Woodburn Independent Online

Bucks dominate longtime rivals

St. Paul boys defeat Perrydale on Friday night

• By: Garrett Rudolph  
• Published: 2/9/2010 2:06:06 PM

St. Paul senior Matt Brown led the Bucks with 14 points in Friday's win over Perrydale. (Photo by Lou Brown)

PERRYDALE — The St. Paul boys basketball team overcame a ragged start to defeat rival Perrydale, 60-37, on Friday night at Perrydale High School.
 
“It started out like a true rivalry game,” said Bucks coach Vince Drago. “It wasn’t really pretty, kind of a battle of wills early and then from the second quarter on, our kids put together a pretty good basketball game.”
 
The Bucks trailed 9-8 after the first quarter, but dominated the middle portion of the game, outscoring the Pirates by 10 pints in the second quarter and eight points in the third.
 
Drago said as the game wore on, St. Paul became fairly efficient on both ends of the court.
 
“We kind of built on our play throughout the whole game after that first quarter, and a lot of kids contributed and it was a pretty good thing. … We just need to take that effort and build on it every day.”
 
Four players scored in double figures for the Bucks, led by Matt Brown’s 14 points, and followed by David Ferguson and Ryan Pierson, with 12 points apiece, and Daley Smith, who scored 10.
 
“I’m pretty sure that’s the first time we’ve had that this year,” said Drago. “If we can get that kind of balance, scoring-wise, that’s obviously going to be huge for us.”
The Bucks shot 24 of 43 from the field (56 percent), and 11 of 17 from the free-throw line (65 percent) — a considerable step in the right direction, from where the team had been before.
 
“You never know how you’re going to approach your rivalry games, and the kids played pretty focused and played pretty solid Friday,” said Drago. “It’s not that we’re not going to have some speed bumps along the way — I suspect that we will, and everybody else will, too — but I think we’re getting better and that’s all we can help for, really, is to get a little better every day.”
 
The win moves St. Paul into sole possession of second place in the Casco League with a record of 10-2 (14-4 overall), while Perrydale (9-3, 15-5) dropped into third place.
This week, St. Paul will close out the regular season with a road game on Tuesday against Jewell and a home game Thursday against C.S. Lewis. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
On Saturday, St. Paul will play a nonleague game on the road against North Clackamas Christian at 5:30 p.m.
 
Next week, the Bucks will compete in the district tournament, with the top three teams earning state playoff berths.

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