Outlaws finish runner-up in tourney

The Outlaws lost 50-35 to No. 2 ranked LaSalle in the championship game of the Sisters' Holiday Tournament on Saturday, December 29, to finish as tourney runner-up.

LaSalle proved to be a tough challenge for Sisters. The Outlaws played even with the Falcons in the first half of the contest but struggled on offense throughout the game.

Sisters was only 3/17 from the field in the first half, and their only consistent shots came at the foul line. LaSalle often double-teamed Eli Harrison and limited his scoring opportunities. Ryan Pollard led the team in scoring with 11 points.

The Outlaws did step it up in the second half but the effort came too late. Coach Rand Runco told The Nugget that Outlaws post Mitch Keranen and Lane Adams put forth tremendous effort in the contest.

"These guys did a great job against LaSalle's 6-foot-6-inch post and one of their best athletes," said Runco. "I was very pleased with our defensive effort. We just struggled scoring against the size of this top-ranked team. We continued to improve and have improved so much in the past two weeks.

"We hope to see this team again in a month," added Runco. "I am really happy with the improvement of the team. We cut our turnovers in half from the previous game and held our own on the glass. We need to use screens better and are working hard to develop scoring threats."

Sisters opened the tournament on Thursday, December 27, with a 66-56 win over a very quick Scappoose team.

Sisters struggled at the start of the contest with the quick pace of the game and went down 11-0 in the first quarter. At one point in the first period the Outlaws trailed by 15 points.

The Outlaws persevered, fought back and stepped up their defense. Harrison and Pollard picked it up on offense and started to hit their shots. Sisters caught the Indians in the second half and finally took the lead at 53-50 thanks to several big three-point shots from Pollard.

Harrison packed on the points for the Outlaws and finished with a total of 36 points.

"We made a huge improvement in many parts of the game, specifically defensively and our defensive rebounding," stated Runco.

Justin Harrer pulled down 12 boards for the Outlaws and the team did a great job keeping the Indians off the

glass.

Runco noted Ethan Luloff and Isaac Jackson for their good defensive games and also was pleased with Luloff and Cole Moore who did a great job of keeping pressure on the Indians' guards.

"I was most impressed with our ability to finish the game," said Runco. "We took care of the basketball and got the ball into the right hands. We shot very well from the line, at 77 percent. It was a great win and so important to win the first game of the tournament to put us into the winning side of the bracket."

On Friday the Outlaws defeated No. 4 ranked Creswell 52-49 in a very tight contest.

Runco stated that Creswell is a very good team and posed new problems for the Outlaws.

"Creswell had five very good scorers and they are well coached, patient and play good defense," said Runco.

The Outlaws played a good game if you omit the 22 turnovers. Sisters held a slim 23-21 lead at the half and held on to record the win.

"I was again pleased with our improving defense which will be so key for us in league," said Runco. "Our effort was excellent and this was a very good team. Without our turnovers we would have won by a greater margin, but we learned a valuable lesson."

Harrison racked up a game-high 24 points and Pollard followed with 21, which included five three-point buckets.

Harrer and Jackson both had big games on the boards and Moore and Luloff played well in the guard positions.

Runco noted that Lane Adams stepped up in the post position and played some strong minutes for the Outlaws.

"We had a very exciting finish being up by three and Creswell having the ball out on the side," said Runco. "They ran a shooter off a double screen which was blocked by Cole (Moore) at the buzzer. It was a close but exciting win that put us into the championship game against LaSalle."