BAKER BOYS BASKETBALL: Bulldogs roll past Riverhawks, return to defend state championship
Published 8:16 pm Monday, March 10, 2025
Eli Long made seven 3-pointers against The Dalles on March 8, 2025. He scored 23 points total. (Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald)
Baker seniors Jaxon Logsdon and Isaiah Jones celebrate a victory over The Dalles on March 8, 2025, that earned the team a trip to the state tournament. (Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald)
Baker High's student section was packed for a boys game against The Dalles on March 8, 2025. The win earned the Bulldogs a return trip to the state tournament. (Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald)
Isaiah Jones scored 20 points against The Dalles on March 8, 2025. (Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald)
Baker coach Jebron Jones gestures to the Bulldogs against The Dalles on March 8, 2025. (Lisa Britton/Baker City Herald)
The Baker Bulldogs do all sorts of impressive things on the basketball court, but smiling typically isn’t part of their repertoire.
The game Saturday afternoon, March 8, in the Baker gym was hardly an ordinary one, though.
With six seniors playing their final home game, and a chance to defend their Class 4A state championship at stake, the Bulldogs had their best long-distance shooting game of the season, making a season-high 16 3-pointers and rolling past The Dalles 81-30 in a playoff game.
Baker held the Riverhawks to just six points in the second half, as the Bulldogs’ defense was nearly as dominant as their offense.
Baker will play Crook County in a state quarterfinal March 13 at 3:15 p.m. at Forest Grove High School.
That barrage of 3-pointers was one reason for the smiles that occasionally broke out, as spontaneous as a spring shower.
“It was just having fun together in our last home game, and embracing every part of it,” senior Jaxon Logsdon said outside the locker room after the game, his own smile returning as he talked about the Bulldogs’ performance.
Logsdon, who had 17 points and four 3-pointers, said the Bulldogs came into the game trying to be intense but while still having fun.
He pondered the game for a few moments, and his smile widened, almost as though he had had an epiphany.
“I think we weren’t as tense,” he said.
The Bulldogs thrive on their versatility, and with a berth in the Class 4A state tournament on the line, they turned to the long ball.
Baker made 10 3-pointers in the first half — five by junior Eli Long — and rolled to a 49-24 halftime lead.
Long, who finished with a season-high seven 3-pointers, said he hasn’t felt so confident in his shot since a game at Ontario when he was an eighth grader.
“Every time I shot I felt like it was going in,” he said, his smile as broad as Logsdon’s. “I don’t even know how to explain it.”
Long thanked several JV players who practiced with the Bulldogs this week as they honed their offensive plays. On Saturday afternoon, Long said, the Bulldogs executed what they had practiced.
“We just feed off each other,” he said.
Baker coach Jebron Jones, seeking to lead a Baker team to the school’s first ever back-to-back state hoops titles, said the 3-point shooting was a product of the Bulldogs playing not for themselves but for their teammates.
“It was great ball movement and being a great teammate, looking for the open guy,” Jones said. “All of our guys can shoot it. But I think they’re starting to realize that it’s not important who scores, it’s that we score. The goal in any offense is to get a great shot, whether it’s a layup or a 3-pointer.”
Jones said that despite what was at stake Saturday, he told the players before tipoff to have fun even as they played with intensity.
“The intensity was high, the execution level was high, and the score reflected that,” Jones said.
Long led Baker with 23 points. Isaiah Jones had 20 and Rasean Jones 14.
Logsdon, who along with fellow seniors Isaiah Jones, Grant Gambleton, Palmer Chandler, Colton Clark and Jack Heriza played their final game in front of the home fans, said Baker enters the state tournament with confidence.
“I feel like this game was a statement,” Logsdon said. “It was us coming together as a team and peaking at the right time.”
First quarter
Baker started in its usual frenetic fashion, using a fullcourt press to force multiple turnovers, while Isaiah Jones had two early 3-pointers and Long one to boost Baker to a 13-2 lead and prompt a timeout from The Dalles with 4:01 left.
Logsdon added a fourth long ball, but The Dalles’ Calder Morrison made a pair of contested 3-pointers late to get the Riverhawks to within 20-12 at the end of the quarter.
Second quarter
Rasean Jones had a thunderous dunk, his second of the game, and Baker doubled the Riverhawks at 24-12.
Long made his second and third 3-pointers, in less than a minute, to increase the lead to 31-16. Isaiah Jones bounced in a 15-footer and Long passed to Jake Holden for an easy basket and Baker led 35-16 with 3 minutes left in the half.
Long later made two more 3-pointers, and Isaiah Jones and Logsdon one each, and Baker led 49-24 at the break.
The Bulldogs made 10 3-pointers, a season high for a half. Isaiah Jones had three long balls, and Logsdon two.
Baker ran its offense to perfection, a combination of constant player movement and crisp passing that seemed to lead to an open shot — and usually from behind the 3-point line — on almost every possession. A majority of Baker’s baskets were on assists.
And when the Bulldogs had a rare miss, they often grabbed an offensive rebound that led to a second-chance basket.
On defense, most of The Dalles’ baskets were on contested shots or rebounds. Baker’s swarming defenders rarely allowed the Riverhawks to run their offense without nearly constant harassment.
Third quarter
Baker quickly squelched any potential for a rally, as the long-distance barrage continued unabated.
Logsdon made a pair of 3-pointers in the first two minutes, and Grant Gambleton added a third — making for a Baker’s dozen on the game — and the Bulldog lead swelled to 62-24 as Baker started the second half with 10 straight points.
After a cold snap — Baker missed five straight 3-pointers — the Bulldogs ended the quarter in what seemed an almost inevitable way, as Long banked in a 3 from NBA range at the top of the key just ahead of the buzzer to give Baker a 69-27 lead.
Fourth quarter
After Rasean Jones’ inside basket, Baker kicked off the final eight minutes with — naturally — a 3-pointer, Long’s seventh of the game, a season high.
Baker scored 81 points despite having a running clock in the fourth quarter, and shooting just two free throws in the game.
Up next
The quarterfinal against Crook County will be the rubber match between the two teams.
Baker won the first meeting, 63-57 on Dec. 7 at Prineville. Baker trailed by two points at the start of the fourth quarter but rallied.
In the rematch on Jan. 3 at Baker, the Cowboys won 62-52. It was Baker’s fifth game without Isaiah Jones as he recovered from an appendectomy.
Baker and Crook County have three common opponents: Redmond, La Grande and The Dalles.
Crook County had a 3-2 record against those teams.
Baker was 5-0.
Redmond
Crook County lost 58-48, and lost 73-42
Baker won 54-39
La Grande
Crook County won 69-59
Baker won 71-43, won 72-35 and won 80-44
The Dalles
Crook County won 70-58 and won 71-50
Baker won 81-30
THE DALLES (30)
Stevens 1 0-0 2, Gorlart 2 0-0 5, Chavez 1 0-0 3, Morrison 2 4-5 10, Kenslow 0 0-0 0, Ziegenhagen 2 0-3 4, Hodges 0 0-0 0, Pitt 3 0-1 6. Totals 10 4-9 30.
BAKER (81)
Gambleton 2 0-0 5, Chandler 0 0-0 0, Churchfield 0 0-0 0, Clark 0 0-0 0, R. Jones 7 0-0 14, Heriza 0 0-0 0, Wellman 0 0-0 0, I. Jones 8 0-0 20, Long 8 0-0 23, Logsdon 6 1-2 17, Holden 1 0-0 2, Joseph 0 0-0 0. Totals 32 1-2 81.
The Dalles 12 12 3 3 — 30
Baker 20 29 15 17 — 81
Jayson has worked at the Baker City Herald since November 1992, starting as a reporter. He has been editor since December 2007. He graduated from the University of Oregon Journalism School in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in news-editorial journalism.
More by Jayson Jacoby
