The Roseburg High School boys basketball team used its endurance and up-tempo offense to wear down opponents through the first two games of the season, but the Crater Comets weren’t fatigued down the stretch Tuesday night.
Crater pulled off a second half comeback to hand Roseburg a 70-69 loss in its home opener at Robertson Memorial Gymnasium.
Ty Dahlin sank a free throw with 9.2 seconds left in regulation to give Crater the final lead. Roseburg was unable to script a play to get off a final shot for the win.
“I think we were thinking about things too much,” Roseburg senior Boston Williams said. “Maybe it was the home crowd jitters. Maybe we were focused on performing for them, but we’re going to work on it and it will be fixed next time for sure.”
The Indians pulled ahead by as many as 10 in the first half thanks to a hot start by Hunter Fullerton. The senior guard had 12 of his season-high 17 points in the opening eight minutes.
Roseburg (2-1) led 39-31 at the break, but things went cold in the second half.
Class 5A Crater (4-2) outscored Roseburg 25-12 in the third quarter and took its first lead of the game at 53-51 with less than 30 seconds remaining in the period. The Comets led by five going into the fourth.
Asher Vredenburg gave Roseburg a 64-63 lead on a left corner 3-pointer with 3:28 remaining in the game and the Indians held a four-point lead inside the final 90 seconds thanks to back-to-back buckets from Carter Stedman.
Crater fought its way back in front thanks to tight defense. A couple of steals led to a pair of baskets to tie the game as time wound down.
Roseburg had a chance to break the tie on a 3-point shot by Owen Bentea, but it clanked off the back iron. Cody Dutkiewicz snagged the rebound to set up Crater’s final possession.
Jayce Wilder was whistled for the foul that sent Dahlin to the line to win the game. Roseburg was called for 32 fouls in the game and Crater was 30-for-45 (67%) from the line. The Tribe was 9-for-14 (64%) from the charity stripe.
Dutkiewicz was dominant on the glass, which led to lots of second chance points and a game-high 19 points for Crater. Dahlin chipped in 15.
Mykah Mendoza scored 17 points for the Indians.
Roseburg will make a trip to Bend for nonconference games against Caldera and Mountain View on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
CRATER (70) — Cody Dutkiewicz 19, Dahlin 15, Acrey 11, Idiart 9, Schwenk 9, Rucker 5, Bittle 2, Alderman, Higginson. Totals 20 30-45 70.
ROSEBURG (69) — Mykah Mendoza 17, Hunter Fullerton 17, Williams 10, Vredenburg 7, Bentea 5, Stedman 5, Wilder 4, Oja 3, Cleary 1, Finlayson. Totals 27 9-14 69.
Crater 17 14 25 14 — 70
Roseburg 22 17 12 18 — 69
3-Point Goals — Crater 0, Rose. 6 (Mendoza, Stedman, Bentea, Williams, Fullerton, Vredenburg). Total Fouls — Crater 19, Rose. 32. Technical Fouls — Alderman. Fouled Out — Vredenburg.
JV Score — Roseburg 75, Crater 67.
