BOYS BASKETBALL RECAPS
■ THURSTON defeated Churchill 60-39 on Tuesday. The Colts were dominant defensively, holding the Lancers to a season-low 39 points. Leo Filipe and Lucas LaBounty led the Colts with 19 and 18 points, respectively. Logan Piquette had arguably his best game of the season, with 11 points, five rebounds, four assists, and zero turnovers.
On Friday, the Colts defeated Ashland 65-43 to push their win streak to 11 games. With starters Treyson Hill and Ridge Lindsey out with an illness, LaBounty and Filipe stepped up again. The two combined for 56 of the Colts’ 65 points, 86.2% of the scoring production.
The duo’s efficiency also was astounding, as they made 71.4% of their FG attempts. The Colts defense, after allowing 28 points in the first half, held the Grizzlies to only 15 in the second half.
■ CRESWELL defeated La Pine 76-24 on Friday. Luke Bailey matched the Hawks’ scoring total by himself, with 24 points on 12-of-14 shooting from the field. Emerson Velarde recorded 13 points, five assists, five steals, and four rebounds. The Bulldogs took a 30-point lead into halftime against the Hawks and never looked back.
■ PLEASANT HILL defeated Elmira 61-47 on Friday. The Billies’ win streak was pushed to eight, and they have now defeated Elmira each of the past eight times the two have met. With the loss, Elmira fell to 3-3 in league play, tied for third in the Mountain Valley Conference.
On Saturday, the Billies lost to No. 1 Westside Christian 70-42. The matchup between the top two teams, and the same two who faced off in last year’s state championship, did not quite live up to the hype. The 28-points score differential is tied for the second-largest margin of defeat for the Billies in two years under Luke Jackson.
■ COTTAGE GROVE lost both games this week without junior Trevor Cooper. On Tuesday, the Lions fell to Marshfield 49-47. A 20-4 first-quarter lead for the No. 7 Pirates seemed a sign of how the rest of the game would play out, but Seth Hutchison’s team battled back. The Lions were +17 in the next two quarters, and went into the final eight minutes up one. The Lions dominated the offensive boards, winning 10 extra possessions with a 16-6 advantage in that category.
Cade May and Tai Lam were the Lions’ most impactful players, with 14 and 11 points, respectively. May added eight rebounds, and Lam dished out five assists. On Friday, the Lions fell to Junction City 82-41. The Lions offense struggled to get much going, with only a 30.4% FG percentage, 1-of-12 shooting from 3-point range and 26 turnovers.
■ SPRINGFIELD lost to North Eugene 96-42 on Tuesday. That was the largest margin of defeat and the most points allowed by the Millers this season. On Friday, Crater defeated the Millers 80-36. After scoring their second-most points of the season in a win over Eagle Point, the Millers have dropped four in a row and averaged 35.5 points per game in that stretch.
