The addition of a shot clock to high school basketball this season doesn’t look like it’s going to have much of an effect on the Roseburg High School boys basketball team.
The Indians aimed to push the tempo last season and head coach Jordan Humphreys said the game plan hasn’t really changed for this year.
“We definitely want to get up and down and run. I think some of the new rule changes are in our favor, as far as attacking the basket and getting up and down. If you pay attention to much basketball a lot of the time when the the offense has an advantage its in the transition,” Humphreys said.
“We’ve got some guys who are obviously pretty explosive and athletic and can get to the rim, and we want to take advantage of that to get some easy buckets and get to the free throw line.”
Roseburg’s quick-pace style was on display in its season opener on Friday when the Indians rallied from an early 12-point deficit to outlast the Sprague Olympians (0-2) for a 55-52 nonleague victory at Robertson Memorial Gymnasium.
Asher Vredenburg, a senior for Roseburg (1-0), said it felt great to start the season with a comeback win.
“We’ve got a great group of guys that are hard working. We really know how to get back into it and focus up after being down a fair amount of points,” he said.
Vredenburg is one of three returning players that took the court for nearly every game last season. The senior scored 11 of his 13 points in the first half as the Indians tried to keep up with the Olympians.
Fellow senior Mykah Mendoza netted a team-high 18 points in Friday’s win, including 10 during the second half comeback. The returning first-team all-conference guard moved into the top 10 in all-time scoring at Roseburg High School. He now stands 749 points away from being the school’s all-time scoring leader.
Junior Owen Bentea played in every game last season and averaged 7.9 points per game, the second best average for any returning player. He recorded a double-double against the Olympians with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
“We lost a lot of seniors that were leaders last year and these guys were just learning from them and following along,” Humphreys said. “This year they’ve been working to step into those leadership roles as far as being vocal, as far as leading by example and as far as the expectations we have in our program and sending that message to the younger guys, as well as keeping themselves and everyone else around them accountable.”
Mendoza, Vredenburg and Bentea will try to be the driving force for a Roseburg team that is aiming to reach the postseason for a third consecutive season.
The Indians have ended the past two seasons with a road loss in the first round of the Class 6A state playoffs, and the team is not only hungry to win in the postseason but to do it at home.
“We just need to focus on the next game. We don’t want to get too hyped about the playoffs and stuff, but our goal is to get a home playoff game here for the first time in a long time,” Vredenburg said.
Senior Julian Lopez and junior Kaden Luther rounded out the starting five for the Indians on Friday, while seniors Vincent Ash, Michael Bosley and Jazz MacLean and juniors Landon Fanugao and Spencer Bingham all contributed minutes off the bench.
The season continues for Roseburg on Tuesday when the Indians host North Eugene in a nonconference game. Tipoff is slated for 6:45 p.m.
SPRAGUE (52) — Grayson Long 21, Comer 9, B. Long 9, Witherspoon 5, Stanley 4, Lohrman 2, Ayres 2, Bucheit. Totals 22 3-7 52.
ROSEBURG (55) — Mykah Mendzoa 18, Vredenburg 13, Bentea 11, Lopez 6, Fanugao 4, Luther 2, MacLean 1, Bingham, Ash, Bosley. Totals 21 10-14 55.
Sprague 20 16 8 8 — 52
Roseburg 10 20 14 11 — 55
3-Point Goals — Sprague 5 (G. Long 3, Comer 1, Witherspoon 1), Rose. 3 (Lopez 1, Vredenburg 1, Bentea 1). Total Fouls — Sprague 18, Rose. 10. Fouled Out — Stanley, B. Long.
