The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The Outlaws battled a very good Creswell team at home on Friday, February 9, but in the end came up short 58-62. On Friday the Outlaws fell 32-39 on the road at Harrisburg in their final league game of the season. 

Standings remain undetermined as several teams still had games this week.

On Tuesday against Creswell, the Outlaws got the scoring started when Kale Gardner found a cutting Landon Scott for a layup at the rim. The Bulldogs responded with a 6-0 run before Oliver Bernhardt flashed into the key and scored a layup. Scott scored the final points of the quarter and at the end of one Sisters trailed 10-14.

Sisters was outplayed and outscored in the second period. Creswell went on a scoring blitz, continued to attack the paint through drives, slipped screens and post-ups, and put up 21 points in the quarter. Highlights for the Outlaws were a three-pointer from Diego Silva, and the final points of the quarter from Brody Fischer, who pushed the ball ahead in transition and then got the ball back for a layup at the rim. At the half Sisters was down by 15 with a score of 20-35.

Coach Chad Rush said, "We had a decision to make at the break - accept that it was Creswell's night and just let the lead continue to grow, or get back to the aggressive, confident, energized Outlaws that played three inspired games a week ago, including a 13 point win at Creswell just three days earlier."

The Outlaws chose the latter and stormed back with renewed energy, confidence, and swagger in the second half. The third quarter started with back-to-back three's from Fischer and Silva. The Outlaws kept chipping away at the Bulldog lead and found themselves down by seven with four seconds left in the third quarter. Gardner found a wide open Garrett Sager at the top of the key, who calmly swished a three-pointer as time expired, cutting the lead to four at 43-47.

Scott got an offensive rebound and put-back to start the final quarter, which brought the game to within two, but the Bullodgs responded with two baskets to bump their lead back to six.

With just over three minutes left in the period, the Outlaws went on an eight-point run on three consecutive possessions to tie the game at 55-55.

Scores came from Gardner, who hit a far corner three-pointer, Scott on a jump hook in front of the rim, and Fischer on a three-pointer in front of the Outlaws' bench.

With just over a minute left on the clock, Scott scored on a great drive from the top of the key to give the Outlaws their first lead since 2-0 in the opening quarter. Sadly, the Bulldogs answered with a deep, contested three-pointer to bring their lead back to one at 57-58 with 45 seconds left on the clock.

Sisters worked the ball around on the ensuing possession and with 25 seconds left found Fischer, whose wing three-pointer went halfway down the net before popping out to a Bulldog player. The Outlaws were forced to foul, and the Bulldogs converted on both free throws. 

The Outlaws raced the ball down the floor and called for a timeout with 6.5 seconds left in the game. Scott was fouled on his three-point attempt, and went to the line for three shots with 2.2 seconds left on the clock.

He swished the first, but sadly his second attempt bounced off the back rim. After intentionally missing the third to try and get the rebound, the Outlaws had to foul again and the Bulldogs again went two-for-two at the charity stripe. Time expired and the Outlaws took the loss.

Scott led the team with 15 points and three steals, and Fischer followed with 13 points. Gardner tallied 10 pints, nine assists and five rebounds. Bernhardt recorded seven points and Silva added six.

Rush said, "This was the old cliche of a tale of two halves. It was great to see the team come out with determination and grit in the second half. To put themselves in position to win this game after being down 15 points shows the growth the team has made. I was very proud of their 'head-up' mentality in that second half."

On Friday against Harrisburg, teams traded points for most of the first quarter. Fischer got the Outlaws scoring started with a layup and then connected on a three-pointer on a transition pass from Scott to give Sisters a 5-2 lead. The Eagles came back and took the lead, but with less than a minute left in the period, Scott took a Fischer pass and connected on a corner three-pointer to give the Outlaws an 8-7 edge.

Fischer closed the gap to 10-13 in the second quarter when he scored a contested layup on a pass from Dean, but the Eagles responded with a 9-0 run and increased their lead to 12 points. Silva scored the last three points of the quarter and at the half Sisters trailed 13-22.

Sisters came out of the halftime break and made several consecutive stops on defense, while the offense went on an 8-0 run and cut the Eagles lead to one point just 2:40 into the quarter.

Points came off back-to-back triples from Fischer, and a Gardner transition layup. The Eagles answered with a 6-0 run of their own to bring their lead back to seven. With 1:30 left in the quarter, Gardner drove to the basket and connected on a tough shot while getting fouled. He converted the free-throw and cut the Eagle's lead to four points at 24-28.

At the start of the fourth Gardner found Bernhardt on a baseline out of bounds play and narrowed the gap to 26-28. Unfortunately, the Outlaws went into a scoring slump, and the Eagles' offense extended their lead to 10 points with 1:45 left on the clock.

Fischer again connected on two back-to back three's and brought the Outlaws to within four at 32-36. Sisters was forced to foul and the Eagles connected on three of their four free-throw attempts, and closed out the game with the win.

Fischer played a great game for the Outlaws, scored over half their points, and finished the night with 19 points. Gardner contributed five points and Silva and Scott added three points each.