By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
DALLAS, Ore.– The Dallas Boys Basketball team found ways to keep Silverton mentally locked in during Friday’s Mid-Willamette Conference game at Dallas High School.
It was the league opener for both squads, and despite having two weeks off, the Dragons came ready to play. They trailed Silverton 35-30 at halftime and cut it to one possession early in the third quarter, it was a 35-32 ballgame at this point.
But. Over the next four minutes or so of the third quarter, the Foxes found some momentum. Their offense started to hit some shots and their defense was creating turnovers and grabbing some rebounds that transitioned into points on the other side of the court.
And soon enough, that three-point lead ballooned out to 17 points. It was 49-32 at the midway point of the third quarter, an 14-2 run by the Foxes.
Dallas found a way though. They found a way to chip away at the deficit. By the 5:45 mark of the final quarter, the Dragons had the momentum. An 14-2 run of their own had them, Dallas that is, trailing 51-46 with plenty of time to possibly pull off the comeback.
“Especially after a two week break. We haven’t had a game in two weeks. The last game we played was that close-out, comeback-type fight. Just seeing them coming off a lay-off and seeing them not give up. They were slowly seeing the buy-in, which is good,” said Dallas Head Coach Alex King. “When I played at South Albany growing up, I hated playing here. When I coached at South Albany, I hated playing here. It’s one of those gyms that if you’re the opponent, it’s not a fun place to play, and I’m just trying to get the boys to realize that it used to be hard to play here and it can’t be easy anymore.
“Just make it uncomfortable and try to make it a game that we want to play, especially when we’re playing at home.”
The gym was rocking at this point. The run. How close it was now and how much time was left. It put the pressure back on Silverton to hold off the Dragons. Through the chaos and the turnmoil on the court with the momentum against them, the Foxes found a way to stay within themselves.
Their intensity that they came out with to start the second half came back. Their defense came back around with their focus on the helpside. Through the chaos as well, their offense settled back down, and eventually the shots began to fall again. By the final whistle, it was 62-49 in favor of Silverton thanks to an 11-3 run in the final 5:45 of the game.
“We came out with more intensity at the beginning of the second half. We talked it over in the locker room, we knew what they were trying to do and we picked up on our intensity, our helpside and everything was going good,” said Silverton’s Luke Horner. “Just remember this feeling, keep our feelings good and win more games.”
Horner led the Foxes with 15 points in the victory Gavin Wavra (11 points) and Sam Haugen (10 points) scored in double-figures as Silverton will host West Albany on Tuesday. Dallas will travel to play at Corvallis on Tuesday.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
