By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– Cascade-Grad Spencer Horne hasn’t seemed like he’s missed a step following his return to the hardwood this Winter with the Chemeketa Community College Men’s Basketball team.
Following his two-year Mormon Mission to Mexico, Horne joined the Storm and in eight-games with the squad, has been filling up the state sheet.
Entering Monday’s NWAC South Region Game with Clark College, Horne was averaging 8.9 points a game, 8.6 assists a game and 2.6 assists a game as the Storm opened up NWAC South Region play at home.
“It felt good to be back on the court, I wish I could do more stuff offensively like I used to be able to do with the three-ball and the mid-range, but we have a wonderful team that can score the ball well and I’m happy with the role that I have and I think we can go somewhere with this team,” said Horne.
Horne was one of the spark plugs for Chemeketa in the second half against the Penguins. Two of his four assists and all three of his steals came in the second half and the former Cougar guard hit two big shots down the stretch for the Storm to set themselves up for a win late.
Entering the second half of the game, Chemeketa trailed Clark 39-31, but thanks to a 17-4 run the first five-and-a-half minutes of the second half to take a 48-43 lead. The two squads traded blows as the Storm tried to sustain that momentum for the remainder of the game while the Penguins tried to level it out. Clark was able to level things out momentum wise as they were able to hit some timely shots late to get out of Salem with the victory.
“We had to come out with some fire defensively and get some easy buckets on the other end. They hit some tough shots, to be honest, to seal the game out. We got a big game on Wednesday and we got to come out wanting it and defensively as a team and got to convert into points on the offensive end,” said Horne, who finished with six points, four assists, three steals and three rebounds in the 70-69 defeat.
Andrew Imhoff led the Storm with 14 points, Ahmed Koroma scored ten points with six rebounds and in his first-game back from injury, West Albany-grad Owen Hopkins scored eight points.
The Storm will be on the road Wednesday at Linn-Benton Community College. Tip-off is at 5:30pm.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
