By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
JEFFERSON, Ore. The Scio Boys Basketball team just found another gear in the second half of their 79-71 victory over Jefferson Wednesday night.
It was a rollercoaster-type of game with the Loggers leading 16-12 after one, Scio ending the frame on a 11-2 run, only to see the Lions caught fire going into halftime. Jefferson led 34-23 at the break. At one point, the Lions led 39-26 two minutes into the second half.
It was shaping up to be possibly another eye-opening Jefferson win on the heels of the Lions, defeating Amity back on Friday night. That win carried over to Tuesday’s win against Sheridan and looked as if it was carrying over to Wednesday’s game as well.
“We came out strong in the first half and we knew that they were going to come out strong in the second half. I’ve played with some of the kids from Scio before, I knew that they weren’t going to give up like that. We just couldn’t finish,” said the Lions Drew Withee.
Finishing the game was going to be a tough one for both teams, regardless of who came out on the other side of it all. Fortunately for Scio, things began to fall into place for them early into the third quarter, and that deficit began to shrink.
By quarter’s end, the Loggers found themselves ahead 53-50 going into the fourth quarter. A far cry from the 13-point deficit that they had found themselves in a few minutes earlier.
“We were in the locker room (at halftime), we were kind of down, and our coach helped us. He lifted us back up, and we all got back into the game, we started hitting shots, and we started playing better defense. Everything just clicked in that second half. We just played better,” said Scio’s Hunter Courtney.
Scio pushed their lead to 65-55 with 6:10 left in the game before Jefferson cut it back to four midway through the fourth quarter. The Loggers buckled back down and were able to keep the Lions run to just that as they improved to 11-4 overall and 5-3 in PacWest Conference play.
Courtney led the Loggers with 24 points, Carson Avery led Scio with 20 points, and Brycen Zosel contributed another 17 for the Loggers. Scio travels to Dayton on Friday, having won seven of their last eight games.
Evan Larson led the Lions with 28 points. Osbaldo Vasquez scored 17 points, and Withee contributed another 13 as Jefferson heads to play at Blanchet on Monday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
