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Ontario boys, girls hoop squads drop league games to Baker

Ontario’s Drea Peterson looks to inbound the ball during a game against Baker Friday at Ontario High School. The Bulldogs rolled to a 63-31 win. (The Enterprise/Pat Caldwell).

ONTARIO – The Baker boys varsity basketball team used a four-minute stretch of the third quarter to crack open a close game and post a 62-44 Greater Oregon League win over Ontario Friday night at Ontario High School.

Baker’s Kade Sand poured in 18 points to help lead the visiting Bulldogs.

“I was impressed with our fight,” said Ontario coach Kevin Attila.

The Tigers were within two points – 30-28 – at intermission and behind 39-30 with five minutes to go in the third quarter. That’s when the Bulldogs ratcheted up the pressure and the Tigers suffered frigid shooting.

The Bulldogs couldn’t miss – building a 45-30 advantage with 2:47 to go in the stanza – and ended the quarter with a commanding 50-30 lead. The Tigers scored just two points in the third frame.

“You can’t have stretches where you are flat like that,” said Attila.

Dallon Haueter led the Tigers with 13 points while Danny Rodriguez added 10.

Attila said the cold shooting in the third frame doomed the Tigers.

“We wanted to be super tough on the boards and play at our pace and I thought we did a good job of that. But we didn’t shoot well,” said Attila.

Friday’s contest once again showed a Tiger team with flashes of brilliance and Ontario is about a half a quarter away from putting together a complete game.

“It is a game of runs and their runs were a lot more extensive than ours,” said Attila.

Attila said despite the loss, he saw a lot to be encouraged about.

“I can leave the gym feeling proud of our fight,” said Attila. “I see us getting better and we are doing a lot of good things.”

The Tigers (0-2 GOL) faced Nyssa Monday night in a non-league contest.

In girls action Friday night, the Ontario varsity basketball team was able to stay close to Baker for one quarter before the Bulldogs opened a binge of scoring.

At the end of the first frame the Tigers trailed Baker 14-9 but that was as close as they would get for the rest of the game as Baker used huge spurts of scoring to post a 65-31 win.

Baker built a 37-14 advantage at intermission and led 56-21 at the end of the third quarter.

Monday night, Omar Jaquez scored 21 points to lead Nyssa past Ontario, 64-52, in a non-league boys basketball game. Pedro Chavez added 18 points for the Bulldogs. Nick Manzo paced the Tiger attack with 15 points while Dallon Haueter scored 12.

In girls play, Nyssa’s Madisyn Hartley hit a free-throw with 2.2 second left to help lift the Bulldogs over Ontario 44-43.

Reporter Pat Caldwell: [email protected] or 541-473-3377.