Going into the first game of the season we knew Santiam Christian had a lot of talent, but we had no idea what Clatskanie had to offer. We figured Clatskanie had some good athletes and we were right, Clatskanie started out with a full court press using their speed to stop Sc from getting the ball up the court easily, but that didn’t slow Sc as they brought the ball up the court and hit an open three to start the game. Clatskanie has the injury bug, going into the game they suffered 3-4 injuries so we didn’t know what to expect or who would be playing for them.
When the game started you could tell the size advantage was going to be the game changer as Sc had 5 blocks halfway through the first Quarter and 16 blocks throughout the game. Sc started out shooting well with Junior Ben Galceran hitting 3-4 threes in the first Quarter, his last three with 30 seconds left in the Quarter expanded the lead to 27-7 this would be the closest Clatskanie got all night.
Clatskanie was lead by Senior Cooper Blodgett and Junior J’Kari Combs and Freshman Andre’ Combs, Clatskanie could not do anything outside the arc as they shot 10% from three-point range. But also they struggled to get inside the paint when they did drive they would get blocked or they would put up a wild floater. Santiam Christian was leading by 44 midway through the third, Sc pulled the starters and Clatskanie jumped at the opportunity forcing 6 turnovers in a row closing the lead to 32. The Sc coach saw his bench was falling apart so he put his starters back in by midway through the fourth, the starters played one min and scored 10 points pushing the lead past 40 again before they got pulled for good.
Santiam Christian was lead by Zach Baugher 20
Ben Galceran 15 and Joe maQatish 12 Josh Baugher 10.