By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

SALEM, Ore.–  Willamette Valley Christian rebounded well from their 53-45 defeat to 2A’s Western Christian when they picked up a 61-37 win over Country Christian.  The 1A Brooks-based team finished third in the Green Bracket, going 2-1 over the three-day tournament that saw the Warriors work on their defense and offense going back into Casco League play this next week.

“We can use our defense and our offense that we’ve been working on in practice and how we used it in this tournament, I think we can come out and surprise some league teams.  We ran a new offense and we switched to man when we were running zone and I think that helped us, so that’ll help us in the future,” said Brian Beyer of the benefit of the tournament.  “Our defense has improved and that’s what is going to win us games in the future.  Defense was what we needed to improve on and this tournament helped us playing bigger schools as well.”

Beyer finished with 13 points as four Willamette Valley Christian athlete’s recorded double-figures in the win.  Jake Higgins led the way with 19 points, Ben Sellers hit on three of the Warriors seven three’s as the sophomore finished with 11 points.  Beyer and Dom Peters each had two three’s each with the Warriors setting the pace early and sustaining their team effort for the course of the game.

“We knew we had to play much better defense than we did against Western (Christian) and we knew we had to handle the ball a little better because Western pressured us really well and we didn’t handle it as well as we could have.  Shooting free throws, I think our team…we need those free throws,” laughs Beyer.

Willamette Valley Christian heads to C.S. Lewis Academy on Wednesday before hosting St. Paul on January 9 in Casco League play.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald