Irrigon boys basketball is this week's winner of the Oregon Team of the Week, presented by the Oregon National Guard.
Photo by Glenn M. Maret
It’s hard to be perfect. Nearly impossible. Just ask the Knights of
Irrigon.
After winning 28 consecutive games to open the 2012-13 season, Irrigon lost in the Oregon State 2A state finals to Oakland, 60-54.
That loss has evidently spurred the Knights this season as they are off to a resounding 9-0 start under coach Jake McElligott. They’ve more than doubled the score of their early opponents by a 720-354 count.
For their hot start, the Knights have been named the MaxPreps Oregon Team of the Week, presented by the Oregon National Guard.
"With our team, we don't look at our record," said McElligott. "The focus is on what can we do each day to get better and how can we improve daily as a team. We evaluate our success on how we are improving, not about records."
They opened the year with an 82-14 win over Echo, a score they haven’t quite yet repeated, however Irrigon has rattled off wins of 80-24, 82-31 and 87-24.
This team doesn’t just score points in bunches — they also allow just 39.3 points per game.
Leading the way offensively is the dynamic junior guard tandem of
Anthony Landeros and
Adrian Romero, who average 20.7 and 20.1 points per game, respectively.
Anthony Landeros, Irrigon
Photo by Glenn M. Maret
The 5-10 Landeros had a season-high of 37 points in a 96-58 win over Ione, when he made 13 of 19 shots including seven 3-pointers. He’s made 38 of 71 3-point attempts this season, a remarkable 54 percent.
The 6-foot Romero scored a combined 40 in his first three games, but has since scored at least 20 in five of the next six, including a 34-point outburst in an 82-31 win over Grant Union.
Like Landeros, Romero is deadly from beyond the arc, having made 29 of 57 3-pointers. He’s also a deadly free throw shooter (18 of 22) and is the team’s leading rebounder at 7.4 per game.
"To have two players on our team who are such high scorers and are shooting above 50 percent from 3-point range is pretty incredible. I have to give credit to our whole team," said McElligott. "We have good offensive players with so many scorers and athletes who are able to create space and get the other guys open."
Other top scorers for the Knights are
Fredy Vera (12.1 points per game),
Ernesto Aguilera (7.3) and
Zach Rice (5.7). Vera is also the team’s top playmaker at 5.7 assists per game and he leads the squad in steals (5.7 per outing).
Irrigon averages a remarkable 19.4 steals per game, which has led to easy buckets. The team is shooting 52 percent from the field.
"(The players) give great defensive help, which helps our offense," said McElligott. "In return, this helps everybody on our team out."
The Knights continue their season this week with a home game versus
Heppner (Ore.), before playing on the road Friday at
Stanfield.
Before 2011-12, when the team went 15-10, the Knights struggled badly with consecutive seasons of 1-19, 5-11, 2-18, 2-21 and 5-18.
McElligott’s first season was 2-21 in 2009-10, but the Knights have rapidly improved.
"For us, our goal is to get better each day," said McElligott. "Our team has a one-week mission plan, and that mission is to win the next game. When we open our notebooks at the beginning of the week, our goal is to win one game at a time and not look ahead. If we take care of this goal, the end result will be that we are successful."
MaxPreps editorial assistant Kirstin Beal contributed to this report.Do you know a team that deserves
consideration for Oregon Team of the Week? Email us with your
nominations at ORteamoftheweek@maxpreps.com.
