The South Eugene Axe entered their tilt with the North Medford Black Tornado with four consecutive wins but they'll enter their next game with five. South Eugene strolled past North Medford with points to spare on Thursday, taking the game 79-65. Having run the score up that high, both teams probably have some extra defensive drills coming up.
Landyn Bryant continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines, dropping a double-double on 23 points and 12 rebounds. That's the first time this season that he pulled down eight or more rebounds. Another player making a difference was Trey Saunders, who scored 21 points along with two steals.
When it comes to explaining why North Medford lost, one person who can't be blamed is Houston Klug. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 33 points and ten rebounds. Miguel Torres was another key contributor, scoring seven points along with five rebounds.
Even though they lost, North Medford smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 17 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
The victory got South Eugene back to even at 7-7. As for North Medford, they are on a five-game losing streak that has dropped them down to 5-10.
South Eugene will head out on the road to square off against Willamette at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday. Willamette will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Oregon Rankings (they are ranked 233rd, while South Eugene is ranked 85th). As for North Medford, they will look to defend their home court on Tuesday against Roseburg at 6:45 p.m. Roseburg is looking to tack on another W to their four-game streak on the road.
