Second place on the line in Big Sky rivalry matchup

“It is still just one game, but we know the importance of being healthy and having momentum, especially going into the playoffs,” said SWC head coach Jim Hull. “We definitely are not going to take anything for granted. The next game is the most important one of the year. I know it is cliché, but we talk about that all the time. If we take care of it one game at a time, rather than looking past a team, we will be more prepared.”

SWC enters play ranked fifth in the state and have won three of its last four games, while Dufur is 22nd in the state and riding a streak of five wins in its last six contests.

If recent history is any indication, the last four games these teams have played against each other, have been a blowout.

Dufur (8-7 overall, 5-2 league) swept three games last season by an average of 18.3 points, but the Redsides struck first this year with a 55-33 romp on Jan. 8 in Maupin.

A lot has changed in the past three weeks, however, as Dufur is healthier now across its roster, head coach Tony White will get to see how his team can do against the Redsides.

“We were missing Bailey (Keever) and Travis (Lucas) the last time we played South Wasco,” White said. “We were still trying to figure out what we were doing at that time. We had a couple of games under our belts, but still not a lot of practices. We were short three weeks.”

SWC (14-3, 5-2) boasts one of the state’s best scoring defenses with its size in the paint, but containing Keever and leading scorer Connor Uhalde is a different task altogether.

That Ranger duo has averaged more than 20 points a game over the last two weeks.

“They are both such active players and are gifted athletically,” Hull said of Keever and Uhalde. “If you allow Connor and Keever out in the open court, they can get to the hoop really quick and turn them into two points just like that. No. 1, we want to keep the game as a half-court game. A half-court game allows us to get into our half-court defense and allows us things like our size and our length to slow them down.”

Trying to minimize the effects of SWC’s size and veteran savvy is going to be a tough chore.

White and his team also must contend with the Redsides’ 1-3-1 defense that has allowed 30 points or less five times this season (35.2 points per game overall).

“We have a few things that we are going to try and do, just to try and play to some of our strengths against that type of set,” White said. “Obviously, we are going to try and move up the court a little bit, so they don’t get that opportunity to get into it too often. We will see.”

What the Dufur defense lacks in size, they do have more speed spanning the front and back court, but still have Curtis Crawford, Hagen Pence and Kolbe Bales in the paint.

What makes SWC so tough is that they rank in the top-10 in scoring, but that on any given night, Travis Hayes, Brody Myers, Devan Dammann, Ellis Rager and Ty Herlocker can bust loose.

All of the SWC starters average at least 10 points a game or better.

“That is a testament to them sharing the ball and really making the extra pass and also just the overall balance of the team,” Hull said. “We have Travis, but there is also much more there. They have been good at understanding what each other’s strengths are. Depending on what the defense gives us at the beginning of the game, we don’t know who is going to have the big game.”

Earlier this season, Dufur played close games against Damascus Christian and Nixyaawii, so putting out a solid effort will go a long ways towards building momentum.

“If we play South Wasco at home like we know we can, and we come away with a hard-earned victory, I think that really helps our confidence when we go to Sherman and the district tournament,” White said. “I am hoping the kids step up and play well and win this game, not just show up and say they played close and stayed with them.”