Tooke takes charge for La Grande

TIGER TOWN: Ryan Tooke helped fuel a fourth quarter push during La Grande’s 48-41 win against Ontario Friday. Observer file photo

With La Grande leading 13-11 with 44 seconds left in the first quarter, the La Grande High School gymnasium went dark.

After about 10 minutes the lights came back on and the game resumed as if nothing had happened.

The two teams traded blows in the second quarter, going back-and-forth to go to the locker room tied up 22-22.

“I’m not sure how the power outage delay affected us,” LHS head coach Aaron Mills said. “I thought we were playing pretty good up to that point. I really liked Ontario’s game plan tonight.”

La Grande found some offense early in the third quarter to take a 27-22 lead, its largest lead since it led 5-0.

But Ontario answered with a 7-2 run to tie the game at 29.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Kevin Attila and Brad Townsend gave La Grande the lead back, and LHS took a 35-24 lead into the fourth quarter.

“There was too much pass-and-shoot tonight for us. I don’t think we were playing as a unit,” Mills said.

In the fourth quarter, Ryan Tooke took over. Tooke scored eight of La Grande’s 13 points in the final quarter.

“Coach told me I needed to step up,” Tooke said. “I knew I needed the ball in my hands.”

LHS started the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run to take its largest lead of the game, but Ontario cut the score to 45-41 with just 56 seconds left.

La Grande would go on to score the final three points of the game at the free-throw  line to seal the Greater Oregon League victory.

Despite the win, Mills wasn’t as happy as you’d think he’d be.

“There was a lot to tell the kids after the game tonight,” Mills said. “I thought we were rattled offensively, and Ontario did a lot of things to throw us off. I’m just never sure what team is going to show up for us night-in and night-out. I think our talent got us through this game.”

Tooke echoed his coaches’ comments, saying the team has to learn from these types of games and try and improve on them.

Attila finished with a game-high 16 points, while Tooke had 14. Townsend chipped in with six points.

Josh Mejia led Ontario with 14 points, and Daniel Heninger had 10.

La Grande will play Baker at home Friday at 7:30 p.m.