North Bend's boys basketball team capped its first outright league championship season since 1955 by beating host Sutherlin 55-47 in the regular-season finale on Thursday.
It was the Bulldogs' 10th straight win, and 20th victory overall.
'It wasn't necessarily the prettiest basketball, but we did what we needed to to get it done," said North Bend coach Tom Nicholls.
The Bulldogs trailed by a point entering the fourth quarter, took the lead on a pair of free throws by Aaron Mateski and stretched the advantage on 3-pointers by Logan Lucero and Duke Mitchell.
Mateski finished with 12 points and Dalton Iveans added 11 for North Bend. Chris Mock had a game-high 17 for Sutherlin, which finished third in the standings and will host fourth-place South Umpqua on Saturday to determine the league's final berth for the playoffs. Brookings-Harbor has the No. 2 seed.
Nicholls was pleased with how his team played, especially since North Bend already had secured first place.
'It's a nice win on the road," he said. 'It's a win against a team that beat us.
'For me, it's a matter of were we going to play with maturity and poise and gut it out."
The Bulldogs did that, and now wait until next Saturday to open the playoffs with a home game. If North Bend wins, it will qualify for the state tournament for the first time since dropping down to the Far West League in 2002.
Brookings-Harbor 52, Siuslaw 47: The Vikings came up just short in their bid to upset the Bruins in the regular-season finale.
The Bruins led by nine points entering the final quarter and Siuslaw cut it to one with three minutes to go, but never got over the top, coach Dan Gray said.
Brookings-Harbor clinched the win with outstanding free-throw shooting, hitting 13 of 15 attempts in the fourth quarter and 22 of 28 for the game.
Cody Cozad had a game-high 23 points and shot 9-for-10 from the line. Jacob Eszlinger had 18 points and was 10-for-12 on free throws.
Eric Tipler had 19 points for the Vikings.
'We played extremely hard, so that's always a positive," Gray said. 'We weren't playing for much as far as standings, but at least we finished with a great effort."
Siuslaw finished 2-13 in league play.
South Umpqua 46, Douglas 38: The Lancers gained momentum for their league playoff game with Sutherlin by outscoring the host Trojans 21-12 in the final quarter.
Kaden McFarland had 16 points and David Huling and J.J. Jansen added 10 each for the Lancers. Sky Woods had 13 points for South Umpqua.
Far West League Girls
Sutherlin 51, North Bend 50: A furious rally by visiting North Bend came up just short and Sutherlin held on to win the league title.
Both teams entered the final game 12-2 in league play.
Sutherlin led 48-37 entering the fourth quarter, but North Bend chipped away at the lead. In the closing minutes, Taylor Weidman hit a 3-pointer and then North Bend got a steal and Alexandra Mateski nailed a jumper to cut Sutherlin's lead to 51-49 with just over a minute to go.
Sutherlin missed a free throw, giving North Bend a final chance. Haley Dunham rebounded a miss by a teammate and was fouled going back up with 14 seconds to go. She made the first shot, and Emily Foster rebounded the miss on the second. North Bend called a timeout to set up a final shot, but couldn't convert.
'We fought so hard," North Bend coach Mike Forrester said. 'I thought we were going to come back to win."
'We didn't quit," Forrester said. 'We were patient. We took the ball to the hoop."
North Bend also picked up its defense after Sutherlin had great shooting in the first half to take a 34-21 lead at halftime.
Randi Kostner had 13 points and Brooklyn Norman added 11 for Sutherlin.
Brooke Davison had a game-high 16 points for North Bend and Weidman and Mateski added 11 each.
Both teams host playoff games next Friday, with spots in the Class 4A state tournament on the line.
Brookings-Harbor 59, Siuslaw 39: The Bruins tuned up for their league playoff game with Douglas on Saturday by beating the host Vikings, building a 29-16 lead at halftime.
Kambri Coleman had 22 points and Ashley Juarez added 14 for the Bruins, who made eight 3-pointers.
Jenna Hanslits led the Vikings with nine points, but Siuslaw had its typical struggles in a winless Far West League season, shooting 5-for-18 from the foul line and missing opportunities around the hoop, coach Aaron McNeill said.
'Our girls continued to play hard to the finish," he said.
Douglas 64, South Umpqua 37: Taylor Bond and Emily James had 17 points each as the Trojans won their regular-season finale.
Jenny Stevenson had 23 points to lead the Lancers, who had just three players score.
