Third quarter slump dooms Roseburg boys in 66-51 loss to North Medford

A poor showing in the third quarter against North Medford derailed the Roseburg boys basketball team in a 66-51 Southwest Conference loss on Tuesday at Robertson Memorial Gymnasium.

The Indians stuck with the Black Tornado through the first half and trailed 33-31 at intermission, but North Medford held Roseburg to just six points in the third quarter and stretched the lead to 16 points. The deficit was too large for the Tribe to overcome.

“I felt like we played hard the whole game and we haven’t done that the last few games,” Roseburg coach Jordan Humphreys said. He added that the team might have worn down in the second half “because we’re not used to playing the whole game.”

Roseburg (3-11, 0-2 SWC) had three players finish in double figures, led by junior Jaron Leeworthy, who had a season-high 17 points.

“He was attacking the basket. We’ve been talking about him getting aggressive. It takes a while to get adjusted to varsity basketball from the JV game, where he was last year, and hopefully its starting to click,” Humphreys said about Leeworthy’s performance.

Landon Fanugao and Owen Bentea each added 12 points for the Indians.

Easton Curtis scored a game-high 24 points to lead North Medford (8-5, 1-0). Traeger Healy made four 3-point shots and added 14 points, while Keenan Stewart contributed 11.

Despite the loss, Humphreys saw positive signs out of his team.

“I told them when we broke that I was proud of them and proud of the changes that they made mentally. I could see the difference and I hope that they could feel and see the difference. And that’s the expectation now moving forward,” Humphreys said.

Roseburg will visit Century High School in Hillsboro to face the Jaguars in an endowment game at 6 p.m. Thursday.

NORTH MEDFORD (66) — Easton Curtis 24, Rea 3, Sawyer 2, Snyder, Healy 14, Stewart 11, Anderson 6, Chin 3, Patterson, Zimmer 3. Totals 27 3-8 66.

ROSEBURG (51) — Jaron Leeworthy 17, Fanugao 12, Scott 7, Frable, Bentea 12, Eabert, Cantrell 1, Luther, Kemmerle 2. Totals 19 11-15 51.

N. Medford 17 16 20 13 — 66

Roseburg 12 19 6 14 — 51

3-Point Goals — N.M. 9 (Healy 4, Curtis 3, Chin 1, Zimmer 1), Rose. 2 (Leeworthy 1, Bentea 1). Total Fouls — N.M. 16, Rose. 10. Fouled Out — Anderson.