Rich Rautenstrauch/Chieftain Enterprise sophomore Wade Isley shoots over an Imbler defender Saturday evening at Quinn Court. The Outlaws stayed with the Panthers for most of the game but let it slip away in the fourth.

After bursting through the gate with a fast 6-1 start, the Enterprise boys’ basketball team has lost four consecutive games and now stands 6-5 on the young season, 0-2 in league play.

EHS launched its league campaign last Friday and Saturday nights, falling 61-51 to Elgin in Elgin Friday night and 43-30 at home against Imbler Saturday.

In the game against the Elgin Huskies (1-1 and 5-9), Enterprise senior Kaden Lathrop and Husky senior Jake Burgess put on shooting exhibitions those in attendance might long remember. Lathrop, all 6’6” of him, scored no less than eight points in any one quarter and amassed a total of 35 points in a losing effort. Burgess, by no means hindered by taking 13 trips to the charity stripe and cashing in 11 of those opportunities, scored 31 points and benefited from help from teammates who tossed in 30 more to earn the win.

Other than Lathrop, no Outlaw scored more than three points.

Elgin led 28-20 at the half and 44-36 after three quarters, and even 10 fourth-quarter points by Lathrop couldn’t compete with late-game scoring by Huskies Gage Little, Gavin Christenson, and Burgess.

Imbler, the No. 4-rated 2A team in the state with only a two-point loss to Heppner blemishing its 10-1 record, lacked the height to compete with Enterprise, but made up for it in athleticism while recording its 43-30 win on Dick Quinn Court, in Enterprise.

In a game where the Outlaws failed to convert on any of their nine free throw attempts, the Panthers successfully took Lathrop out of his natural rhythm and limited a player who had scored 35 points 24 hours earlier to eight points. Point guard Justin Exon took up some slack for EHS by drilling home three 3-pointers in the first half en route to a team-high 11 points, but a total of 30 points against one of the state’s best teams wasn’t near enough.

Enterprise only trailed by three points, 23-20 at the half, yet only could muster a total of 10 points during the closing 16 minutes en route to their fourth successive loss.

A 6’1” junior named Trace VanCleave popped in Imbler’s only two treys and paced all scorers with 14 points with multi-sport athlete, 5’8” Joe Griffin, adding 11 points for the victorious squad.

On Dec. 29 and 30 in Pendleton the Outlaws began their slide with daytime losses to 3A Umatilla and 2A Lost River during the Les Schwab Tournament. Umatilla, 6-8 on the season, bested EHS 51-33 on Friday and Lost River, of Merrill, slipped by Jeff Micka’s squad 54-52 on Saturday. Lost River now boasts a 6-6 record on the season.

League games on tap this coming weekend for the Enterprise Outlaws will be versus Union in Enterprise Friday and at Cove Saturday. Union currently is 2-0 in the Wapiti League and 7-5 overall. Cove, 0-2 in league play, has a 4-7 season mark.