Boys basketball: Hot start, strong second half power Oregon past AFC

ASHTON – Oregon was firing on all cylinders in the first quarter Wednesday night against Ashton-Franklin Center.

The Hawks built a 13-point first-quarter lead, utilizing the fast break early and often. Keeping their foot on the pedal in the second half, they rolled to a 74-45 nonconference victory.

Oregon started the game on an 8-0 run in the first 1:49, using two fast break layups by Cooper Johnson and one by Keaton Salsbury to build the early advantage.

[ Photos: Oregon vs AFC boys basketball ]

The Hawks grabbed 10 steals in the first half and capitalized consistently with easy layups and free throws at the other end. That put the Raiders behind the eight ball from the beginning.

“That gave us great momentum because they fouled a lot on the fast breaks, and we finished our layups,” Salsbury said about the steals and frequent fast break scoring opportunities.

AFC’s Nolan Rueff hit a 3-pointer to get within 15-9 with 1:19 to go, but the Hawks scored seven straight points to finish the first quarter.

Nole Campos ignited the run by making the first of two free throws. Avery Lewis converted a three-point play after a putback with under a minute to go, then followed with a left-corner 3 with 27 seconds left, stretching the lead to 22-9.

“We weren’t getting a lot of rebounds, so that kind of heated us up a little bit,” Oregon’s Noah Johnson said. “Coach got us fired up in the locker room, so we came out and tried our best and got the ‘W.’ ”

The Hawks kept the pressure on early in the second quarter as well, expanding their lead to 28-11 after a Kade Girton putback and a Campos left-wing 3 at the 3:26 mark.

AFC answered with a 7-0 run and stayed in it through the early part of the third quarter.

The Raiders’ Noah Danielson got to the hoop for a layup around the three-minute mark, and Aaron Lester drilled a left-corner 3 to draw within 28-16. Rueff and Danielson followed with back-to-back putbacks to cut it to 28-20 before Girton banked in a buzzer-beater just inside the free throw line.

Oregon led 30-20 at halftime.

Noah Johnson opened the second half with a left-wing 3, but AFC had answers early, as Brock Lehman countered with a layup and Rueff got a putback to fall to make it a 33-24 game with 7:05 to play in the third.

After that, it was all Oregon.

Noah Johnson hit two more 3s over the next 4:19 to push the lead to 51-34. Lewis scored a fast break layup for a 20-point lead with 1:14 to go, then Danielson hit a short-range jumper to pull within 56-38 just before the end of the third quarter.

“It gives everybody confidence. It gives the whole team confidence,” Noah Johnson said about the Hawks making six 3-pointers in the second half. “Other kids want to start shooting. Everybody else wants to start hitting shots and get everybody going.”

The Hawks finished the game with an 18-7 fourth quarter run.

Noah Johnson finished with 14 points, and Cooper Johnson, Jameson Caposey, Salsbury and Campos scored nine points each. Benny Olalde and Lewis added eight points apiece for the Hawks.

Rueff scored 13 points, while Aaron Lester and Lehman chipped in 12 points each for the Raiders.

“That second quarter, I think we gave up eight points. It could’ve been six points if they didn’t make that last-second shot,” AFC coach Mike Messer said. “We worked hard. We knew they were going to put a half-court press on us. We just threw the ball away to begin with. A lot of turnovers. A lot of missed shots. To be honest with you, I think we should’ve been ahead at halftime if we make some of our bunnies, but we weren’t, so 10 points down at halftime.

“The adrenaline starts pumping when the other team has turnovers, and the next thing you know, that’s when the daggers come out when we’re making two or three turnovers and not getting shots. And that’s what killed us. We need to clean it up, and we’re a young team.”