BEAVERTON — The Southridge Skyhawks found some timely defense to go with an opportunistic offense on Friday night.
Southridge’s Elijah Thompson scored a game-high 19 points, Keenan Reckamp finished with 18 points, and the No. 5-ranked Skyhawks capitalized on 21 Benson Tech turnovers as they rolled to an 83-62 non-conference boys basketball victory at Southridge High School.
Drew Groenig and Alonzo Hoff added 14 points each for the Skyhawks (6-1), who jumped out to a 37-28 halftime lead and then piled on in the second half, sending the Astros (4-1) to their first loss of the season.
Benson’s Jaelyn Parnell-Patton finished with a team-high 16 points, and Robert Acelar chipped in 15 points, three rebounds and nine assists for the Astros.
“We’re happy for the win,” said Reckamp, one of two returning starters from last season’s Metro League championship team. “I thought we played well. We gave up some transition points and points in the paint that we shouldn’t have given up, but other than that we played solid.”
There were six lead changes in the first quarter, which ended with Reckamp putting back an offensive rebound in the final seconds to give the Skyhawks an 18-15 lead.
The game started to get away from Benson in the first five minutes of the second quarter. Seven of the Astros’ first 10 possessions in the quarter ended with turnovers, fueling a 16-8 run that extended the Southridge lead to 34-23.
This is a Benson team that started one junior (Acelar), two sophomores (Rachad Hudson and Daylen McKelvey), and two freshmen (Dreison Niko and Parnell-Patton) against Southridge, so maybe some of the Astros’ turnovers woes were tied to their lack of varsity experience and this being only their fifth game of the season.
At the same time, the Southridge defense deserves some credit for getting hands into passing lanes and forcing several turnovers that led to some easy baskets for the Skyhawks.
“That’s something that we emphasize and work on because it helps us get out and run,” Southridge coach Phil Vesel said. “We’re a really good team in transition, so anytime we can force a couple of turnovers it makes offense a lot easier when it’s a 2-on-1 or a 3-on-2, especially with the 3-point shooting that we have.
“The steals and the turnovers led to some easy offense and got us going tonight, for sure.”
Benson’s Parnell-Patton, the 6-foot-4 freshman wing, was a force under the basket and scored while getting fouled to cut Southridge’s lead to 40-35 with 5:03 to play in the third quarter.
The Skyhawks then went on a 15-4 run that was aided by three more Benson turnovers and ended with Thompson knocking down a 3-pointer from the left corner that made it 55-39 with 1:50 left in the third quarter.
Southridge maintained at least a 10-point lead the rest of the way.
Hudson and Niko finished with 10 points each for Benson, and Warren Bott, another freshman, chipped in nine points and five rebounds off the Astros’ bench.
“Benson has some nice pieces,” Vesel said. “They’ve got some young guys that are going to become really good players. In individual situations where we had to go one-on-one, a couple of their guys could beat us and score on us.
“I think they have a chance to be competitive in their league, but it also showed us that we’ve got to be better in our man-to-man defense.”
Through seven games, the Skyhawks are averaging 75.6 points a game and holding their opponents to an average of 55.9 points.
“It’s a work in progress. It always is,” Vesel said. “You have a game where you play really well defensively and you’re like, ‘Oh, we’re getting there.’ I thought we took a little bit of a step back defensively tonight. We didn’t communicate very well at times and that led to some open 3-point shots.
“It’s that learning and growing and recognizing that basketball is never perfect. You’re just trying to play possessions, and I think we did a better job of that in the second half.”
Southridge returns to action Thursday against Roosevelt in the opening round of the 16-team Les Schwab Invitational at Portland State.
“Anytime you play in the LSI, it’s a great opportunity and an honor to be invited,” Vesel said. “It’s an elite tournament and I know coaches who have never had the opportunity to be there, so we always feel blessed to be a part of it.
“I’m excited to be down at Portland State. I think that will be a cool venue for our kids to be downtown and Roosevelt is a great match-up. Anytime you’re playing good teams, that’s what you want — to play good teams and see how you measure up.”
Benson’s next game is Thursday against Union of Vancouver, Wash., in the opening round of the Mountain View Holiday Invite at Mountain View High School in Vancouver.
