Outlaws lose on the hardwood

The Outlaws suffered two losses at home this past week; a 51-35 loss to Junction City (JC) on Tuesday, February 18, and a 43-28 loss to Cottage Grove (CG) on Friday.

Before tip-off on Friday in the Outlaws game against the Lions, seniors Jens Stadeli, Nate Kaping, and Lane Adams were honored. Coach Rand Runco noted that all three seniors have been positive and shown great leadership all season long.

"We are so impressed that even though we have lost quite a few games they have been positive and selfless the entire season," said Runco. "They are great young men."

The Lions came out strong right from the tip-off and held the Outlaws scoreless for the first four minutes of the contest. Cottage Grove sophomore guard Jayden Tucker knocked in two threes and a bucket to give the Lions an 8-0 start. CG was relentless and pushed to a 13-0 advantage.

With two minutes left in the quarter, Justin Harrer scored a bucket from underneath and got the Outlaws on the scoreboard. Harrer scored again, and Hayden Martinez got a bucket to close out the quarter with the Lions on top 15-6.

Sisters came out in the second quarter with great defense. The Outlaws switched to a 1-3-1 zone, held the Lions scoreless for the first four minutes, and to six points in the quarter. Hayes Moore led the defense and really disrupted the CG offense. At the half Sisters trailed the Lions 21-11.

Sisters got points from multiple players in the third quarter and had opportunity to close the gap, but many of their shots rattled around the rim and just wouldn't fall.

The Outlaws couldn't recover from their first-half deficit, and the Lions recorded the win.

Sisters only gave up two offensive boards in the game and held their turnovers to 11. The big difference was that they were 0/6 from the three-point line and only hit 13 of 36 attempts from the field.

Runco noted, "CG was very patient on offense, but their fourth-best shooter hit three three-pointers. The only statistic difference in the game was three-point shooting, and we were 2/7 from the line and they were 10/10 from the line."

Harrer led the Outlaws with 11 points and eight boards. Runco stated that Lane Adams, Nate Kaping, Tysen Gill, Justin Harrer and Connor Schaab all did a great job on the boards, and Tristan Lewis added a spark at the end of the game.

Three days earlier, the Outlaws lost at home to Junction City. Both Sisters and JC played tough defense, but the Tigers had more offensive firepower.

"JC runs a spread offense with all five players patiently waiting to penetrate when the defense over-extends," said Runco. "It takes tremendous discipline to defend them. They are basically in a stall the entire game, and it's very difficult to close a lead."

The Outlaws did a good job defending against the Tigers but missed several close shots. Sisters also beat them on the boards but continued to struggle from the field.

JC got the lead and spread the court to half-court. The Outlaws decided to trap them in two zone traps, which was slow but effective. Sisters forced the Tigers into turnovers but missed too many open shots to compensate for the easy buckets they gave up.

Sisters cut the lead to four in the third quarter and had two possessions to hit lay-ins. The Outlaws missed both and had two costly turnovers as they tried relentlessly to catch the Tigers.

JC pulled ahead by eight and Sisters held it there. Down the stretch the Tigers hit their foul shots and put the game out of reach.

Sophomore Hayden Martinez led the team with 15 points, and Harrer contributed 11 points and eight rebounds. Harrer also did a great job on the glass, and Ben Larson and Hayes Moore were excellent defenders on the Tigers' perimeter.

The Outlaws were to play at Elmira on Monday, February 24, in their last league game of the season.