Grant Union athlete Austin Bremner takes a shot during action Friday, Feb. 4 with the Vale Vikings. The Pros beat their opponents 58-45, then lost 51-58 to Nyssa.

JOHN DAY Grant Union High School boys basketball scored an exciting 58-45 win Friday, Feb. 4 over the Vale Vikings.

Vale is currently 4-3 in league action, and No. 3 in the Eastern Oregon League standings.

We knew it would be a tough game, said head coach Pete Rawlins. After the win, we were hoping to carry that momentum into Nyssa and get the win there. We played another tough and close, back-and-forth game, but came away with a loss.

Rawlins was pleased with the way his team started the Vale game. 

The aggressiveness of Ross Rawlins offensively and the play of Austin Bremner, who stepped up in Ian Averetts absence, really set the tone for the game, he said. Our guys really never had any letdowns throughout the game. We did allow Vales Logan Skerjanic to heat up some in the third, but shut him down completely in the fourth. Austin really helped us inside.

Ross and Reed Rawlins and Brent Labhart played a great fourth quarter and scored all 22 of our fourth quarter points between them. After the tough string of games we have had, it felt really good to get the win.

The coach said the team stayed focused despite battles with the flu during practice. 

We knew we would have to defend their shooters and they have four out of five starters that can shoot from outside. We started out being very aggressive with our defensive assignments and kept Vale from getting into early offensive momentum, said Rawlins. We also were aggressive offensively, and really put pressure on their defense.

Ross Rawlins and Bremner both started strong with 6 points apiece in the first quarter. The game continued momentum in the second quarter, and the Prospectors were up 26-21 at the half.

In the third quarter, Skerjanic got his shot, and scored 11 points to close the gap; Grant Union led Vale 36-34. 

The Pros had strong shooting at the line in the fourth 14 for 15, and outscored Vale 22 to 10 to seal the win.

Scoring for the Prospectors were Brent Labhart with 19; Ross Rawlins, 18; Reed Rawlins, 12; Bremner, 6; Nick Wilson, 2; and Trey Thompson, 1.

In the 51-58 loss to Nyssa, the Prospectors started the game with more intensity than the Bulldogs and executed offensively early in the game, coach Rawlins said.

We played a zone defense against them as their big men 6-foot-5 Cole Froerer and 6-foot-8 Sean Shimer are really tough inside. We had some trouble with some defensive assignments and switched to man-to-man defense, the coach said.

At halftime, GU was down by four points.

We played well into the third quarter and had some great execution with our ball screen offense, Ian Averett, Labhart, Ross Rawlins and Reed Rawlins, all making plays and scoring. We were all tied up at the end of the third, 43-43, said Rawlins.

The game was close throughout the fourth. Ian Averett fouled out midway through the period. We had several turnovers late in the game that were costly. We were down by three, with 20 seconds left, and had a set play coming out of a timeout. Unfortunately, we lost the ball and then fouled, he said.

We did find a way to stay in this game and keep ourselves in a position to win. We just couldnt quite get there. It was a tough loss.

Labhart again had 19 points, to lead the Prospectors. Averett had 12; Ross Rawlins, 7; Reed Rawlins, 6; Trevor Gill, 3; Nick Wilson, 2; Bremner and Cody Wright each had 1.

The Prospectors were to host a nonleague game Tuesday, Feb. 8 at home against the 1A High Desert League standout, Crane. Results were unavailable at the Eagles presstime.

Friday, Feb. 11, the Grant Union teams will host the Burns Hilanders. The senior night games begin with the girls at 5:30 p.m., followed by the boys at 7 p.m. The Grant Union High School dance team, Grant Union Gold, will perform during halftime of the boys game.