By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

MEDFORD, Ore.–  McKay knew the task ahead of them.  They knew that the teams in the Abby’s Tournament were some of the toughest competition they’ll face this season.

Playoff caliber teams like Roseburg, South Medford, North Medford and Ashland  to name a few.

The Royal Scots didn’t just accept the challenge, but took it head on like a running back through the line of scrimmage.

The result?

A fourth-place finish in the bracket and momentum entering the New Year as Darrell Woods was named to the All-Tournament Team as they faced Roseburg to start the bracket at North Medford High School.

The Indians didn’t allow much over 58 points all season entering the game; but McKay did just that and then some as they dropped 63 against Roseburg with the momentum.

“I thought we outplayed them,” said Head Coach Dean Sanderson on the game.  “We had the tempo that we wanted most of the game. They turned it over 32 times compare to our 13.  Most of the time when we do that, we’ll win fairly easily.”

But the Indians would score 12 more than the Scots as they went on to finish fifth in the tournament.

“We shot it really poorly, from the three-point line especially,” said Sanderson.  “We shot 50-percent from the free-throw line which kill us in close games so.

“It wasn’t a terrible performance by us by any means.”

They could’ve folded up tent and went home after Monday’s tough 75-63 loss to Roseburg to start the Abby’s Holiday Classic at North Medford.

But they didn’t.

The McKay Men sought redemption Tuesday and knowing that the loss to Roseburg was a true eye opener, the Royal Scot had a royal redemption over the Dallas Dragons.

“The energy we had from every player was great,” said Tristen Wilson.  “We had younger players step up big time and we had seniors become better leaders.

“Overall (I’m) proud of these guys and what we have done, but we will never settle.  We will continue to get better.”

Having defeating McKay by one following a last second call going their way after a scramble for a loose ball to start the season, the Dragons jumped out to a 19-4 lead and had all the momentum.

Behind their offense though, the Scots rallied.

“With the offense we have, we wore them down quick and quickly took momentum going into halftime,” said Wilson.  “We started the third quarter slow, but knew we needed to pick it up to win.  So that’s what we did.”

Feeding off each other, the Scots produced a 66-37 rally was to advance to the consolation final versus the Grizzlies of Ashland High School.

“We ended up get a few deflections and again got the pace we wanted and won fairly easily at the end,” said Sanderson on the rally.

Confident was high for McKay entering the big showdown with a tough Ashland Grizzlies team.

“Beating Dallas gave us confidence going in to play Ashland.  We knew it wasn’t going to an easy game,” Said Wilson.  “(But) beating Dallas gave us confidence going in to play Ashland,”

The Grizzlies came off a last second three-pointer from Walker Shipley to push them to the game versus McKay; but by halftime the Scots held an eight point lead thanks to capitalizing on turnovers.

Despite their struggles in the third, they still held a five-point lead entering the fourth.  Through a wild finish, it was McKay hoisting the fourth-place trophy.

Sanderson said that his young squad found a way to win the game.

“We shot it much better and knocked down free throws which were the first time we’ve done that in a close game,” he said.  “So that was really good to see.”

At 4-6 and winners of three of their last four ball games, the Scots will look to continue their success as they travel to Beaverton on January 5.

Sanderson knows that it won’t be no easy task versus the 19^th-ranked and 6-3 Beavers.

“That’ll be hard to do because it’s on the road and their really good,” said Sanderson.  “They’ve got a couple of transfer kids in this year.  They’re going to really push us.”

But confidence is high that they can compete after several tough games up to this point of the season Sanderson added.

“It’s going to be another good test,” said Sanderson.  “We’ve played a Top 5 team in the state with South Salem and played them fairly competitively for stretches of that game.

“We’ve got some pretty good momentum, won three of four and I’ll like to see the kids come out and play really well heading into the final stretch of our league (season).”

Tip off versus the Beavers is slated for 7:15pm in Beaverton.