BY ELI THOMAS
THE CHRONICLE
CRESWELL – An atmospheric river hit Lane County on Thursday, but it blew through the Cottage Grove High School basketball gym early in the fourth quarter of the Battle of I-5 Tournament boys semifinal game between Marist Catholic and Creswell on Friday.
Marist sophomore forward Fletcher Pollard – after making his second consecutive 3-pointer and his team’s fourth in a row – yelled “Let’s go!” and chest-bumped teammate Gianni Lombardi to punctuate a 12-0 run that took the Spartans from down 39-36 to up 48-39.
The game finished 57-48, with the Spartans riding a hot shooting second half to the win.
These teams met Dec. 4 in each school’s season-opener and Marist won 54-52. That game turned in the third quarter, when Marist outscored Creswell 17-10. The rematch had a sense of déjà vu, with another 17-10 third quarter swinging the momentum.
The Bulldogs led 27-17 at halftime on the strength of its defense and ability to get downhill. The Spartans came out of halftime with a full-court man-to-man defense, which forced the Bulldogs into mistakes.
“I think we turned it over three or four times in the first five or six possessions, and it went from a double-digit lead to three or four pretty quickly. They turned up the pressure a little bit, on and off the ball,” said Creswell coach Jesse Thomas. Brayden Williams made two 3s in the quarter for the Spartans, the first two of seven 3s that the Spartans would hit in the second half.
Shooting and ball security were the two biggest areas of struggle for the Bulldogs. Both had been problems in the first six games; the Bulldogs came into the game shooting 52% from the free throw line, and had more turnovers than assists. Against the Spartans, they made only 11-of-20 from the foul line, and had 12 turnovers to two assists.
One characteristic that most state championship contenders share is a go-to scoring option. The Spartans have one in sophomore Gabe Dietmeyer, who scored 17 points in the first matchup and 21 in the rematch. His 3-pointer over the outstretched fingers of Bulldogs senior Luke Bailey was the second of his team’s four consecutive threes in the fourth quarter. Bailey was visibly frustrated after Dietmeyer hit the difficult shot to give his team its first lead of the game.
Thomas is still waiting for a scorer like that to emerge for the Bulldogs. Ace Arnold has been consistent, with 14+ points in five of seven games. After leading his team with 15 points in the first matchup against the Spartans, he looked to be on his way to another big game when he scored eight in the first quarter. A stellar finish through contact at the end of the first quarter gave his team a 16-12 lead after he made a free throw to finish his “and-one.”
Arnold went quiet after that, adding only two more points. Coming into the game, he had been scoring with volume, but also efficiency. His 71% on 2-point shots and 43% from beyond the arc are elite numbers at any level of basketball. However, in last week’s matchup, Arnold was only 4-of-11 from the field, by far a season-worst FG percentage of 36.3%.
The Bulldogs are a long team. Four of five starters against Marist were 6-foot-3 or taller. All three players off the Bulldogs bench were 5-9, but that will balance out once 6-5 junior Mason Schartz returns from injury. Thomas expects Schartz to be one of the Bulldogs best players on both ends after he was honorable mention all-conference as a sophomore last season.
“He’s a multiple-tool player and a great athlete. We look different when he’s on the floor than when he’s not,” Thomas said.
Landon Vaughn, a transfer from Cottage Grove, is recovering from a knee injury, and said that the rematch against Marist was the best his knee has felt since the injury. Vaughn was a player that Thomas was excited about before the season, and his health could be vital. The junior guard brings much-needed ball handling and shooting ability to the Bulldogs. He could fill the role of point guard in the starting lineup if he returns to form physically. Arnold currently handles that role, but is more of a combo guard who is primarily a scorer. Arnold leads the Bulldogs in assists, but averages only 1.6.
That Thursday storm last week caused the Bulldogs trouble, too, forcing the cancellation of their tournament-opening home game because Newport was unable to travel.
“You can tell the disappointment when a game gets canceled like that, especially when you’ve been kind of preparing for it for a few days,” Thomas said.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs got some consolation with a 74-33 victory over Cottage Grove. Emerson Valerde, after being a bright spot in the loss to the Spartans with nine points, six rebounds and three blocks, scored 17 points on 5-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. Arnold bounced back with 17 points and three steals, while Vaughn had nine points and a season-high five assists against his former team.
Saturday’s performance was promising, but the Bulldogs still have areas to improve in. “The encouraging and still kind of frustrating thing is that a lot of it is self-inflicted. It’s things we can fix,” Thomas said.
Vaughn and Schartz getting healthy will give a better indication of what this Bulldogs team can be as it attempts to challenge Pleasant Hill, No. 1 in Class 3A, for a Mountain Valley Conference title.
