For eight minutes the La Grande Tigers were a match for the unbeaten Baker boys basketball team.

For the next 24 minutes, well, they weren’t.

The Bulldogs have dominated almost all of their opponents during extended stretches while winning their first 19 games.

But the thrashing they delivered to the Tigers in the final three quarters Friday night, Jan. 26 in the Baker gym, en route to a 93-23 win, was perhaps the most comprehensive of those drubbings.

La Grande, which dropped to 4-15 on the season and 0-4 in the Greater Oregon League, led 8-4 early on Caeden Barrett’s 3-pointer.

Baker, as it has so many times this season, responded with a quick run, scoring 12 straight points over two and a half minutes. Isaiah Jones capped the run by pulling up for a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

But La Grande, coming off a 40-39 loss to Ontario, a team Baker routed 83-12, rallied.

Barrett scored five straight points, and the Tigers trailed 19-14 after the first quarter.

But they wouldn’t score again until the first half was nearly over.

Baker, meanwhile, was amassing its usual array of baskets and steals, the points coming quickly enough to keep the scoreboard operator’s fingers flying.

Rasean Jones scored on a rebound.

Eli Long swished a 3-pointer.

Jaxon Logsdon twisted into the lane for a tough jumper in traffic.

Jaron Long did the same.

By the time Barrett ended Baker’s streak with a free throw with 2:13 left in the half, the Bulldogs had scored 26 straight points and their lead had swelled to 45-14.

But Baker was, in a real sense, just getting started.

The Bulldogs followed Barrett’s free throw with a 10-0 run to finish the half, including four points each by Logsdon and Nate Jensen. Baker outscored La Grande 36-1 in the second quarter, to lead 55-15 at halftime. The 36 points was a season high in a single quarter for the Bulldogs.

The second half was as anticlimactic as the halftime score suggests it would be.

Perhaps the only uncertainty was whether Baker would reach triple digits.

Which the Bulldogs might well have done, but for the running clock in the fourth quarter.

Yet it wasn’t that big number on Baker’s side of the scoreboard that most impressed coach Jebron Jones.

It was the much smaller number on the opposite side.

“From the second quarter on we played pretty good defense,” Jones said. “Giving up nine points in three quarters is a lot better than giving up 14 points in one quarter.”

La Grande struggled to get shots up, much less open looks, on many possessions. Baker’s pressure defense also yielded more than 15 turnovers, many of which led to Bulldog baskets, including Hudson Spike’s crowd-thrilling breakaway dunk early in the fourth quarter.

Jones has emphasized defense all season, and the Bulldogs are the stingiest Class 4A team, giving up just 38.4 points per game.

(Baker is also the leading offensive team, averaging 71.3 points per contest.)

In their three GOL

games, two wins over La Grande and one over Ontario, the Bulldogs have allowed an average of just 22 points per game.

“The boys played hard, and I think we wore La Grande down,” Jones said.

All 11 Bulldogs who played scored at least two points.

Isaiah Jones had a game-high 18 to lead five Bulldogs in double figures.

Spike had 16, Rasean Jones 13, Eli Long 11 and Logsdon 10.

Baker was 15 for 19 from the free throw line, one of its better performances of the season.

Baker had almost as many 3-pointers — six — as La Grande had field goals — seven.

With five games left in the regular season, Jones said he’s pleased with the Bulldogs’ progress as they seek to return to the state tournament and advance after losing their first two games at the 2023 and 2022 tourneys.

“There’s always room for improvement,” Jones said. “We had a couple breakdowns that led to easy baskets, just a lack of focus for a couple seconds. They’re kids, they’re not going to be perfect. But if we play hard and smart for 32 minutes, we’re going to be all right.”

Baker travels to Pendleton on Wednesday, Jan. 31 for a 7:30 p.m. league game against the Buckaroos.

BAKER 93, LA GRANDE 23

LA GRANDE (23)

Blake 1 0-0 3, Mathias 0 1-2 1, Thriller 0 0-0 0, Barrett 2 4-6 10, Weaver 2 0-0 4, Hutchins 0 0-0 0, Kimball 1 0-0 3. Totals 7 5-10 21.

BAKER (93)

Gambleton 2 0-0 4, Hobson 1 0-0 2, E. Long 4 2-2 11, R. Jones 5 2-2 13, Rigueiro 1 0-0 2, Spike 6 2-2 16, I. Jones 7 2-2 18, J. Long 3 3-4 9, Logsdon 3 4-7 10, Jensen 3 0-0 6, McCullough 1 0-0 2. Totals 36 15-19 93.

La Grande 14 1 3 5 — 23

Baker 19 36 24 14 — 93

Jan. 22: Baker 83, Ontario 12

The uniforms were new but the Baker boys were their same old dominant selves on the basketball court.

Clad in gray uniforms with purple and gold trim and an old-fashioned cursive “Baker” on their jerseys, the Bulldogs scored the first 22 points of the game and held Ontario scoreless in the first and third quarters Jan. 22 in the Baker gym.

Even in a season littered with blowout wins, the final score stands out: 83-12.

It wasn’t a season high in points — Baker scored 91 against Molalla on Dec. 8 and 85 against Homedale on Dec. 7 (the Bulldogs also scored 93 points against La Grande four days after the Ontario game).

But the Bulldogs’ defense set a new standard as Baker played its first home game in more than a month.

The previous low total for an opponent was 23, by Homedale.

Ontario’s first point was Pedro Lopez-Navarrete’s free throw with 7:40 left in the second quarter.

Baker led 44-9 at halftime.

The defense was even more stifling in the second half.

With the aid of a running clock in the fourth quarter, Baker nearly held the Tigers scoreless for the entire second half.

Ontario didn’t score until just 40 seconds were left, and the 3-pointer accounted for the Tigers’ only points in the half.

Baker, meanwhile, scored in all sorts of ways.

Although Ontario’s 6-foot-7 sophomore, Cohen Evans, swatted away a few shots early in the game, Jaron Long had six points, capped by a breakaway dunk that gave Baker a 10-0 lead and prompted an Ontario timeout with 3:14 left in the first quarter.

The break didn’t interrupt Baker’s momentum.

Grant Gambleton had two straight layins, assisted on the first by Eli Long’s behind-the-back pass, and six Bulldogs scored as Baker led 22-0 after the first quarter.

The Bulldogs thrilled the home fans with two more dunks in the second quarter, another by Long after Gambleton’s steal, and the other by Hudson Spike.

The onslaught continued unabated in the third quarter, as Baker outscored Ontario 25-0.

Eli Long scored nine points in the quarter, and Spike capped the period with another breakaway slam.

All 12 Bulldogs scored as Baker improved to 18-0 overall, and 2-0 in the Greater Oregon League.

Baker had four players score in double figures. Eli Long had 13, Spike and Isaiah Jones 12 each, and Jaron Long had 11.

The Bulldogs have only one more home game — the league finale against Pendleton on Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

The Bulldogs have added a game to replace one against Post Falls, Idaho, that was canceled due to wintry weather.

In the final weekend of the regular season, Baker will have a two-game road trip following the Feb. 8 league final against Pendleton.

The Bulldogs were already scheduled to play at Cascade, in Turner near Salem, on Saturday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. Baker now will start the trip by playing Cascade Christian on Friday, Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. in a Bend high school yet to be determined.

Cascade Christian, from Medford, is 10-5, but all of its losses were to Class 6A schools — Beaverton, Tualatin, Central Catholic, Century and Lake Oswego.

Cascade Christian has beaten two Class 6A teams — South Salem and Mountainside — as well as Summit of Bend, the Class 5A top-ranked team.

In league games against Class 3A teams, Cascade Christian has been dominant, going 7-0 with an average score of 98-33.

Cascade Christian beat Rogue River 123-17 and South Umpqua 102-30.

The Challengers, who won the 2022 and 2023 Class 3A state titles, are led by 7-foot senior Austin Maurer, who has signed a letter of intent to play at Grand Canyon University in Arizona.

BAKER 83, ONTARIO 12

ONTARIO (12)

Garfias 1 0-0 2, Anders 0 0-0 0, Evans 1 0-0 2, Favela 1 0-0 2, Ramos 0 0-0 0, Lopez 1 1-2 3, Fuhrmann 0 0-0 0, Larson 1 0-0 2. Totals 5 1-2 12.

BAKER (83)

Gambleton 2 0-0 4, Chandler 3 0-0 6, Hobson 2 0-2 5, E. Long 6 0-0 13, R. Jones 0 1-2 1, Rigueiro 2 0-0 5, Spike 6 0-0 12, I. Jones 4 4-4 12, J. Long 5 1-2 11, Logsdon 1 1-2 3, Jensen 4 0-1 8, McCullough 1 1-2 3. Totals 36 8-15 83.

Ontario 0 9 0 3 — 12

Baker 22 22 25 14 — 83