La Grande rallies to beat Baker — again

Talk about deja vu.

Baker had to be thinking along those lines Friday evening after La Grande rallied from 19 points down to defeat the Bulldogs 49-46 and earn the regular-season Greater Oregon League boys basketball title.

La Grande (7-0 in the GOL) has defeated the Bulldogs (4-3) three times during the GOL season. Last month at BHS, the Tigers rallied from 18 points down to top Baker 62-58.

Friday, at La Grande, the Tigers were held scoreless in the second quarter, and trailed 24-5 at halftime. La Grande then outscored Baker 44-22 in the second half.

Baker coach Craig Woods said it was a lack of rebounding by the Bulldogs that led to the turnaround.

“The thing that changed was offensive rebounds,” Woods said.

The Baker coach said La Grande outrebounded the Bulldogs by 13. The Tigers grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, 13 in the second half.

“We just can’t have that,” Woods said. “We shot better, had fewer turnovers, more assists, but they outrebounded us. I burned my timeouts trying to come up with an answer.”

Baker managed just seven total rebounds in the second half.

Then, with 8.3 ticks remaining, the Bulldogs fouled Kevin Attila. Attila made the first free throw, but missed the second. La Grande’s Ryan Tooke grabbed the miss and was fouled.

Tooke hit both free throws to give La Grande a three-point lead with a couple seconds left. Blankenship’s long three-point try at the buzzer was off the mark.

“We fought back and had a chance to win it,” Woods said.

“The kids feel bad about letting it slip away for the second time in a row. We just have to stay on the throttle; have to think we have to stay on the throttle. We can’t get complacent; can’t let up.”

After a sluggish start, in which the Bulldogs took a 6-5 lead after one period, Baker ran off 18 unanswered points in the second quarter.

La Grande then outscored the Bulldogs 19-11 in the third quarter to pull within 35-24 entering the fourth quarter.

A 7-0 La Grande run midway through the fourth quarter gave the Tigers a 40-37 edge, their first lead since the opening basket of the game.

Baker can still lock up the GOL’s second district seed by defeating Ontario at BHS Tuesday. That would clinch a home district playoff game Feb. 25, and a possible rematch with La Grande at La Grande Feb. 27.

Baker    6    18    11    11    — 46

La Grande    5    0    19    25    — 49

Baker (46) — Brown 1 2-2 5, Everson 2 0-0 5, McEnroe 1 0-0 2, Durflinger, Richardson 1 0-0 3, Blankenship 6 5-7 19, Quintana 0 2-2 2, Smith 4 2-2 10. Totals 15 11-13 46.

La Grande (49) — Miller, Attila 8 2-4 23, Nice 2 1-2 6, Yundt, Tooke 4 6-9 14, Mills 2 0-0 4, Chandler, Townsend 0 2-2 2. Totals 16 9-17 49.

Three-point goals — Brown, Everson, Richardson, Blankenship 2, Attila 5, Nice. Fouled out — Smith, Chandler. Total fouls — Baker 16, La Grande 17. Technicals — none.