By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– A big third quarter separated McNary from North Salem Tuesday night in the two squads’ second Central Valley Conference contest of the season.
The Celtics outscored the Vikings 27-6 in the frame as they settled in after a close first half. Turning a 29-26 lead into a 59-33 lead in the process.
The consistency was there with clean play and taking advantage of the turnovers and muscles that North Salem committed. A far cry from the first half that saw McNary build a roughly double-figure lead, only to see the Vikings draw it to a one possession game by quarter’s end.
The messaging was simple: Play their game.
Play loose and play like themselves.
“Don’t worry about what the scoreboard says. It’ll come out on the good side if we just take care of business,” said the Celtics’ Steven Adams. “Play our game. We were going down to their level, and we weren’t playing up to where we’re at. Being connected as a team, a lot of good things were said (at halftime) and the coaches left the room, it was just us players in the locker room and said, ‘we got to be better’.”
McNary’s intensity didn’t falter in the fourth quarter as their lead reached thirty early in the fourth quarter en route to a 71-46 win, their first CVC win of the season.
The last two CVC games have been tough for North Salem. Against West on Friday, they trailed by around seven at halftime before the Titans pulled away. Same situation Tuesday night. At 8-5 on the year, the Vikings are off to their strongest start since the 2021-2022 season when they also won eight games.
Health has been an issue for North at the moment as they were missing two players from the game on Tuesday. But Vikings Head Coach Hemingway Huyhn is optimistic of the future of his squad once they get healthy and build the culture that he’s trying to build at North.
“We got to get healthy, and we’re still new. They’re still trying to play with each other and playing well with each other, competing for a whole four quarters. This year, I don’t think we’ve played a full four quarters, and when we do, we’ll get better,” said Huyhn. “They’re doing the work at school now. They’re doing it off-the-court, out in the community, showing up at theaters, supporting each other in classes, and that’s one thing we focus on.
“It builds that bond where they’re going to compete together…it’s been the culture we’ve been trying to push. No matter what, we’re going to get an experience about it. Basketball is not the end-all-be-all, but the Brotherhood, that’s the most important thing.”
Steven Adams led McNary with 19 points, and Aydn Dallum contributed another 14 in the win. The Celtics head to play West Salem on Friday at West Salem. Jesse Bechtel led North Salem with 18 points. The Vikings will host South Salem on Friday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
