Dallas beat Crescent Valley at home 46-43 Feb. 3 on the heels of a 47-44 road victory at West Albany. Both wins avenged losses to the same teams in the first round of Mid-Willamette Conference play.

In both games, Dallas built substantial leads that vanished or nearly vanished down the stretch as Dragons missed foul shots. At West Albany, they lost a 19-point third-quarter lead in part because they missed their first five foul shots of the final period. Against Crescent Valley, a nine-point lead with 4:32 remaining in the game was whittled to two points in the waning seconds as Dallas hit only four of 12 free throws in the fourth period.

The critical victories were achieved with little help from Kyle Schmidt, until then the team’s second leading scorer (11 PPG), who missed the West Albany game for disciplinary reasons and was used sparingly against Crescent Valley. For a team with limited depth—only seven players were used in each of these games—his loss could have been more damaging.

Dallas pulled out the Crescent Valley game largely because its “big” man, 6.2 ½ post Brady McKinley dominated the boards, and 6-1 wing Kelton Chapman had the first 20-point game of his career.

Dallas is now 6-4 in league play with three straight wins and a good chance of finishing in fourth place. The Raiders, with three straight league losses, is headed the other way. After finishing the first half a game ahead of Dallas, Crescent Valley is now 4-6 and in fifth place.

Under new coach Jim Boutin, Dallas (12-8 overall) has a shot at its first winning season since 2000-01.

Next year may Crescent Valley’s chance to make amends. The Raiders have only one senior starter, while Dallas has only one non-senior in a key role. Crescent Valley’s Tanner Sanders, a 6-4 sophomore wing, is a leaper with explosive moves and a strong outside shot. When the Raiders had three seconds remaining to tie the game at Dallas, they put the ball in his hands. He launched a desperation throw from backcourt that was wide of the mark, but he should have plenty of chances to be a hero in the next two seasons.