “We are trying to get everybody established, not just playing a three-man or a two-man game. We want to get the whole team involved. Through our cycles on offense, everybody gets the opportunity to pull the trigger. It is just having the amount of patience that we need to develop to get to those.”
Aside from the third quarter Ranger explosion, the Redsides stayed on point for most of the opening frame, down 26-20.
SWC (2-4, 0-1) enjoyed its only leads in the first quarter, once at 2-0 and with 6:22 left, Tony Holliday hit two free throws to give his team a 6-5 lead.
“The big thing we got to correct and Dufur exposed it and they did a great job, is rebounding,” said Redside head coach Jim Hull. “When that happens to you, you are not going to be in many games. That is too many extra shots and too many extra attempts that you can give to a team. To their (Dufur’s) credit, they really hit the boards, attacked and beat us up and down the court.”
In looking at the final numbers, Redside sharpshooter Travis Hayes could not get on track, as he was held scoreless on the night.
Junior post Ellis Rager paced SWC with 15 points and Loreto Morelli, who scored 12 points in the first half, finished with 14.
Brody Myers had 12 points, Nannini was good for six and Devan Dammann tallied five points, for a Redside squad that made 21 field goals, one from 3-point range and went 11 of 14 from the free throw line.
The Redsides played on back-to-back nights with only six healthy players, so the biggest thing is for them to rest up for the long haul.
Hull has already hashed out a plan of action for the next few practices to get his varsity team firing hot again by their next league game on Jan. 3 at home against Arlington.
“We just got to come back and use this as a learning tool and hit reset,” the Redside coach said. “We know the things that we do well and what areas we got to work on in terms of how we want to play. It’ll come for us.”
Dufur heads to the 1A Hoops Classic for three days, starting on Dec. 29 in Portland.
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