Roadrunner Men Suffer Home Loss at the Hands of Umpqua (Feb. 12)

 ALBANY – Linn-Benton’s men’s basketball faced off against Umpqua at home on Wednesday, Feb. 11. The game was a heated back-and-forth affair that wasn’t decided until the Riverhawks pulled away down the stretch, handing the Beaks a bitter 84-69 loss.

In a game that saw 16 lead changes, LB’s plan was to use their aggression and lack of size (compared to UCC) to their advantage by running a full-court press defensively and collapsing their opponents to find open shooters offensively.

“When we played them in Roseburg we were really trying to push them out of the paint and play their game,” said sophomore forward Gabe Townsend. “This time around we were really just embracing the fact that they were bigger than us; meet them where they stood, contest every shot hard, prove we were the more aggressive team, which I think we did.” 

Townsend led the way for the team with an 18-point, 12-rebound double-double. Freshman Kaiden Ford added 16 while sophomore big Jackson Oglesby had himself a nice game in a somewhat rare start, contributing 15.

If anything held the Roadrunners back offensively, it was their 4-19 shooting from beyond the three-point line. As a team, 21% is among the worst they’ve shot from distance in a game this year – and in a game where the long ball was a key part of the plan to steal victory.

“I thought we did a good job of adjusting. (Umpqua) finished the first half with six blocks, they finished the game with six blocks,” said Head Coach Todd Zimmermann. “We talked at halftime about drawing their guys in and kicking it out. I mean if we just shot our normal percentages from three, we might have been in a very different situation at the end.” 

The Umpqua offense was running through forwards Caden Hunter and Mikey Lloyd, who ended up combining for 45 points.

Just before the clock read four minutes, LB was down only two points. A collection of untimely misses, solid Riverhawk free-throw shooting and four consecutive Roadrunner turnovers completely flipped the script of this game in its final stages.

“The kids were going hard, trying to make plays down the stretch and we just didn’t execute, and the number-four team in the NWAC did,” Zimmerman said.

The team will be staying in Albany for their next game, Saturday, Feb. 14, against Clark.


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