STAYTON – Fourth-ranked Stayton used its big front line to roll over No. 5 Woodburn 68-51 in a pivotal 4A Oregon West Conference boys basketball game Wednesday.
The host Eagles (11-3, 4-0) got 26 points from 6-foot-8 senior center Kaleb Anundi and 16 points from 6-7 senior forward Riley Nichol to overpower the Bulldogs (12-3, 2-1), who suffered their first conference loss. Stayton repeatedly went inside to Anundi to build a 22-11 lead in the second quarter and was never seriously threatened the rest of the way.
Stayton junior guard Ben Rash and senior guard Micah Jenkins combined to help hold explosive Woodburn senior guard RJ Veliz to nine points. Rash credited coach Joseph Kiser for the defensive strategy.
“Our coach did a fantastic job coming up with a game plan covering everyone,” Rash said, “We knew that they all could shoot, so we came up with a game plan for Woodburn that worked. RJ is an awesome player. He does it all. He shoots it, he drives it. He’s hard to guard. Everything worked good for us.”
Jenkins added that they had the easier job, as Anundi and Nichol both helped the Eagles win the rebounding battle and prevented Woodburn from creating second opportunities.
“Yeah, we’ve got a great defense, but we’ve got to give it to our bigs,” Jenkins said. “Kaleb and Riley, they own the boards tonight, and didn’t give them any second opportunities, so that was great.”
Stayton led 49-28 after three quarters before Woodburn pulled within 49-37 behind the three-point shooting of senior guards Trevor Karsseboom and EJ Barajas.
Stayton answered to extend the lead to 58-40. The Bulldogs made one final gasp, closing to within 58-47 with 2:25 left, but the Eagles closed it out.
“You can’t start too late. You’ve got to start from the get-go,” said Woodburn senior guard Ryan Stebner, who led his team with 18 points. “As soon as the tip, warm-ups, everything. We’ve got to be prepared. We’ve got to go out there and we’ve got to be ready to win the game. So I think focusing up early next time is going to be a good sign. We can’t wait. We’ve got to go and push.”
It was the second loss in a row for Woodburn. The Bulldogs lost 58-45 at No. 3 Marshfield in a nonleague game Saturday.
“I think we can use the adversity to motivate us,” Stebner said. “I think going into practice, we’ve got to have a chip on our shoulder, and we got to prove that we are the best, and that starts in practice.”
