BAKER BASKETBALL: Bulldog boys fall 62-52 to Crook County; girls win 50-31, improve to 8-5

Published 9:47 am Saturday, January 4, 2025

The Baker boys and girls basketball teams returned to BHS Saturday, Jan. 4, for nonleague games against Crook County.

The boys, playing at home for the first time this season, couldn’t recover from a 16-3 Crook County scoring run to start the second half, and the Bulldogs lost their sixth straight game, 62-52.

Baker, which trailed 28-27 at halftime, got as close as four points, at 49-45, early in the fourth quarter, but the Cowboys responded with a 10-1 run to take control.

The Baker girls led from the start against Crook County, winning 50-31 to improve to 8-5 on the season.

In other local basketball action Saturday, the Pine Eagle boys beat Tri-Valley, Idaho, 53-52. The Spartan girls lost to Tri-Valley, 65-35.

The Powder Valley boys lost 69-50 at Weston-McEwen. The Badger girls lost 52-42 at Weston-McEwen.

Boys

The Bulldogs were without leading scorer Isaiah Jones for the fifth straight game, as he recovers from an appendectomy a few days before Christmas.

Baker trailed 2-0 before the game even started, as Crook County’s Bryce Lowenbach made two free throws off a technical foul called for Baker dunking the ball during warmups.

Baker struggled to get an offensive flow going in the first quarter, as the Cowboys’ half-court trap caused Baker some problems.

Grant Gambleton’s 3-pointer cut Crook County’s lead to 13-9, and Jack Joseph’s basket inside on an assist from Gambleton made it 16-13 after the first quarter.

Second quarter

Baker regained the lead at 17-16 when Joseph scored on a nice feed from Rasean Jones in the first minute of the second quarter.

The teams then traded the lead three times. Lowenbach swished a 3-pointer to give the Cowboys a 21-19 lead. Crook County extended its scoring run to 10-1 to take its biggest lead at 28-20 on Lowenbach’s two free throws with 1:40 left in the half.

But Baker finished the half with a flurry to get within 28-27 at the break, scoring seven straight points in 40 seconds.

Jaxon Logsdon was fouled inside and made the first free throw. He missed the second, but Rasean Jones battled for the rebound and then passed to Logsdon, who nailed an open 3-pointer from the right wing.

After a Crook County miss, Eli Long swished a step-back 3-pointer in the final second to cut the lead to just one.

Logsdon led Baker with 13 points in the first half.

Crook County had four 3-pointers in the half.

Third quarter

The Cowboys dominated the first three minutes, as Kaedyn Prusak made three straight 3-pointers in slightly less than a minute, all from nearly the same spot on the left wing, to boost the lead to 39-27.

Prusak was called for a technical foul for taunting after the last long ball, and Jake Holden made both free throws.

But the Cowboys extended the scoring run to 16-3, leading by as much as 15, at 46-31, before Rasean Jones scored on a rebound with 2:19 left.

After Logsdon’s two free throws with two minutes left, Crook County’s Jace Jonas hit a 3-pointer with a minute left to boost the lead back to 49-35.

Logsdon then converted a conventional three-point play, hitting a difficult contested shot in the lane, to make it 49-38.

Fourth quarter

Rasean Jones had four straight points to open the quarter, on a pair of a free throws and a tough shot in the key over Lowenbach, who had multiple blocks, to cut the lead to 49-42.

Baker got within 49-45 on Logsdon’s 3-pointer, but Lowenbach answered with a conventional three-point play. That kickstarted a key 10-1 scoring run by the Cowboys, eight of those points scored by the 6-foot-7 Lowenbach, who seemed to get a basket whenever Crook County needed one. 

Holden ended the scoring run with a tough shot in the key with 1:08 left, but the Cowboys still led 59-48.

Baker put on its fullcourt press but the Bulldogs couldn’t force enough turnovers, or make enough shots, to mount the kind of comeback that gave them a 63-57 win over Crook County on Dec. 7 at Prineville.

Baker coach Jebron Jones said the Cowboys’ 16-3 run to start the second half was the key sequence.

“We just couldn’t recover,” Jones said.

He said miscommunications on defense led to Prusak being open for the three straight 3-pointers during the Cowboys’ third-quarter scoring streak. 

Jones credited Crook County with playing smart, usually making the right pass to thwart Baker’s fullcourt press and getting a few easy baskets as a result.

Lowenbach, who had multiple baskets inside late in the shot clock after Baker had played solid defense, is “a tough matchup all the way around,” Jones said.

Offensively, Jones said Baker had “open looks, but a lot of shots didn’t go in that normally go in. Those are heartbreaking.”

Logsdon led Baker with 19 points. Rasean Jones added 10 points, and Gambleton seven.

Jebron Jones said he hopes Isaiah Jones can return when Baker travels to Central Oregon next weekend to play at Redmond on Jan. 10 and at Mountain View, in Bend, on Jan. 11.

Crook County, which beat La Grande 69-59 on Friday, Jan. 3, improved to 7-5 on the season.

The loss ended Baker’s 20-game home winning streak. The Bulldogs hadn’t lost on their home floor since Feb. 19, 2022, against La Grande in a league playoff game.

CROOK COUNTY (62)

Lopez 3 2-2 9, Kudlac 0 0-0 0, Twigg 0 0-0 0, Jonas 7 3-4 16, Lowenbach 5 7-9 18, Stefanek 1 0-0 2, Prusak 5 0-2 15. Totals 20 12-17 62.

BAKER (52)

Gambleton 2 2-4 7, Chandler 1 0-0 2, Churchfield 0 0-0 0, R. Jones 2 6-6 10, Heriza 0 0-2 0, Long 1 1-2 4, Logsdon 6 7-10 19, Holden 1 2-2 4, Joseph 2 0-0 4. Totals 15 18-26 52.

Crook County 16    12   21    13 — 62

Baker            13    14   11    14 — 52

Girls game

First quarter

Baker led from the start, as freshman Molly Rasmussen scored eight points and Gracie Spike made four of four free throws to propel the Bulldogs to a 13-3 lead.

Baker’s defense didn’t give the Cowgirls any easy shots, and the Bulldogs’ defensive rebounding denied Crook County many second chances.

Second quarter

Baker extended its lead to 17-5 on Ashlyn Dalton’s two free throws, but Crook County rallied with a 5-0 run to get within 17-10.

Dalton grabbed an offensive rebound and made two more free throws to boost Baker’s lead to 19-10 with 2:23 left in the half.

Crook County’s Hayden Decker hit a shot from just inside the 3-point line, but Molly Rasmussen answered with a rebound basket to make it 21-12.

Baker led 23-13 at halftime. Molly Rasmussen led the Bulldogs with 14 points.

Third quarter

The second half started slowly for both teams, as they combined for just seven points in the first three minutes.

The Cowgirls got as close as 26-18 before the Bulldogs closed the quarter with a flourish, scoring 12 of the next 13 points, including consecutive 3-pointers by Emy Myer and Lily Logsdon and four points by Molly Rasmussen, to boost the lead to 36-21. Baker led 38-24 after three quarters.

Baker scored 12 of its 15 points in the quarter in the final 2:42. 

Fourth quarter

The final eight minutes were anticlimactic, as the Cowgirls weren’t able to rally. 

Baker’s lead reached 20 points, 47-27, on Gwen Rasmussen’s free throw with 3:30 left.

Molly Rasmussen led all scorers with 23 points. Dalton added seven points, and Gwen Rasmussen six.

Baker continues a three-game homestand by playing host to Fruitland, Idaho, on Tuesday, Jan. 7, at 7 p.m. Baker beat Fruitland 47-38 on Dec. 17 at Fruitland.

CROOK COUNTY (31)

H. Smith 1 1-5 3, E. Henderson 1 2-4 4, D. Smith 0 0-0 0, McKenzie 2 5-8 9, Zapf 0 0-0 0, Decker 2 1-2 6, Mozingo 0 0-0 0, Brooks 1 0-0 2, Wiederholt 1 5-12 7, G. Henderson 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 14-31 31.

BAKER (50)

Gentry 0 0-0 0, Logsdon 1 0-0 3, Schwartz 0 0-0 0, Spike 0 4-4 4, Dalton 1 5-6 7, Whitford 1 0-0 2, Myer 1 0-0 3, G. Rasmussen 2 2-4 6, M. Rasmussen 9 5-9 23, Ramos 1 0-2 2, Morgan 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 16-25 50.

Crook County   3   10   11    7 — 31

Baker            13   10   15   12 — 50