PENDLETON — Pendleton played three solid quarters of basketball Thursday night against Baker, but the Bucks let the third quarter get away from them as the Bulldogs held on for a 76-70 Greater Oregon League win at Warberg Court.
“We buried ourselves in the third quarter and they got hot,” Pendleton coach Ron Murphy said. “They got a pretty good lead, maybe 10 points a couple of times. Our kids battled back. We have been preaching play four quarters and we didn’t do that tonight. That was the difference.”
Pendleton (5-10 overall 0-1 GOL) used a balanced scoring attack in the first half for a 30-26 lead at the half. Aaden Hernandez and Zane Emry each had seven points in the first half.
Come the third quarter, the Bulldogs went on a 31-16 scoring spree to take a 57-46 lead. Elias Long scored eight of his 21 points in the third for Baker.
“They hit some good 3s in the third and we lost our composure.” Murphy said. “We have to use this as a learning situation. Composure is part of the game and in the third we didn’t have it.”
The Bucks rallied in the fourth with a 24-19 run, getting eight points from Jubal Hoisington, but would fall short in the end.
Hoisington finished with 14 points, but got into foul trouble early and didn’t see the court in the second quarter.
“Jubal got into foul trouble early and struggled to get into the flow of the game,” Murphy said. “He’s learning when teams key on you, you have to change things up. Zane and Jalen (West) gave us good minutes off the bench, and so did Cole (Sazue). Those three were pretty helpful to our teams tonight.”
Emry led the Bucks with 16 points, while Garret Reinhart added 10, West nine, and Hernandez and Dillon Elrod each had eight.
“It was a good battle tonight,” Murphy said. “Baker just made more plays than we did. Garret had a good second half. He was a consistent rebounder and gave us good points inside.”
Ryder Nimmo added 16 points for Baker (7-7, 1-0), while Quin Wellman chipped in 10.
