BAKER CITY HERALD • SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 2022 A5
SPORTS
BAKER BOYS BASKETBALL RETURNS AFTER 15-DAY BREAK
Hobson leads Baker past Fruitland
Sophomore scores
game-high 23,
including two key
3-pointers late
FRUITLAND (70)
Rodriguez 6 0-0 17, Jackson
0 0-0 0, Barinaga 5 0-0 3,
Davis 1 0-0 2, Harris 0 0-0 0,
Rico 0 0-0 0, Hamann 2 0-0 4,
Capps 2 1-2 6, Jones 0 0-0 0,
Bower 5 1-3 12, Tucker 4 2-3
10, Bidwell 2 2-6 6. Totals 27
6-14 70.
BY JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
On the night when his late
grandfather, Darrell Hobson,
was honored for being a ded-
icated fan, Baker sophomore
Paul Hobson put on a perfor-
mance that surely would have
made his grandpa proud.
Paul Hobson scored a game-
high 23 points, including a pair
of key 3-pointers in the fourth
quarter, to lead the Bulldogs
to a 77-70 win over Fruitland,
Idaho, on Thursday, Jan. 6, in
the Baker gym.
Hobson gave the credit to his
teammates for getting him the
ball in good positions.
“It just felt right tonight,” he
said. “We played really good. It
was very special. I’m so thank-
ful.”
Prior to the tipoff, Baker
coach Jebron Jones read a state-
ment thanking Darrell Hob-
son, who died Dec. 4, 2021, for
being “our biggest fan.”
For the rest of the season,
Baker players will wear an em-
blem on their uniforms reading
“TCB.” That stands for “take
care of business,” one of Dar-
rell Hobson’s favorite sayings,
Jones said.
Paul Hobson climbed the
bleachers on the west side of
the gym to hand his grand-
mother, Anita Hobson, a bou-
quet of flowers.
A little more than an hour
later, on the court below, Paul
Hobson made two vital shots
to hand the Grizzlies just their
second loss of the season.
Fruitland fell to 7-2.
Baker improved to 7-3, and
jumped from ninth to seventh
in the Oregon Class 4A rank-
ings.
Fruitland took its final lead
at 66-63 on Nolan Bower’s free
throw with 3:56 left.
On the ensuing posses-
sion, Hobson swished a deep
3-pointer from the top of the
key on a pass from Isaiah Jones.
Neither team scored over the
next minute plus, and Jebron
Jones called timeout with 2:05
left and the score still tied at 66.
Hobson then made another
three-pointer, from the right
wing with 1:36 left, to give
Baker a 69-66 lead.
Fruitland’s Jacob Hamann
barely missed a 3-pointer, and
Isaiah Jones grabbed the re-
bound with 1:19 left.
He made one of two free
throws to give Baker a 70-66
lead, and Hobson rebounded
the miss and made two free
throws with 1:18 left to boost
the Bulldogs’ lead to 72-66.
Hobson scored eight of Bak-
er’s nine points during the
9-0 run that turned the game
around.
Fruitland’s Zane Bidwell
BAKER (77)
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald
Baker’s Hayden Younger goes high against Fruitland on Thursday, Jan.
6, 2022, in the Baker gym.
lead on Hayden Younger’s
driving layin, but the Grizzlies
scored five straight, including
another 3-pointer by Rodri-
guez, to lead 37-34.
Baker responded with a
quick 6-0 run, including con-
secutive steals and layins by
Hobson and Hudson Spike,
but Fruitland then scored the
final five points of the half, in
48 seconds, to lead 42-40 at the
break.
Fruitland had seven 3-point-
ers in the first half, Baker just
two.
Jebron Jones said the Griz-
zlies took advantage of Baker’s
zone defense.
“They attacked the zone the
Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald way they should, penetrating
Baker’s Paul Hobson takes a shot while defended by Fruitland’s Na-
the key and then kicking out to
shooters,” he said.
than Harris on Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022, in the Baker gym.
Jones switched to more
man-to-man defense in the
“It just felt right tonight. We played really
second half, and added a mid-
court trap that forced a few
good. It was very special. I’m so thankful.”
Fruitland turnovers and, per-
haps equally important, in-
terrupted the smooth offen-
— Baker sophomore Paul Hobson, whose late grandfather,
sive flow the Grizzlies had for
Darrell Hobson, was honored as the team’s “biggest fan” prior to
much of the first half.
tipoff Thursday, Jan. 6
Fruitland made just two
made one of two free throws
game we want to be involved
3-pointers in the second half,
with 38 seconds left to get the
in.”
and scored 28 points, 14 fewer
Grizzlies within four, at 72-
Jaron Long scored seven of
than in the first half.
68. But Fruitland was forced
Baker’s first 11 points as the
“As a coach I have to mix
to foul to stop the clock, and
Bulldogs led 11-4 early.
things up,” Jones said. “You
Jaxon Logsdon made two free
Hobson’s first 3-pointer gave can’t let a team get comfort-
throws with 30.9 seconds left,
Baker a 14-8 lead. It was the
able.”
then hit Jones with a long out- first of five straight 3-point-
Just as he did in the first
let pass that led to a layin and a ers, three by Fruitland. The last half, Long was the spark for
76-68 Baker lead with just 16.1 of the run of long balls, from
Baker’s offense at the start of
seconds left.
Fruitland’s Eddie Rodriguez,
the second half, scoring six of
Although Baker was playing tied the score at 17.
Baker’s first eight points as the
its first game in 15 days and
Luke Barinaga’s 3-pointer
Bulldogs quickly turned the
might have been expected to be gave the Grizzlies a 22-19 lead, two-point halftime deficit into
a bit sluggish, Jebron Jones said but Baker then went on a 13-2 a 48-44 lead that prompted a
he wasn’t surprised that the
run that continued into the sec- Fruitland timeout with 5:34
Bulldogs played one of their
ond quarter.
left in the third quarter.
best games of the season.
Isaiah Jones had five points
Isaiah Jones scored on two
“The kids had a great couple during the run, and Diego
straight twisting drives, and
weeks of practice,” he said.
Quintela’s layin with 5:39 left in Logsdon scored inside to give
The game was competitive
the first half gave Baker its big- Baker a 54-48 lead.
and fast-paced from the open- gest lead at 32-24.
Fruitland didn’t fold.
ing minute, with multiple lead
But Rodriguez swished a
The Grizzlies ended the
changes and an atmosphere
3-pointer just 17 seconds later, third quarter with a 10-3 run.
reminiscent of a playoff or state kicking off an 8-0 run over less Bidwell’s layin with 30 seconds
tournament contest.
than a minute. Tyler Capps’
left gave Fruitland a 58-57 lead
“Both teams played hard,”
3-pointer tied the score at 32
at the end of the quarter.
Jones said. “Every possession
with 4:28 left in the half.
mattered, and that’s the kind of
Baker briefly regained the
See, Bulldogs/Page A6
Logsdon 3 2-2 8, Gambleton
1 0-0 3, Quintela 2 0-0 5,
Younger 1 0-0 2, Spike 4 0-2 8,
Molina 0 0-0 0, Jones 6 2-5 14,
Long 5 4-5 14, Hobson 8 2-2
23. Totals 30 10-16 77.
Fruitland 22 20 16 12 — 70
Baker
23 17 17 20 — 77
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