ROSEBURG – The Roseburg boy’s basketball team built a double figure lead in the first half against South Eugene on Friday night, but had to overcome an Axemen rally to win 74-68 in overtime.
The Indians held South Eugene scoreless for nearly half of the first quarter and built up a 23-11 lead heading to the second. Roseburg (8-13; 3-8 SWC) went up by 14 points early in the second period for what would be their largest lead of the game. The Axemen managed to close out the half trailing 37-26.
South Eugene (8-13; 6-5 SWC) continued to close the gap by outscoring Roseburg 17-10 in the third quarter. The rally continued in the fourth quarter and the Axemen took their first lead of the game with 2:56 left in regulation. Senior David Holland knocked down an off-balance shot from underneath the basket to put South Eugene up 57-55.
The Axemen stretched their lead to five points on a corner 3-pointer from Jay Ellmore. It was the sophomore’s second three of the quarter. Roseburg’s Hayden Luttrell cut the deficit back to two with his first three of the game at the two minute mark of the fourth quarter.
Roseburg’s Chris Stone made one of two free throws to get the Indians within one, but Josh Bowers stretched it back to a two-point South Eugene lead with a free throw of his own. Bowers missed his second opportunity at the line and the Indians rebounded with a chance to tie the game.
In transition, Roseburg’s JD Fairbairn attacked the rim and was fouled. He went to the line for the first time to even the score and nailed two clutch free throws to make the score 61-61 with 44 seconds remaining.
South Eugene had two chances to win the game before the buzzer, but came up empty-handed. Ryan Fredericks came up short on a straight-away 3-pointer, but the rebound was tipped to Collin Chubbfertal. The South Eugene junior went right back up with the ball and had his shot blocked at the buzzer by Stone.
In overtime, both sides traded buckets and the score remained tied 65-65. The Indians finished the game on a 9-3 run for the victory. Stephen Patoine hit a clutch 3-pointer to start the run and finished with five points in overtime.
JD Fairbiarn led Roseburg with a game-high 18 points. A total of four Roseburg players finished in double figures. It was just the second time the Indians had accomplished that feat this season.
Jay Elmore led South Eugene with 16 points off the bench. He score all but three of those points in the second half and overtime.
The win snapped a 3-game losing streak for Roseburg. The Indians are now among a group of four teams tied at 3-8 in the Southwest Conference. Roseburg is currently ranked 40th by OSAA and will need to climb to No. 36 or higher to gain a berth in one of four play-in games.
Up next Roseburg will host South Medford on Tuesday.
SEHS 11; 15; 17; 18; 7 – 68
RHS 23; 14; 10; 14; 13 – 74
SE: Jay Elmore 16; Holland 13; Bowers 11; Chubbfertal 10; Fredericks 7; Gorman 7; Green-Richards 2; Brandt 1; Stice
R: JD Fairbairn 18; Patoine 15; C. Stone 14; Luttrell 11; Lucido 8; Cuilty 4; Paschke 4; Eagan