Central Oregonian

Ravens slip past Cowboys

Poor shooting proves costly in 49-40 loss to Ridgeview

LON AUSTIN/CENTRAL OREGONIAN

Preston Washechek drives to the basket during the second quarter of the Cowboys loss to Ridgeview on Tuesday. Washechek led the Cowboys in scoring with 13 points in the game.

Lon Austin

January 17, 2013

All season, the Crook County Cowboy basketball team has struggled to score points.

Never was that more apparent than Tuesday night when the Cowboys fell 49-40 to the Ridgeview Ravens in the opening round of Special District I play.

“We didn’t shoot very well and had a bunch of turnovers,”?said Cowboy head coach Jeff Lowenbach. “We need to learn as a group that execution is the key to our success.”

The Cowboys hit just 7 of 24 three-point shots or 29 percent. The team was even worse from in front of the three-point line, hitting seven of 38 two-point attempts, or 18 percent. Overall, the team was 14 for 62 from the floor in the contest, or 22.6 percent.

The Cowboys fell behind 9-0 early in the contest. Nevertheless, Crook County battled back to score the final eight points of the period to tie the game at 12 points apiece.

When Jacob Mahurin hit a three-pointer seconds into the second quarter, the Cowboys held a 15-12 lead and appeared to be rolling. However, the two teams played even the remainder of the half as Crook County took a 24-21 lead into the break.

Mahurin hit his fourth and final three-point shot of the game just seconds into the third period to give the Cowboys a 27-21 lead, their largest of the contest.

However, the Cowboys went ice cold, scoring just two points in the next 10 minutes of play.

Ridgeview held a 36-29 lead at the end of the third quarter and ran their lead to 38-29 early in the fourth quarter before Crook County finally found their touch.

The Cowboys went on a 7-0 spree to close to within two points at 38-36, but that was as close as they could get as the Ravens pulled away again at the end.

“When we execute, we usually get good shots and when we have those opportunities, we need to put them in the hole,” Lowenbach said.

He was quick to add although the team struggled offensively, they played solid defense for most of the contest.

“If we hold a team under 50 points — which we did — then it gives us a shot to win,” he said. “Even without executing very well on offense, we still had a shot to win.”

Justin Alvarez led the Ravens in scoring with 18 points, 15 in the second half, while Jack Bowman and George Mendazona added 12 and 11 points respectively.

Preston Washechek led the Cowboys in scoring with 13 and added six rebounds. Mahurin finished with 12 points, however, no other Cowboy had more than six points in the contest.

With the victory, the Ravens run their record to 3-11 overall and 1-0 in Special District I while the Cowboys fall to 6-7 and 0-1.

“We’ve got some things to work on,” Lowenbach said. “The good news is we’ve got these guys two more times and what it comes down to is our ticket into the play-in round is going to be beating these guys two out of three times. That’s what it boils down to.”

The Cowboys are back in action tonight when they travel to Bend to take on the Summit Storm (6-7). Then on Tuesday, Crook County returns home to face Mountain View, who blew the Cowboys out 84-28 in December.

Tuesday, Jan. 15

at Crook County

Ridgeview (49) — Justin Alvarez 18, Bowman 12, Mendazona 11, O’Neal 5, Rollins 2, Stiles 1, Johnson, Stanton, Aamodt. Totals 16 12-22 49.

Crook County (40) — Preston Washechek 13, Mahurin 12, Benton 6, Dees 4, Dean 3, Egbert 2, Rutz, Cooper. Totals 14 5-7 40.

Ridgeview 12 9 15 13 — 49

Crook County 12 12 5 11 — 40

Three-point goals — Ridgeview: Bowman 2, Alvarez 2, Mendazona; Crook County: Mahurin 4, Benton 2, Washechek.