CCHS knocks off La Pine - Central Oregonian

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The Crook County Cowboys used a fourth quarter surge to run away from the La Pine Hawks Friday night and take a 57-39 victory.

“I felt that we were rusty,” said Crook County post player Chance Sutfin following the game. “We had gone a couple of weeks with no games so I figured that we would come out a little slow, but as soon as the rust was off I felt like we were able to do what we’ve been practicing and what we should be doing.”

Sutfin, who finished the game with 11 points, scored the Cowboys’ first six points of the contest as Crook County struggled to find their shooting range.

The two teams went into halftime tied 22-22 despite the Cowboys committing nine turnovers and going just 1-10 from the foul line in the half.

Crook County cut down on their turnovers in the third quarter, and began to shoot the ball better as they built a 38-33 lead.

La Pine scored the opening basket of the fourth quarter to close to within a bucket. However, the Cowboys turned up the defensive pressure and the Hawks didn’t score again until there was less than a minute remaining in the game.

“I was pleased with the second half,” said Crook County head coach Jeff Lowenbach. “We did the things in the second half that translate into victories. We didn’t turn the ball over. We took good shots and we made shots and ultimately we made free throws down the stretch.”

The Cowboys outrebounded the Hawks 44-16 in the contest. However, it wasn’t until the second half that Crook County began to turn the rebounds into points.

After a slow start, Dillon Dees had a monster game, finishing with 16 points and 15 rebounds. The 6-8 post was recently moved to the perimeter after a season-ending injury to Marcus Greaves and it appeared to take some time for him to adjust.

“It is a bit of a change and it’s been a tough adjustment, but I like it,” Dees said following the game.

“Dees is actually one of our better shooters,” Lowenbach added. “We are getting him a little bit more on the perimeter to see if we can get him a few more looks. His first game out on the perimeter he was a little bit off, but in the end we can probably attribute the second half success to him being engaged in what was going on. I think we have a better flow with Dees on the perimeter if we can get him comfortable there.”

Preston Washechek also had a solid game for the Cowboys, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds, while Cameron Kraft led the Hawks with 13 points.

Crook County (6-4) is on the road on Tuesday at Bend, then hosts Redmond on Friday. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 4

at Crook County

La Pine (39) — Cameron Kraft 13, Parsons 9, Turnsplenty 5, Weber 4, Boen 4, Siauw 2, Syres 2, Smith, Gacke. Totals 16 5-8 39.

Crook County (57) — Dillon Dees 16, Sutfin 11, Washechek 11, Mahurin 9, Benton 4, Dean 4, Rutz 2, Lee, Cooper, Egbert, Tavernia. Totals 22 9-24 57.

La Pine                          6    16    11     6    —    39

Crook County                 9    13    16   19    —    57

Three-point goals — La Pine: Parsons, Turnsplenty; Crook County: Mahurin 3, Dees.