Outlaws take second place in tourney

Eight teams competed in the Annual Sisters' Holiday Tournament held Wednesday through Friday, December 27-29 at Sisters High School.

Sisters lost 56-68 in the championship game against Junction City in their final game on Friday, December 29. Junction City won the tournament, and Sisters was runner up. North Marion took third place.

Sisters defeated the Burns Highlanders 82-56 in their first game of the tournament on Wednesday, December 27.

The Outlaws jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and at the end of the first quarter held a 17-9 advantage over the Highlanders. Sisters went flat in the second quarter, and by the half Burns had narrowed the lead to five points at 29-24.

The Outlaws came out hot in the third quarter, cranked it up a notch and held the lead through the remainder of the game.

Burns packed in a 2-3 zone against the Outlaws most of the game. Sisters shot from behind the arc and went 15 of 42 from the three point line.

"We didn't keep the game to pace," said Coach Rand Runco. "We didn't force enough turnovers, but it was nice to get a win the first game of the tournament. We weren't super pleased with our performance, but we warmed up offensively in the second half."

Dan Purvis and Dan Ketchum led the Outlaws with 16 points each. Ketchum also had five assists. Drew Harrison contributed 15 points, and Zack Lange added 14. Mike Reeve had eight rebounds for the Outlaws, and Lange had six.

This was only the second game Runco has had his entire team together.

"We really need practices. We're slowly getting better, but we've got a lot of work to do," said Runco.

On Thursday, the Outlaws notched another win with a 78-63 victory over Gladstone.

"Both our shifts played well in the first half," said Runco. "They played with great energy and intensity."

The Outlaws rotate a five-player platoon every two minutes and try to keep a high tempo game in place all four quarters.

"Gladstone made the mistake to try and run with us, and we took them apart," said Runco.

Gladstone did make a run in the second half, but Sisters answered back. Drew Harrison hit a big three pointer to get the Outlaws' momentum moving in the third quarter. The Outlaws pulled the ball out, spread the court and controlled the ball offensively for the final six minutes of the contest.

"We had no turnovers in those final six minutes," said Runco. "The ball control team did an excellent job."

Runco told The Nugget that his team has had many distractions from late football to Christmas and that he was really pleased with the way his team played.

"I'm really pleased with the way we played," said Runco. "I think we're just a few weeks away from being a really tough team."

Nate Jackson led the Outlaws with 23 points. Jarred Hasskamp had 12 points, and Drew Harrison had nine. Zack Lange contributed eight points, and Jeff Sampson added seven.

Runco told The Nugget that both Michael Reeve and Zack Lange were big on the boards for the Outlaws. Sisters pulled down 39 percent of the offensive boards for the night.

Sisters advanced to play Junction City (JC) in the championship game on Friday.

Junction City returned all their players from last year and plays an exact opposite style of ball compared to the Outlaws. JC runs a four corner stall the entire game compared to the quick fast tempo style that the Outlaws execute.

Runco told The Nugget they tried an unorthodox method against JC, that he feels is "the best slow-down team in the state."

"We played a tight man-to-man and forced them to drive and tried to get them to miss under pressure lay-ins," said Runco. "We tried to pick up the pace to get them running, but we didn't succeed. We gave up too many offensive boards."

Runco said he knew JC would make a lot of lay-ins early in the game, but he hoped they would tire later in the game and miss. The Outlaws caught JC in the fourth quarter of play but according to Runco didn't have enough practices to perfect their technique.

Runco explained what his team is all about.

"What we're trying to do is make teams shoot contested lay-ins, and our players need to learn when to step over and take a charge and when to force a contested lay-in. So, when we learn to do that, we're going to be very tough defensively. We need to get much better at dribble penetration to get the defense to collapse so we can find our shooters."

Runco added, "I know it's hard for the fans to see us give up lay-ins, but it's key to us keeping the pace of the game and progressing in our system later. I expect us to be a good team within a month. I'm really proud of the boys. For such a young group, we're really coming together."

The Outlaws are looking forward to league play where they will get two shots at JC.

The Outlaws will host Elmira on Wednesday, January 3 and travel to Burns on Friday, January 5.