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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
HAMLET — On his first shot against visiting Rochester at the Bobcat Den Saturday, Oregon-Davis senior Conner Danford banked in a 3-pointer.
That might have been a bad omen. As it turned out, the 28-1 Zebra run covering the first and second quarters was much more of a good omen.
Now Rochester has a three-game winning streak heading into the Tippecanoe Valley game.
Paul Leasure, who was held scoreless against Whitko 24 hours earlier, scored a game-high 14 points to lead the Zebras to a 60-19 win over the Bobcats.
Rochester improved to 6-3 and beat Oregon-Davis for the third straight year. Conner Danford scored eight points for Oregon-Davis, who lost their third straight game and fell to 2-7.
“We’ve still kind of got that hitch a little bit in how we’re progressing, but we’re definitely going in the right direction,” Rochester coach Rob Malchow said.
Ten different Rochester players scored. That included eight points from Brock Bowers and seven points from Drew Bowers, recently promoted from the JV. Xavier Vance also had seven off the bench.
Rochester had more bench points (22) than O-D had total points.
“The first four minutes, I knew that they were going to play hard, and they did,” Malchow said of Oregon-Davis. “Our pressure kind of broke them down a couple times, so we got up by about six or eight there early. Right now, Oregon-Davis is really having trouble putting the ball in the hole. Their shooting – and I talked to coach (Larry Sennert) before the game – and his frustration is they have that issue. Our zone defense doesn’t help that if we’re playing that well.”
Trailing 5-2 in the first quarter, Leasure hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to tie the game. Tanner Reinartz hit two free throws to put Rochester ahead for good at the 3:25 mark.
Then came an Aidan Smith driving layup along the left baseline, a Reinartz 3 in transition and a Drew Bowers off-balance transition layup at the first-quarter buzzer to make it 14-5.
The run was not over.
Owen Prater kicked out to Drew Bowers for a 3. Brock Bowers scored on a drive. Drew Bowers hit a leaner in the lane, and Vance split a pair of free throws.
Danford split a pair from the line for O-D, but Leasure hit a pullup jumper and another 15-footer after a steal in the backcourt. Leasure found Luke Hunting on the weak side for a layup, and Brock Bowers rimmed in a 19-footer to make it 30-6.
Defensively, the Zebras held O-D without a field goal in the second quarter. It was 37-9 at halftime and 50-11 after three quarters. They led by as many as 44 points in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we played a pretty fundamental game tonight,” Malchow said. “Like I told the guys, I said we just got to make sure we’re playing disciplined, respect the game and get ready for next weekend.”
Rochester 60, Oregon-Davis 19
ROCHESTER (60) (6-3)
Paul Leasure 6 0-0 14, Aidan Smith 2 1-1 5, Brock Bowers 4 0-0 8, Tanner Reinartz 1 2-2 5, Luke Hunting 3 0-0 6, Drew Bowers 3 0-0 7, Ethan Medina 0 0-0 0, Luke Malchow 0 0-0 0, Owen Prater 1 0-1 2, Bryce Baugher 1 0-0 3, Davis Renie 1 0-0 3, Xavier Vance 3 1-2 7
TEAM: 25 4-6 60
OREGON-DAVIS (19) (2-7)
Cashton Swanson 0 0-0 0, Connor Frazier 0 0-0 0, Ethan Huitt 1 0-0 2, Conner Danford 2 3-4 8, Caleb Seese 2 0-1 4, Keegan Garland 0 0-0 0, Brady Danford 1 1-2 3, Carson Matthew 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 7 4-7 19
Three-point field goals:
Rochester 6 (Vance 2, Reinartz, D. Bowers, Renie, Baugher),
Oregon-Davis 1 (C. Danford)
Total fouls: Rochester 12, Oregon-Davis 7
Turnovers: Rochester 12, Oregon-Davis 15
Score by quarters
Rochester 14 23 13 10 – 60
Oregon-Davis 5 4 2 8 – 19
JV: Rochester 56, Oregon-Davis 13
