By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
AURORA, Ore.– The McKay Boys Basketball team challenged the North Marion Boys Basketball squad in Saturday’s non-league match-up at North Marion High School.
Through the first half, and into the first four or so minutes of the second half, the 5A Scots were right there with one of 4A’s playoff regulars. They trailed North Marion 25-20 with 1:15 left in the first half and, just as if the Huskies were beginning to pull away in the second half, McKay wheeled them back in.
The Huskies led 32-22 with 5:10 remaining in the third quarter before the Scots cut it down to six about a minute later at this point. For McKay, it was a nice change of pace for the young squad that features two freshmen and three sophomore’s to two upperclassmen on their roster as they’re picking up some valuable experience through their non-league slate.
“It was nice. We’ve had a tough non-league. Outside of Eagle Point, we haven’t had a game that we were in,” said McKay Head Coach Kevan Hanson. “They’re getting better. The guys are putting in the work everyday, they have a lot of heart and they don’t quit. North Marion shot the ball really well. (North Marion Head Coach) Trevor (Bodine) is a great coach, we got a lot of things we got to work on,”
Spacing, rebounding and working together as a team have been focal points for the Scots so far and moving forward into league play points Hanson.
Working together as a team has too been a focus point for the Huskies. They needed to come together knowing that they were facing a McKay team looking for their first victory of the season.
And North Marion did just that. Leading 32-26 with 4:21 left in the third quarter, the Huskies begin to extend their lead for good.
Both sides settled down and locked-in. They began to cut down the little things as their lead grew to 44-33 by the end of the third quarter. That lead quickly ballooned out to 53-34 during the opening minutes of the fourth and planted momentum fully in favor of the Huskies for the remainder of the game.
“They started to come back at the end, but we didn’t let that happen. We believed. (Preseason) has shown us that the competition is pretty tough and we have to lock-in. It’s coming along, but we just have to work as a team more and just pass more,” said North Marion’s Ezra Workman.
Workman led the Huskies with 19 points. Lucas Fowler and Riley Jones each scored 12 points as North Marion closes out their preseason slate this next week, starting with The Dalles on Tuesday before hosting Riverdale (December 15) and playing at Gervais on December 15.
Rolanzo Rodriguez led the Scots with 16 points. Chih Long Tang contributed another 12 points for McKay, who will open Mid-Willamette Conference playTuesday at South Albany.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
