By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

STAYTON, Ore.– It came down to who had the last run and made the most stops Tuesday night between Stayton and the OSAA third-ranked Seaside Boys basketball in the SCTC Holiday Tournament.

Faced with a ten-point deficit entering the third quarter, the Eagles tied it at 43 entering the fourth and had it within one with 63 seconds left to play with Jackson Januik going to the line for two.

What followed Januik’s made free throws allowed the Seagulls to steal victory over Stayton with a 6-0 game sealing run for the 59-51 victory behind two Eagle Turnovers.

“It’s pretty tough, (we’re) just not being strong with the ball,” said Stayton Eagle Head Coach Joe Kiser. “We weren’t all night.  I think we had 19 turnovers with our goal being 14 or less per game.  We just weren’t strong with the ball.

“We allowed them to bump us off our cuts, or getting open on the wing.  We were just pretty careless with the basketball.”

How it came down to that crazy finish was a fighting spirit by the Eagles led by Charlie Weeks and Kyle Schwarm in the second half.

Coming out of the break down 10 points following a second quarter that was less than ideal after being tied at 18 apiece, there was a fire and motivation for the Stayton team to soar to the challenge at hand.

“The coaches got us amp’d up,” said Matt Lindemann. “Saying that ‘We’re better than this team’ and going up against the number three team and give it our all and prove something to ourselves.

“So that kind of light a fire for us to knock off a number three team.”

Kiser described the talk as reminding them what the game plan was and executing it while out on the hardwood.

“We talked about sticking to our original game plan and going out and doing it,” said.  And I thought that had a lot to do with our rally and us coming back from  10 at halftime.

That fire roared to a 17-7 third quarter, and Stayton tying the game up at 43-all entering the fourth quarter looking to advance to the SCTC Hoilday Tournament Championship game in their home tournament.

Seaside quickly answered to start the fourth following a Matt Lindemann sideline violation with five straight by Attkin Babb as the Seagulls quickly built a 52-45 lead with five minutes to go.

Behind Schwarm, the Eagles made their final stand.

With two monster threes from Schwarm and some physicality from Stayton had the Eagles gunning for one last run for victory with 63 seconds left.

That was, until following Januik’s free throws.

Driving down looking for the tie, Stayton allowed the death blow when Hunter Thompson stole and assisted on a Januik lay-up as Seaside added one more basket to seal the victory.

“We were just trying to get a quick bucket, but we ended up getting a little too out of control and too fast and it didn’t go our way,” described Lindemann on the closing moments of the game.

As for Kiser, he knows his team will never give up being as competitive as they were Tuesday night.

“This group is super competitive, but I never doubt that they’re going to continue to compete,” he said.  “I wish we had a few more pieces (tonight).  But as for competing, I usually don’t doubt their competitive spirit.”

The Eagles will look to finish the SCTC Holiday Tournament strong Wednesday with a third-place game at 430pm at Stayton High School.

 

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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