Vale’s John Wolfe (No. 4) goes in for a lay in during first half action against Umatilla Saturday night in Vale. The Vikings lost 63-47. (The Enterprise/Pat Caldwell)
VALE – The Vale boys varsity basketball team emerged from weekend play with mixed results.
Friday night the Vikings won a close 45-41 decision against Riverside but fell 63-47 to Umatilla Saturday night.
Vale (4-4) started strong against Umatilla, taking a 10-2 lead midway through the first frame but Umatilla called a timeout and then rallied on offense and defense to push ahead 20-10 at the end of the stanza.
Umatilla (5-3) never trailed again and led 33-21 at halftime.
“We did it with defense tonight,” said Umatilla coach Scott Bow.
John Wolfe led Vale with 11 points and six rebounds while Brayden Gregory chipped in 9 for the home team.
Umatilla’s Andrew Earl led all scorers with 20 points.
The Vikings managed to get within 10, 35-25, midway through the third quarter and Colton Kesey’s lay-in with 6:49 to go pulled Vale within 47-38 but the home team couldn’t get any closer.
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“The biggest thing Saturday is we just didn’t give it a good enough effort to give ourselves a chance,” said Vale coach Colby Shira.
Shira said the Vikings just “never really got anything going.”
“They (Umatilla) had a good game plan going in. It was just an unfortunate game,” said Shira.
Earl also proved to be a problem for the Vikings, said Shira.
“Earl was tough for us to guard, whether we were in a zone or in man and we never really had an answer for him,” said Shira.
Wolfe also led the Vikings against Riverside Friday night with 16 points.
“We defended OK (against Riverside). I didn’t think we shot the ball well. But at least we competed and gave ourselves a shot and that is what we should be doing every night,” said Shira.
Vale faced Nyssa (8-0) Tuesday night and will host Burns (4-4) Saturday.
Vale’s Brayden Gregory (No. 23) drives the baseline against two Umatilla defenders during their game Saturday night in Vale. The Vikings came out hot and built an early lead but could not hold on and lost 63-47. (The Enterprise/Pat Caldwell)
News tip? Contact reporter Pat Caldwell at [email protected] or 541-473-3377.
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