A10
SPORTS
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Boys:
in OOL play.
Joseph, which led 20-2
after one and 33-4 at half-
time, held the Cougars to
one fi eld-goal in each quarter
and didn’t allow them past
10 points until a fourth-quar-
ter free throw.
It is the fi rst time the
Eagles have held a team to
fewer than 20 points since a
64-18 road win against Pine
Eagle on Jan. 12, 2018.
Twelve diff erent play-
ers scored for Joseph, with
James Burney and Hayden
Hite both netting six points
and Blade Suto adding fi ve
points.
Wallowa was led by Isaac
Barnum, who scored four
points.
The Cougars (5-15, 3-7),
despite the loss, fi nished
third in the OOL-North and
hosted Pine Eagle on Feb. 15
in a fi rst-round game of the
OOL District Tournament.
The winner faces Cove at
7:30 p.m. Feb. 17 in Baker
City.
Continued from Page A9
Kyle Crawford credited his
team’s eff ort to stay in the
game.
“Tonight was a heart-
breaker, but I’m very proud
of my team,” he said. “They
still have… integrity. They
worked hard and didn’t lose
their cool when it got rough
out there.”
Enterprise grabbed a
52-51 lead on two free
throws with 2:50 to play by
Jackson Decker, who had
another big game for Enter-
prise and fi nished with 27
points.
“Jackson’s been a rock,
for sure,” Crawford said.
A free throw by Quannah
French with 58.1 seconds
to play tied the game, and
another by Blane Peal just
12.2 seconds later put the
TigerScots in front. A steal
and layup by Cameron Reich
10 seconds later pushed the
lead to 55-52.
After trading turnovers,
Enterprise worked the ball to
Decker, who got to the bas-
ket for a layup to cut the defi -
cit to one with 19 seconds to
play. French hit another free
throw at the 9.7-second mark
before another Enterprise
turnover forced the Outlaws
to foul with 1.1 seconds to
go.
Kyren Miller split the free
throws, which left the door
cracked open for Enterprise.
A tough full-court inbounds
pass found its way to
Decker, but his highly diffi -
cult 3-point attempt to force
overtime fell short.
Enterprise showed an
ability to respond to adver-
sity — and a defi cit — in
its come-from-behind win
against Grant Union Feb.
5, and again on Feb. 12 ral-
lied to put itself in position to
have a shot at the win. The
Outlaws had fallen behind
43-34 early in the fourth
when Levie Phillips’ runner
for Weston-McEwen capped
a 10-0 run. The teams traded
baskets and the off enses
stalled before Enterprise
— and namely Decker —
caught fi re. In less than 30
seconds, Maclane Melville’s
layup, Decker’s 3-pointer
Feb. 10
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Enterprise senior Spencer Decker drives to the basket during a game against Weston-McEwen Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022.
and a layup by Spencer
Decker cut the nine-point
defi cit to 45-43, and another
3-pointer by Jackson Decker
— his third of the game
— put the Outlaws ahead,
46-45, with 4:31 to play, one
of 17 lead changes on the
night. The teams traded the
lead four more times in the
next 101 seconds before the
fi nal exchange.
“We just started really
meshing well as a team (the
last few games),” Crawford
said. “When my team just
relaxes a little, good things
start to happen. Last week
we came back against (Grant
Union), everybody just kind
of relaxed in that quarter.
You could see the ball mov-
ing around, and it was easy.
It’s like we fi gured some-
thing out.”
Enterprise opened up
an early 11-6 lead mid-
way through the fi rst, but
the TigerScots fi nished the
opening quarter strong,
taking a 16-14 lead after
one thanks to two late
baskets by Miller.
A Roan Flynn layup put
Enterprise ahead 18-16 two
minutes into the second, and
the teams played to a 24-24
tie at the half.
The teams traded the
lead seven times in the
third quarter alone before
Weston-McEwen’s
run,
which started with a French
layup with 1:52 to play in the
third.
In addition to the big
game from Jackson Decker,
Spencer Decker fi nished
with 15 points. No other
player had more than four
points.
The Outlaws fi nished
with a record of 4-18 over-
all, and 2-10 in the BMC.
Also Feb. 12
Joseph 57, Griswold
24: The Joseph boys basket-
ball team wrapped up a 2-1
week with a dominant win in
its fi nal regular-season home
game Saturday, Feb. 12, eas-
ily dispatching of Griswold,
57-24, to fi nish second in the
northern half of the Old Ore-
gon League.
The Eagles put the game
away with a fi rst-quarter
fl urry of off ense, hitting four
3-pointers and getting eight
players into the scoring col-
umn in the fi rst eight min-
utes, which culminated with
the game essentially won
and Joseph ahead 33-4. The
lead reached 34 by halftime
and Joseph never broke a
sweat in the easy win.
In all, 14 players scored
for Joseph, with Hayden
Hite scoring all eight of his
team-high point total in the
opening quarter. Blade Suto
added seven points — all in
the fi rst — and Drew Beachy
also had seven points. Kellen
Crenshaw added six points
in the win.
Joseph (10-9 overall,
8-3 OOL) faces the win-
ner of a Feb. 15 OOL Dis-
trict Tournament fi rst-round
game between Griswold and
Imbler at 3:30 p.m. on Feb.
17 in Baker City. The contest
will be an elimination game
for the Eagles.
Feb. 11
Enterprise 59, Pilot
Rock 46: Spencer Decker
scored 10 of his team-high 12
points in the opening quar-
ter, and the Outlaws avenged
an earlier heartbreaking loss
to Pilot Rock by rolling to a
59-46 road win Friday, Feb.
11, the team’s second in a
row.
Gideon Gray added 11
points, with six of those
coming in the fourth quarter
to help the Outlaws put the
game away. Enterprise led
just 45-40 after three quar-
ters before pulling away.
Jackson Decker added eight
points.
The Outlaws led 19-13
after one and 32-25 at the
break.
Joseph 43, Wallowa 11:
The Eagles turned in one of
their best defensive perfor-
mances of the past fi ve sea-
sons as they limited Wal-
lowa to just four fi eld goals
in a 43-11 home win Feb. 11
Powder Valley
51,
Joseph 40: The Eagles stuck
with the OOL regular-season
champions closer than any
team in the league had this
season, but came up short in
a showdown in North Pow-
der on Feb. 10, falling to
the second-ranked Badgers,
51-40.
The Eagles didn’t give
an inch during a tight fi rst
half, one that saw them trail
by just one point before the
Badgers gained some breath-
ing room and took a 28-21
lead into the half.
Both teams struggled
in the third, scoring a com-
bined 11 points and making
just three fi eld goals. The
Eagles, though, weren’t able
to gain any ground, and went
into the fourth down 34-26.
Joseph found its rhythm in
the fourth, but wasn’t able to
complete a comeback.
The game saw both teams
struggle mightily at the free-
throw line. The Eagles were
just 6-for-20, while Pow-
der Valley had many more
opportunities but was not
much better, going 19-for-38.
Blade Suto connected on
four 3-pointers and fi nished
with 14 points, while Trace
Collier added six points.