ROSEBURG – The Roseburg boys basketball team celebrated senior night Tuesday with a crucial win on its path towards a postseason berth. The Indians jumped ahead by 13 points at halftime and held off the Grants Pass Cavemen in the second half for a 73-58 victory at Stewart W. Robertson Memorial Gymnasium.
The win keeps Roseburg (15-9; 5-4 SWC) in the running for a top three finish in the Southwest Conference and an automatic berth in the 6A state playoffs. The Indians trail South Eugene, Sheldon and North Medford by one game.
The Axe, Irish and Black Tornado are in a three-way tie for first after Tuesday’s games.
Roseburg senior Collin Warmouth scored a career-high 40 points against the Cavemen and passed Eric Thompson for the school record of most points scored in a single season. Thompson finished the 2005-06 season with 645 points. Warmouth has eclipsed that mark with 660 points this year and one game left to play.
Warmouth, the leading scorer in the Southwest Conference this year, will finish his career at Roseburg with numerous school records. He’s already surpassed Joe Newton as the school’s all-time leading scorer and he’s set records for the most free throws made in a season and in a single game.
Warmouth will also likely supplant Mike Pardon’s record for single season scoring average. Pardon, now Roseburg’s head coach, averaged 25.1 points per game during the 1983-84 season. Warmouth is currently averaging 27.5 points a game.
Fellow Roseburg seniors D’Angelo Adams and Kaden Seely also played big in the win for the Indians. Adams scored a career-high with 10 points and Seely added nine points and nine rebounds.
The Tribe battled back-and-forth with Grants Pass (7-16; 3-6 SWC) in the first quarter and the score was tied at 18 at the end of the period.
Roseburg blew open the game in the second quarter and outscored the Cavemen 19-6 to take a 37-24 lead into halftime.
Grants Pass fought to get the deficit back to within single digits multiple times in the second half, but never could get over the hump. Warmouth put up 15 of his 40 points in the fourth quarter to keep the Indians comfortably ahead of the Cavemen.
Senior Taylor Anderson led Grants Pass with 23 points. Randy Clark added 11.
Roseburg will next face North Medford on Friday in the regular season finale. A win for the Indians would clinch a playoff berth and a top three finish. A loss means Roseburg would need to qualify for the postseason as an at-large team.
Friday’s game tips off from Medford at 6:45 p.m.
GRANTS PASS (58) – Taylor Anderson 23, Clark 11, Lopez 8, Bellum 6, Rich 4, Coyle 4, Maravilla 2, C. Anderson 0, Law 0, Lackey 0. Totals 23 8-10 58.
ROSEBURG (73) – Collin Warmouth 40, Adams 10, Seely 9, Black 8, Ellis 6, Martin 0, Avilez 0. Totals 25 14-16 73.
GRANTS PASS; 18;6;15;19; – ;58
ROSEBURG; 18;19;14;22; – ;73
