Central Oregonian

CCHS comes up short at Redmond

Cowboys drop heartbreaker after taking lead with 30 seconds to go

Lon Austin

A bounce here or a bounce there and the outcome might have been different.

The Crook County Cowboys played quite possibly their best game of the season — yet still came up short on Tuesday as they fell 64-61 to the Redmond Panthers in their Intermountain Hybrid basketball game.

“It was a good game down to the wire,” said Crook?County head coach Jeff Lowenbach. “It was a hard way to lose. We played well. Basically, it was our best game of the year from start to finish.”

Except for the heroics of Redmond’s Tanner Manzelle, the Cowboys probably earned a victory. The 6-6 senior finished the game with 23 points, and a school record of 33 rebounds as the Panthers squeaked out the victory.

Playing on the road, the Cowboys struggled to find their shooting touch early in the first quarter as the Panthers jumped out to an early lead. Crook County settled down and the two teams played evenly the remainder of the quarter. Redmond took a 16-11 lead at the end of the period, and led 35-27 at the break.

“We had a couple of minutes to start the game where we didn’t play very well,” Lowenbach said. “We battled from behind most of the game, but it was back and forth down the stretch.”

After trailing by 10 points early in the third quarter, the Cowboys outplayed the Panthers the rest of the game. Crook County closed to within five points at the end of the third quarter. With a minute to go in the fourth quarter, Preston Washecheck made a back door cut and Troy Benton found him with a perfect pass. Washecheck made a layup and the game was tied.

When Redmond failed to score on their next possession, the Cowboys had a chance to take the lead. With 30 seconds remaining, Washecheck was fouled and went to the foul line to shoot a 1-and-1. He calmly sank the first free throw to give the Cowboys the lead. However, the second shot bounced off the rim and Crook County’s Tevin Cooper was called for a foul attempting to get the offensive rebound.

“They made both free throws and we were back down by one without a tick going off of the clock,” Lowenbach said.

Trailing by one, the Cowboys missed a hurried shot and Manselle got the rebound. Manselle calmly sank a pair of free throws to put the Cowboys back down by three points.

“We had some chances on the offensive boards and ended up fouling,” Lowenbach said.

Crook County had one final chance to tie the game. However, Jacob Mahurin’s jumper from the top of the key came up short, and Redmond escaped with the win.

“We were able to compete with them because we battled hard on the glass in the second half,” Lowenbach said. “We had a chance to win it and in the end, we were just unlucky and had a couple of bounces not go our way.”

The Cowboys had one of their best shooting games of the season, going 21-46 from the floor (46 percent). Meanwhile the Panthers hit 40 percent of their shots, going 21-52. The Cowboys were more accurate from long range, hitting six three-point shots to just four for the Panthers.

Unfortunately, in the end, the game came down to free throw shooting. The Panthers hit 18 of 20 free throws in the game, while the Cowboys converted on just 12 of 17.

Peyton Seaquist led the Cowboys in scoring with 20 points, while Washecheck was the only other Cowboy in double figures with 14 points. Mahurin added eight points, while Cooper finished with eight points and eight rebounds.

With the loss, the Cowboys fell to 3-14 on the year, while the Panthers are 9-8 on the year. Crook?County is back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 31, when they host the Summit Storm in a 7 p.m. game.

Tuesday, January 24

at Redmond

Crook County (61) — Peyton Seaquist 20, Washecheck 14, Mahurin 8, T. Cooper 8, Buss 5, A. Cooper 2, Benton 2, Dees 2. Totals 21 12-17 61.

Redmond (64) — Tanner Manselle 23, Lau 9, Genz 9, Reed 7, Powell 6, Jackson 4, Tavita 3, Dahlen 3, Rodby. Totals 21 18-20 64.

Crook?County 11 16 17 17 — 61

Redmond 16 19 14 15 — 64

Three-point goals — Crook County: Seaquist 3, Mahurin 2, Washecheck; Redmond: Lau, Powell, Genz, Tavita.