By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– On Friday night, the PacWest Conference Boys Basketball scene showed why it is going to be a dogfight on a night-in, night-out basis when Blanchet and Scio met up.
The two squads had their runs, responding to the other’s.
The Loggers jumped out to a 16-9 lead early in the second quarter. The Cavaliers responded and took a 22-21 lead into the intermission. Blanchet pushed their lead to 31-21 three minutes into the second half, only to see Scio claw back and make it a two-point game about two minutes later.
It was a 33-31 ball game at this point with 3:11 left in the third quarter.
“They kept their composure, something that this program has needed for some time and I think they figured it out tonight,” starts Blanchet Head Coach Hans Rasmussen. “Amity, Salem Academy, Santiam Christian, Scio, we all have a lot of heart…we want to represent the league well. It’s going to be really hard and I think we played six or seven games in the last week. These guys need some rest, but they have to come out every night because this league is so tight.”
The Cavs pulled it together over the final three minutes and change of the quarter to take a 41-34 lead into the fourth quarter.
But Scio, who came off a stunning victory over Salem Academy back on Wednesday, they just stuck around. They cut the deficit to 51-50 with 2:36 left and got it to 58-56 with 16.5 seconds remaining, both followed by big three-pointers by Haydin Tibbs.
And despite their comeback coming up just short, the Loggers know they’ll have plenty of opportunities to respond with every game going to be like the ones they were in this week.
“We have three games every week. It’s going to be a lot of games and our league is good. Every game is going to be close and hopefully we’ll get back and get ready for Santiam Christian on Monday,” said Scio Head Coach Jesse Gerig-Heyerly.
Sam Moser and Julian Kaya each led Blanchet with 16 points each, the Cavs will head to play Salem Academy on Monday.
Rhordan Meadows led Scio with 14 points and Tibbs contributed 12 points with four three-pointers in the game
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
