Central Oregonian

Loggers defeat Eagles, Mountaineers

Pair of wins puts Mitchell in contention for playoff berth

Lon Austin

The Mitchell Loggers are playing their best basketball of the season — and the timing couldn’t be better.

This past weekend, the Loggers rolled past the Spray Eagles, 56-38, then dominated the Long Creek Mountaineers, 61-39.

“These were good wins for us,” said head coach Cy Miller. “It looks like it will be us, Spray, and Long Creek fighting for third in the west half of the High Desert League.”

After starting the league season with a loss, the Loggers boys team has won three consecutive games and is currently tied for second place in the western half of the league.

Playing on the road, the Loggers started slowly against the Eagles, but still led 10-8 at the end of the first period. The Mitchell offense rolled into high gear in the second period as they outscored Spray 17-9 to take a 27-17 lead into the locker room at the half. The Loggers continued to roll in the second half, extending their lead to 15 points before the Eagles made a brief run midway through the fourth quarter.

“They had a little run to cut the lead to nine with about four minutes left,” Miller said. “I thought we did a good job of not getting rattled and finishing.”

The Loggers pulled away again in the final minutes, taking an easy 18-point victory.

Post player Kamil Duda scored a career high 21 points to lead the Loggers in scoring. Joey Ehmer and Brett Domenighini also scored in double figures for the Loggers with 15 and 10 points respectively.

Arnie Fox added eight points, and according to Miller, did a great job of directing the Logger offense.

Lane Graham and Brandon Henry led the Eagles with 11 points apiece.

Returning home on Saturday to host the Mountaineers, the Loggers took control early, running out to a 20-5 lead by the end of the first quarter.

With the big lead, the Loggers were able to substitute freely the rest of the game.

Ehmer led all scorers with 21 points, while Domenighini added 18. Fox had another solid game, scoring nine points and dishing out seven assists. Although they didn’t score many points, Miller also praised Tino Espinoza, Toby Lindquist, and Florian Engelke for their solid play coming off the bench for the Loggers.

With the wins, the Loggers are now 6-5 overall, and 3-1 in High Desert League play. Spray is now 2-12 overall, while Long Creek drops to 2-8. Both teams are 0-4 in league play.

Mitchell has a pair of tough games ahead as they go on the road to take on Dayville/Monument and Prairie City over the weekend. Dayville/Monument is currently 13-2 and undefeated in High Desert League play, while Prairie City is 10-4 overall and has already defeated Mitchell earlier in the season.

Game time at Monument is set for 7:30 p.m. tonight, while the Prairie City game is set for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Friday, January 20

at Spray

Mitchell (56) — Kamil Duda 21, Ehmer 15, Domenighini 10, Fox 8, Moeller 2, Lindquist.

Spray (38) — Graham 11, Henry 11, Pauley 7, Bruce 6, Tankersley 3.

Mitchell 10 17 13 16 — 56

Spray 8 9 10 11 — 38

Three-point goals — Mitchell: Fox 2, Ehmer; Spray: Henry 3, Graham, Pauley, Tankersley.

Saturday, January 21

at Mitchell

Long Creek (39) — I Studtmann 18, Parolini 8, Brush 5, Ellekilde 4, Ruffing 2, S. Studtmann 2.

Mitchell (61) — Joey Ehmer 21, Domenighini 18, Fox 9, Duda 4, Moeller 4, Lindquist 3, Engelke 2, Espinoza, Nicol, Suriyachay, Lanoue, Ghelerter.

Long Creek 5 8 14 12 — 39

Mitchell 20 10 16 15 — 61

Three-point goals — Long Creek: none; Mitchell: Domenighini 3, Ehmer, Fox, Lindquist.