Three Dunks and a Powerful Win for the Tigard Boys

98
Malik Brown (#12) rushes through the onslaught of Lakeridge players for a layup from Kalim Brown’s steal. Photo: Henry Kaus.
- Advertisement -

An absolutely energetic team was ready to take back the ball.

In the third game of the Three Rivers League matchups, Tigard stayed home to face the Lakeridge Pacers. Coming off of an 0 – 2 league record, the team would pull out everything they had to keep their opponent from winning.

“We did not want to lose again. We turned up our practice intensity and we knew we weren’t going to lose,” Tigard captain Drew Carter (#5) said.

Drew Carter (#5) throws a free throw at the beginning of the game. Six of his 24 points came from free’s. Photo: Henry Kaus.

“I felt like this would be a good way to bounce back after two straight losses to Canby and West Linn,” Edward Beglaryan (#20) added.

From the moment that the game began, it was apparent that the Tigers were turning up the heat. The energy in the gym was palpable with the team in a non-stop rush. “We outworked them for 32 minutes, our defense was essential and that went well for us,” Beglaryan noted.

Such being the case for Malik Brown (#12) who’d take on whoever had the rebound and kept the Pacers from advancing any further while also taking several steals.

Even with a lead of 25-11 in the first quarter and Carter already scoring ten points, the game didn’t really intensify until Q2.

Early on and with an opening on the side, Carter shot deep for a three which was soon followed by Kalim Brown (#11) for the repeat shot. Kalim Brown then stole from Lakeridge in a rebound shot and passed to his brother, Malik Brown (#12), for the assisted two-pointer. Then with Brett Moss’ (#4) hands on the ball, the court was wide open and Lakeridge didn’t even try to chase him for his massive two-handed dunk.

Kalim Brown’s (#11) fake layup pass to Malik Brown for two points. Photo: Henry Kaus.

The half still wasn’t quite over yet and with three seconds left in the half, Dylan Berg (#21) received a missed shot by Steven Long (#3) and ran up inside for a final two-pointer and a lead of 26 points (47-21).

Lakeridge couldn’t make many shots with the Tigers’ overwhelming force. By the time the score was 59-35, the starters were subbed out to rest.

Finishing out Q3 would be the Pacers with one last-ditch throw from half-court. In the rare event, the half-court shot was actually successful with their team jumping out of their seats.

Carter took charge in the last section of the game.

The score was 61-41 with the ball in Lakeridge’s possession and 5:22 left in the game. After a missed two-pointer, Moss had the rebound, tipping it to Malik Brown who bounced it over to Beglaryan. From there, he ran and lobbed it up in front of the basket for Carter to destroy the rim in an alley-oop dunk.

Brett Moss’ (#4) slam dunk in the second quarter. Photo: Henry Kaus.

Thirteen seconds later, Carter ran through and stole a Lakeridge pass, where, at that point, they stopped the chase and let Carter drop the mic as he swung down from the hoop and his second dunk. Even still, he followed both up with the last three-pointer of the game and a final score of 72-51.

Carter was the high scorer of the game with 24 points and Berg at second with 12 points.

After the game, their TRL record stands at 1 – 2, their overall record at 11 – 4 and are seeded fourth.

Even with a third of Tigard’s points belonging to Carter, this matchup was completed together with multitudes of steals, assists and strengths on both offense and defense to bounce back from their previous two straight losses. 

Beglaryan thought that “we just weren’t hitting our shots the past two games. Today, they were just falling in and we were playing like we were in the preseason.”

“We’re young, we’re all a great group of guys and we’re all laughing,” Carter said. “We’re just trying to win; that’s our main goal. There’s a lot of good teams out there, but I think we’ll do just fine.”

- Advertisement -