The Wallowa Cougars men’s cagers stepped into two Cougar traps over weekend play. The men fell victim to Condon/Wheeler and Ione/Arlington respectively on Friday, Dec. 20 and the following day.

Condon proved a huge challenge for the Cougs. Although the score appears a respectable 63-53, Coach Cody Lathrop said Condon was preparing to devour the Cougars, leading the game by 24 points before the Cougars leaped back into the fray – too late.

“Condon’s a good team,” Lathrop said. “They scored 26 points in the first quarter. It was kind of shock and awe. The defense recovered and held Condon to 12, 15 and 10 points in the remaining quarters while they scored 16 and sixteen points in the third and fourth quarters.

Tristin Bales led the scoring with 22 points while Jace Fisher added eight.

“It was a rough weekend,” Coach Lathrop said. “We’re getting our offense perfect; we’re running perfect and getting the shots we want with our big guys under the basket, and we’re not making the shots.”

The following game versus Arlington/Ione wasn’t much better, as the Cougs fell by a wider margin: 61-43. Wallowa missed 17 shots – in the first quarter. Not hard shots either. The team also missed 10 free throws over the duration.

“Man, they were a big, physical team,” Lathrop said of Arlington.

Nonetheless, the Cougs still had Bales notch 19 points while scrapper Zeb Hermens canned 14 while Quinten Tillery harvested five consecutive offensive rebounds. Unfortunately, no one else scored more than five.

“These were lay-ins and really high percentage shots we missed,” Lathrop said. “It was frustrating; we got rebounds and all that good stuff, and the kids are working so hard.”

Lathrop said he and assistant coach Kayden Lathrop looked through the team’s game stats and hitting shots is the key.

“Once we get to that area where we’re hitting even 50 percent of our shots, it’ll be awesome,” Lathrop said.

The weekend left the Cougs with a 3-5 preseason record. They next face Echo at the Bouncin’ Cancer tournament on Friday, Dec. 27 and get a rematch with Ione/Arlington on the following day.