Boys basketball: Rock Falls turns up heat to defeat Oregon

OREGON – Aggressive play on both ends of the court led to a huge second-quarter surge Tuesday night for Rock Falls.

The Rockets hit their shots and ratcheted up their defensive pressure to build a lead and eventually pull away to defeat Oregon 73-42 in their Big Northern Conference game at the Blackhawk Center.

Ryken Howard hit three 3-pointers in the first half, and Aydan Goff and Easton Canales each added another as Rock Falls (7-3, 1-0 BNC) outscored the Hawks 22-4 in the first seven minutes of the second quarter to turn a 13-10 lead at the end of the opening period into a 35-14 margin with a minute left before halftime.

[ Photos from Rock Falls vs. Oregon boys basketball ]

“It’s really big coming into an away game and just knocking down a few shots to get the whole team going. The energy was just flowing after that,” said Howard, who finished with four 3s and a game-high 20 points to go with five rebounds. “My teammates created the shots for me, got me open, and I made the shots, and we just flowed from there.”

Balance was the name of the game for the Rockets. Goff had a four-point play and finished with 12 points, four steals and two assists; Gavin Sands had eight points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals; Austin Castaneda added eight points, four steals and three rebounds; and Kuitim Heald chipped in seven points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Rock Falls’ starters combined for 55 points, 22 rebounds, 11 assists and 13 steals, while Garret Wolf scored six points – four on putbacks – and blocked a shot off the bench. Devin Tanton-DeJesus grabbed six rebounds.

“It was very big for us to build that lead. It brought energy to our bench, to our whole team, and obviously the subs came in and just built off that,” Goff said. “We wanted to come out aggressive on both ends, and we always preach to play as a team. Defense was pretty solid all around, good communication. Just a collaborative effort from all of us tonight.”

The Rockets scored 17 points off 20 Oregon turnovers and also had 11 second-chance points, all in the final three quarters.

“I thought they did a good job pressing in the second half and trapping the wings,” Oregon coach Jarrett Reynolds said. “We had talked about attacking the middle and not throwing that pass back, because they’re just going to pick it off and go the opposite way, but they got us on it a few times.”

Keaton Salsbury drove for a layup, Kade Girton nailed a 3 off a pump fake, and Noah Johnson hit a pair of free throws as the Hawks (5-4, 0-2) tied the score 10-10 with 3:50 left in the first quarter.

But it was all Rockets for the next 10 minutes. Sands scored on a drive-and-dish play by Heald to close the first quarter, then Heald drove down the lane for a layup. Tanton-DeJesus drove the lane and kicked out to Canales for a 3 to open the second. That ignited a 25-4 extended run as Rock Falls seized control for good.

“When we play as a team, I think we’re pretty unstoppable. As a whole five, everybody on the bench, just as a program, if we play together, we can be unbeatable,” Howard said. “It’s great to see everyone getting their points, getting their stats and contributing to the team.

“It’s just a great team win, first conference game, good overall win.”

The lead stretched to 48-26 on a putback by Howard late in the third quarter, and putbacks by Wolf to end the third and start the fourth pushed it to 58-32. Back-to-back runout layups by Sands off steals made it 62-32 and started the continuous clock for the final 6:16 of the game. Castaneda and Howard scored inside before both teams emptied their benches for the final 4 1/2 minutes.

“That’s what we’re trying to preach this year, because we’ve got guys that can score. Each guy’s going to have their night where they score 18 or 20 or whatever that might be, so we’re looking to share the ball, find the hot hand and make sure that we have a balanced scoring attack,” Rock Falls coach Zach Sandrock said. “That’s when we play our best, and I thought we played well tonight, guys came off the bench really well, and it was just a complete effort.”

Jameson Caposey had 10 points and three rebounds, and Johnson added nine points and three boards for Oregon. Tucker O’Brien had six points, seven rebounds and two steals off the bench, and Nole Campos finished with five points. Salsbury chipped in four points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal, and Girton grabbed five rebounds to go with his 3-pointer.

“We’re a young team, so it’s just inconsistencies. The tricky part we’re trying to get to is, if we get one thing to work, why do we not consistently do that? We ran a set one time and got a great high-low look out of it, then we didn’t choose to run it again,” Oregon coach Jarrett Reynolds said.

“They’re always going to play hard, I know they will. They compete, they come to practice and work their butts off, and we have kids with great heads on their shoulders. But at the end of the day, sometimes that’s not all it takes.

“It’s going to take time, but we continue to improve everyday, and that’s what we’re looking for. They’ve just got to learn from their mistakes and move on, and I know they’ll do that.”