Central Oregonian

CCHS falls 50-35 to Mountain View

Second half three-point shots help Cougars pull away for 15 point win

LON AUSTIN/CENTRAL OREGONIAN

Troy Benton goes up for two of his five points during the Cowboys loss to the Mountain View Cougars on Tuesday.

Lon Austin

January 24, 2013

The Mountain View Cougars are one of the dominant basketball teams in Class 5A.

Tuesday night, the Cougars, who are ranked third in the latest OSAA power rankings, showed once again why they are so good.

Mountain View’s Grant Lannin broke open a close game with four second-half three-point goals as the Cougars pulled away for a 50-35 victory over the Crook County Cowboys.

“We played fantastic defense,” said Crook County head coach Jeff Lowenbach. “Our defensive execution was spot on. More credit to Lannin. That’s the difference in the game. Four threes in the second half to pull away.”

Although the Cowboys lost the contest by 15, they had reason to be encouraged by their performance. When the two teams met in December, Mountain View earned a 84-28 victory. This time, Crook County kept the game close for much of the contest.

The Cowboys slowed the game’s tempo down early in the contest as neither team was able to get their offense into high gear. At the end of the first period, the Cougars led just 8-5.

Although both teams opened up their offenses in the second quarter, the Cougars were unable to pull away. The Cowboys trailed just 19-17 with under 10 seconds left in the first half. Then, with the clock winding down, the Cougars Matt Logan hit a last second three-point shot giving Mountain View a 22-17 halftime lead.

Lannin hit the first of his four three-point shots just seconds into the second half as Mountain View began to pull away.

Once again, the Cowboys were tentative on offense and the Cougars were able to extend their lead to 34-23 by the end of the period.

With the double-digit lead the Cougars were able to force the Cowboys to pick up the pace of their offense in the fourth quarter.

Every time that the Cowboys tried to make a run, Lannin hit another clutch three as the Cougars maintained their lead.

Late in the period, Crook County began to foul, and Mountain View knocked down their foul shots as they won going away.

The Cowboys struggled offensively all night, hitting just 30 percent of their shots. Meanwhile, Mountain View hit 47 percent of their shots and went 73 percent from the foul line.

The taller Cougars also outrebounded the Cowboys 23-18 in the contest.

However, Lowenbach was still pleased with the effort from his team.

“Defensively our execution was spot on,” he said. “Mountain View threw a little bit of a curve ball at us and came out in a zone defense and ended up keeping us enough off balance that we struggled offensively. We just weren’t aggressive enough offensively and we didn’t knock down the shots that we needed to knock down.”

Lannin led all scorers with 17 points in the contest, while Ments Haugen added 10 points for the Cougars and Mitch Modin added nine.

Crook County was led by Dillon Dees and Preston Washechek, who finished with nine points apiece. Jacob Mahurin also had a solid offensive game, hitting a pair finishing with eight points.

With the loss, the Cowboys fall to 6-9 on the season, while the Cougars are now 12-2.

Crook County is back in action tonight when they host the 5-9 Bend Lava Bears.

Tuesday, Jan 22

Mountain View 50, Crook County 35

at Crook County

Mountain View (50) — Grant Lannin 17, Haugen 10, Modin 9, Logan 7, Siefken 3, Hjelm 2, Carroll 2, Haney, Heffner, Roth, Webb, Kurzynowski. Totals 22 11-15 50.

Crook County (35) — Dillon Dees 9, Preston Washechek 9, Mahurin 8, Benton 5, Cooper 2, Dean 2, Rutz, Egbert, Bartels, Kessi. Totals 16 8-15 35.

Mountain View 8 14 12 16 — 50

Crook County 5 12 6 12 — 35

Three-point goals — Mountain View: Lannin 4, Logan; Crook County: Washechek 3, Mahurin 2.