COTTAGE GROVE, Ore. — Keller Vinyard finished with 21 points, leading the Marshfield Pirates (9–7) to a 49–47 road win over the Cottage Grove Lions (4–13) on Tuesday night, despite a massive fourth-quarter scare.
The game looked over until it wasn’t, as Cottage Grove overcame a 20-4 deficit, headlined by seven first-quarter points from Vinyard, to start the game. The Lions crawled their way back by responding with a pair of 16-point quarters, and even got a chance at a game-winning 3-pointer at the hands of Tai Lam.
But ultimately, the slow start wasn’t enough to scrape by.
“[We] just need a little more composure down the end,” Cottage Grove head coach Seth Hutchison said. “We didn’t really hit some sets towards the end. But hats off to my guys, they battled, but fell just short.”
Cade May led Cottage Grove in scoring with 14 points, and he just missed what would’ve been a game-winning 3-pointer as time expired.
Max Ainsworth complemented Vinyard with 10 points. Marshfield outscored Cottage Grove off the bench 6-4, which proved to be vital, as the margin was only two points.
With the win, Marshfield has now strung together two straight wins after losing three straight earlier in the month.
As for Cottage Grove, this is their second straight loss after winning just as many in a row two weeks ago. The Lions travel to Junction City on Friday to face off against the Tigers. Hutchison noted that preparation for a difficult game environment is key.
“We need to focus our effort in practice, focus on defensive ends, which we’ve done in league play, but we've got to continue that,” Hutchison said. “We've got to continue that in a hostile environment.”
What’s Next:
Marshfield: @ Marist Catholic on Friday
Cottage Grove: @ Junction City on Friday