By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
ADAIR VILLAGE, Ore.– The Santiam Christian Boys Basketball team came out firing at all cylinders in their 66-52 victory over Amity Saturday afternoon.
Behind four three-pointers in the first quarter alone, the Eagles jumped out to a 26-9 lead going into the second quarter. Their passion and aggression coming off of their 67-58 defeat to Scio Friday night was evident as they looked to rebound from that tough defeat, and they carried that momentum throughout the whole game. Mixed in knowing that the PacWest from second through sixth has become an absolute dogfight for the PacWest Conference League Playoffs, they sustained that energy and intensity through the second and third quarters as they weathered the Warriors attempt for the lead was stopped by Santiam Christian.
“We’ve been going through a dry spell right now, so it’s really good to see everyone getting shots. Our theme has been playing together, and I think that first quarter we did pretty well,” said the Eagles Josh Riddle, who scored nine points in the win. “Third quarter’s has been our struggle the whole year, so we’re learning how to respond, and that’s our big thing is to respond to adversity immediately.”
The Warriors got as closed as 39-31 42 seconds into the third quarter after a Con Coehlo three-pointer, but couldn’t cut into the deficit any further as they saw Santiam Christian take a 54-40 lead into the fourth quarter and shut the door on Amity to close out the contest on Saturday.
“We always say we can’t get everything back in one possession, so let’s get back to what we’re doing. Having active hands in pass games, having good hands, and let’s take it one possession at a time. Don’t look at the scoreboard, and let’s fight back,” said Amity Head Coach Devin McShane. “There’s a couple of games left. We still have a good opportunity to make our league playoffs, and anything can happen. I’m hoping for the best, and I’m hoping to see some change, we’ll get back to our core principles starting in practice and go. We got Jefferson next.”
Austin Carrasco led Amity with 21 points, and Khalil Murza scored another 14 for the Warriors, who will head to Jefferson on Tuesday. Steen Smith led the Eagles with 28 points, and Brenden Fitzpatrick scored another 13 points in the victory for Santiam Christian.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
