Site icon The Canby Current

Cougars Storm Back to Capture First TRL Win

For the latest Canby sports news, follow @CougarCountryOR on Twitter, and catch The Canby Current’s weekly sports podcast on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music and at cougarcountry.podbean.com.

On Tuesday night, the Canby boys basketball team led Lake Oswego, 47-46, with 5:45 remaining in the game. Unfortunately, a slew of turnovers and missed shots culminated in a 15-point Laker win. The tough loss marked the beginning of Three Rivers League play for the Cougars.

Rather than be discouraged, Canby (10-5, 1-1 TRL) flipped the script in their second league tilt with Lakeridge two days later, staging a comeback effort of their own and storming back from an early deficit to down the Pacers in convincing fashion, 65-44.

The Cougars stormed back from an early deficit to capture their first league win in convincing fashion. Photos by Jordy Villagomez.

Tuesday’s road matchup against the Lakers (8-9, 3-1 TRL) was the Cougs’ first game in almost two weeks after their original TRL debut against Tualatin was postponed due to Covid. The game also marked the return of star point guard Alex Evans, who had missed the previous three games due to injury.

Evans came off of the bench for the first time in 30 games for the Cougars and made his impact immediately known by burying a 3. He would finish the game with eight points, five rebounds and three assists in limited action for Canby.

Senior speedster Kellan Oakes and the high-powered Canby offense proved too much for the Pacers in the fourth quarter. Photos by Jordy Villagomez.

Meanwhile, high-flying senior wing Payton Meyers continued what has always been his No. 1 priority for the Cougars, getting buckets. Meyers scored 20 points on the night, most of which came in the first three quarters. Meyers noted how much the offense opened up with Evans on the floor.

“It’s amazing having Alex back,” Meyers told the Current. “His IQ for the game is something you can’t teach. He takes over the game by how smart he is and makes it a problem for teams having to guard that.”

But after taking the one-point lead with less than six minutes left, the Cougars went ice-cold, hitting only one more basket — a Meyers triple with seven seconds left and the game well out of reach.

Ever-consistent, center Jacob Strand added 12 points and seven boards to round out the scoring for the Cougars. Photos by Jordy Villagomez.

Lake Oswego had outscored Canby 19-3 over the final five minutes and 25-9 in the fourth quarter. Max Archambo paced the Lakers with 18 on the night.

Two days later, Canby found themselves in a similar situation, this time at home against Lakeridge (4-10, 0-3 TRL). After falling down by seven points in the first quarter, Canby used a balanced attack to inch back to within one at halftime.

The Canby faithful, as always, showed up in force to cheer the Cougars on to their first Three Rivers League win of the season. Photos by Jordy Villagomez.

The game remained close before the Cougs gained their first lead of the game, 35-34, with 2:30 remaining in the third.

From that point on, the Cougs never looked back, outscoring the Pacers 27-10 in the final frame to take home a commanding 21-point win. Meyers dumped in 25 points, including an absurd 18 in the fourth quarter alone, including a spectacular alley-oop teed up by Evans.

Payton Meyers on Twitter: “easy pic.twitter.com/sjFDprLZZK / Twitter”

easy pic.twitter.com/sjFDprLZZK

“I just had to take over the game and came out with a lot more confidence in myself,” Meyers said. “[The alley-oop] felt amazing. I’ve been waiting all year for that and it was the knockout punch of the game.”

Evans didn’t hit a field goal in the game but still finished with four points, five rebounds and six assists. Senior big Jacob Strand finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. Jace Swygard had 12 points to lead the Pacers.

The win allowed Canby to pick up their first win of the league season. Next up for Canby is a daunting home matchup against University of Oregon-commit Jackson Shelstad and the 9-1 West Linn Lions. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.

Help us build a sustainable news organization to serve Canby for generations to come! Let us know if you can support our efforts to expand our operations and keep all of our content paywall-free. #SwimWithTheCurrent!

Exit mobile version