Viking boys vanquish Bulldogs
By Ray Rodriguez
Argus Observer
Sunday, January 27, 2008 3:57 AM PST
Nyssa - Don’t look now but the Vale boys basketball team is on a roll.
Russell Seals scored 17 points and the Vikings went on a 27-14 second half run to defeat Nyssa 46-35 in Eastern Oregon League boys basketball action Friday in Nyssa.
The win puts the Vikings all alone in second place and they have now won a season-high three games in a row. Their only league loss was by three points to first-place Burns.
Not bad for a team that started out 2-10 with six of the losses coming by way of double-digits.
“I felt pretty good about these guys. I had a good summer with them,” Vale head coach Tom Snook said. “I felt there was that potential there and that we would be OK. But we have a long way to go. We still have a lot of games left to play, so we’re not thinking about all that stuff yet.”
The game was nip and tuck in the first half with Nyssa holding on to the 21-19 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs had leads of four points twice in the contest, once at 21-17 in the final moments of the second stanza, and once in the opening minutes of the third quarter at 23-19.
Seals gave the Vikings a 26-25 edge, its first lead since the first quarter on a short jumper and Nyssa’s Seth Glenn answered with a jumper to give the Bulldogs a 27-26 advantage.
Vale then surged to the 37-29 lead with an 11-2 run in the final four minutes of the third quarter.
“They were a little flat coming out in the second half. We let them come out with more energy and that was the big part,” Nyssa head coach Gabe Fuentes said. “They were more aggressive and went after it a little better than we did tonight. We definitely felt good coming into tonight, and the kids were up. We just had that one flat quarter and had a hard time recovering.”
Vale’s Derek Cooper kicked off the 11-2 run with a jumper and Seals added a rebound and a layup. Cooper added another jumper at the 2:49 mark to give Vale the 32-27 cushion.
Nyssa’s Jesse Martinez cut the deficit to 32-29 with a basket, but the Vikings ended the quarter with a field goal by Seals and a 3-point basket at the buzzer by Tyler Huston.
In the fourth quarter, Seals scored on a layup at the 5:08 mark to give the Vikings their biggest lead of the game at 39-29.
Nyssa’s Jeremiah Leos made the score 40-33 with less than two minutes left, and the sophomore grabbed a rebound and a putback with 38.9 remaining to make the score 42-35.
Down the stretch, Vale’s Matt Robertson added a free throw and Alex Miller drained 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.
Seals was supported by teammates Huston and Matt Dentinger, who chipped in nine points apiece and Cooper added five points.
Leos notched a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds and Glenn added nine points. The Bulldogs made good on 4-of-11 from the free throw line.
Four of those misses came on front ends of 1-and-1 attempts.
Vale (6-11 overall, 4-1 league) travels to Burns Friday, while Nyssa (6-13 overall, 1-4 EOL) hits the road to take on Grant Union Friday.
Jordan Valley........................................ 79
Adrian ................................................... 62
Adrian - Despite turning the rock over 32 times, the Jordan Valley Mustangs still found a way to defeat the Adrian Antelope boys 79-62 Friday in High Desert League action.
The Mustangs jumped out to an early 24-14 lead in the opening quarter of play then padded that lead with a 13 more points in the second, to take a 37-33 cushion into the locker room.
Adrian battle back in the second frame with a 19 point effort to keep the contest close in the first half.
The high paced game continued in the third quarter with Jordan Valley out scoring Adrian 18-15, then the game ended like it began, with the Mustangs scoring 24 points and the Antelopes logging 14.
Jordan Valley had three players score in double digits with Zac Fillmore leading the way with 27.
Koehl Trautman added 22 and Shawn Scown chipped in 10 points.
Adrian’s leading contributors were Kyle Dondero with 25, George Ellsworth with 15 and Maurus Hope with 11 points.
