By Jeremy McDonald
jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
STAYTON, Ore.– The Molalla Boys Basketball team may be a playoff contender this year in 4A if they can harness how they played, how they challenged and pushed Cascade in the two squad’s SCTC Tournament opener Thursday afternoon at Stayton High School.
Down double-figures in the second quarter, the Indians rallied back and got the game back to within one possession and a point of the Cougars midway through the third quarter. That rally sustained Molalla throughout the remainder of the game as they did not let Cascade rebuild any kind of sizable lead.
“We’ve put in the work this offseason, so we just came out…let’s do our own thing and let’s push the tempo,” said Molalla’s Cole Harris. “I think we did well overall, what killed us in this game was the offensive rebounds. They got a lot of boards that we should’ve got, but we just need to box out and other than that, we’re looking like a really good team this year.
“It was motivation. Molalla, we haven’t been good the past few years and now we’re realizing that we can be one of the top teams. Everyone wants it, this is a striving for us.”
The Cougars, who were without three of their Varsity players and turned to their depth in their program to help fill the void in the game, found ways to just keep fighting and grinding out buckets and stops.
Similar to how the Indians were playing, Cascade too came together as a team to get the stops, get those important rebounds, and convert them on the offensive side of the ball in clutch moments.
Molalla continued to add fire and heat to the feet of the Cougs, and Cascade just rose to the occasion as they held off Molalla 69-66 to advance to the SCTC Tournament semi’s on Friday at 4:30pm.
“Basketball is a team sport, so there’s no individual in the game. I really liked that game because it was big for a lot of freshman kid. Wee even had JV swingers that came up and got big minutes. Those are the future of Cascade, and we got some players that are going to be good in two, three years, getting freshman Varsity minutes like that in a tough game is big for them,” said Landon Knox. “I hate losing more than I like winning, so I didn’t want to los. We had to close that game out. It’s a wi. You got to keep stacking…our defensive effort and communication was poor the whole game until the last two minutes. All the little things that you don’t see on stat sheets.”
Knox led the Cougs with 33 points, and Kaiden Ford contributed another 22 points in the win. Mason Mead led the Indians with 19 points, and Harris scored 12 for Molalla, who will play at 10:30 am on Friday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
