TD and SWC battle it out in a hoops scrimmage

In the final period, South Wasco County used the size of Ellis Rager and Ty Herlocker for a 25-12 run to pull off the 100-84 win.

Rager hit 14 field goals overall for a game-high 34 points, and he hit on four field goals and a free throw in the fourth, and Herlocker added four baskets for the bulk of the scoring.

That is the game plan for the upcoming season.

“We kind of use our size to our advantage by feeding the ball into the post,” said SWC senior Brody Myers, who finished with seven points. “It has opened up to a new level with Ty in there. He was hurt all last year, but he is getting better and better. We are starting to use our posts more and they open up our wings to do their thing.”

Travis Hayes tallied 22 points, Herlocker had 18, Devan Dammann totaled 16 and Dawson Herlocker and Haven Stephenson had two points apiece.

SWC head coach Jim Hull is adding some new wrinkles on offense and defense, so Dammann said the summer has been used as an adjustment phase.

With the added size of five players measuring at 6-foot-3 inches or taller, the biggest element to gauge is slowing the pace down.

“It is difficult because it is different,” Dammann said of the philosophy transition. “We have been doing good about it. It is important because we have a smaller team, there’s only six of us now. Once we get the hang of it, I think we will be a successful team next year.”

Dakota Murr led with 19 points, Johnny Miller and Denzel Arellano dropped 13 each and Bailey Ortega hit on 11 points to pace The Dalles.

Down on the blocks the Riverhawks had a pair of six-footers in William Justesen and Jacob Wetmore.

That tandem combined for three field goals each for six points.

“We want to play fast a lot. Faster than they have played before, so it took them a while to get into that flow,” said new head coach Nathan Morris. “Early on, we just weren’t quite into it, we had a lot of turnovers and there was too much thinking and not enough reacting. But, in the second and third quarters I felt that we kind of came into our own a little bit and they started slowing the game down. I thought we played pretty clean and relaxed after that.”

So far, The Dalles has had just one scrimmage and seven open gyms, but the numbers have been around 20-30 athletes attending workout sessions.

It helps to have the numbers, especially with the style of play Morris plans to institute.

“We actually working as a team for once,” Arellano said. “We are not very big, but we are fast. We are doing pretty good with the new coach. This style is making us get better, so hopefully we will come out with a better season. Teamwork and bonding will make us better.”

Justesen and Wetmore made up the size on the Riverhawk roster Wednesday and being the bigger guys, there is still time to work on establishing a post presence to dominate the painted area.

Wetmore liked the energy his team showed in 60 minutes of end-to-end basketball.

“We work hard all the time. I didn’t see one incident where anyone was walking. On the basketball court, that is really, really important,” Wetmore said. “It means that everyone is moving and working. At a couple points, we broke down fundamentally, but we were hustling, so it made up for our lack of knowing the system. It will come. We just have to trust coach and put our faith in him.”