By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.– The McKay-Dallas Boy’s basketball game Tuesday night came down to Free Throws and a wild play to end the game.

After trading a series of free throws, the Royal Scots (0-1) were down 76-75 and 19 seconds to play when they got the ball back.

Hustling down the court with time running out, McKay drove into Dragon (1-0) territory for the win.

“You walk a fine line, you can set up, run a play,” described McKay Royal Scot Head Coach Dean Sanderson. “But we got to come out, we got to make a play.”

Dallas would get a hand on the ball to cause a scramble at midcourt with timeout called with 0.9 seconds left as possession was awarded to the Dragons in the 76-75 victory.  Dallas held off one last run by McKay.

“I love our composure to fight back,” said Sanderson.  “I liked how we had guys fouled out, guys hurt we had to rely on some sophomores out there to make plays.  That helps you when their in those pressure situations.

For Tristen Wilson, who scored a game-high 28 points, he was also happy with how his young team battled hard.

“Battling back is a huge positive for us,” said Wilson.  “Down 11 halfway through the fourth and we battled back with our fast quality of our offense and that’s why we have this offense so we can battle back like that.

“Teams are tired in the fourth quarter, but we couldn’t finish it out with our free throws.”

The season started strong for Dallas as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead quickly on McKay, but senior Wilson, playing in his final home opener in the green-and-gold score the next seven points for the Scots to take a 7-6 lead.

Wilson’s seven was part of a 12-2 run as McKay lead after the first quarter.

But the Dragons responded as the Royal Scots went cold on the floor and took a 34-27 lead on McKay entering the final minutes of the opening half.

Once more the Scots went on a 10-2 run that was capped by a buzzer beater by junior Noah Tavera.

“First of all I knew we had less time because everyone was yelling, ‘Look at the clock, look at the clock’,” “I guess the adrenaline kicked in and I took a shot.”

Tavera’s buzzer beater came after he stole the ball by the McKay bench with five seconds to go and pulled up with about a second left in the half.

The buzzer beater built some momentum for the Royal Scots as they held a 48-42 lead following a Khyler Beach three-pointer.

But, what followed was a 17 point swing behind Harrison Broadus seven-thrid quarter points and Mitchell Laizures six as they had a 59-48 lead in the closing moments of the third frame.

“We were real stagnant on offensively, trying to do it all by ourselves,” said Sanderson on the run.
“Then they got some momentum, started flying up and down the floor, lay-up, lay-up, lay-up.  All of a sudden we’re down 11.”

That was, until Wilson came off the bench and once more scored seven points, three in the third and four in the first part of the fourth quarter and McKay was down 67-66.

The Dragons managed to get it to a five-point lead, but Dallas were trading blows with made shots by Darrell Woods and Wilson.

“Our battle back was good,” said Woods who finished with nine points Tuesday.  “We just came up short.  Things happen like that, you come up short sometimes.”

Ultimately free throws came into affect and while the Dragons struggled with the ever loud Scots crowd; the turnover bug bit McKay in the bud as they couldn’t capitalize on several mis-opportunities from Dallas.

“I think our defense was there,” said Woods.  “We had a lot of positives too and I know we can fix it tomorrow in practice (with) our negatives and bounce back.

“It’s the beginning so, we’re going to have a lot of preparation for other games, so I think we’ll do fine.”

Woods knows that to be better, they must carry over practice to the game as him and Wilson know they can get better.

“It all starts with practice.  We practice is how we play,” said Woods.  “We just got to bring more energy, fight more.  We got to look on film and work on what we did bad at, bounce back and perform.”

“Like Darrell said, down 11 in the game and battled back to get ourselves within a point or two.  Just tough things at the end killed us.,” said Wilson.  “Tomorrow’s a new day, Friday’s a new game so we’re going to do our best to focus on Aloha.”

Friday’s Game versus Aloha is at McKay High School.  Dallas have their home opener Friday versus McMinnville.

 

PHOTO GALLERY (PICTURES BY JEREMY MCDONALD)

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013).  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81!

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