Mt Hood Conference: League Update

League play begins in the Mt. Hood Conference on Thursday night and from all indications, the race will be extremely competitive - and star-studded. Here's a look at how each of the teams have fared in 2019-20 thus far. Central Catholic (7-2) - OSAA #1 Central Catholic has taken on all comers in the non-conference schedule and has handled every in-state team by at least nine points. They've looked absolutely dominant at times in huge wins over West Linn, Grant, and Churchill and even in their two losses to Mater Dei and Bishop Gorman in the Les Schwab Invitational, we're talking about nationally ranked teams - and the Rams still didn't get blown out in either game. DeRay Seamster has emerged as the top scorer and sophomore big man Luke Johnson has shown some real signs of stardom so far but the truth is head coach David Blue has an extremely deep team that has a number of guys who can step it up in multiple areas. The Rams still look like the team to beat. Gresham (8-1) - OSAA #7 To most, where Gresham is at this point may be a surprise. The Gophers were talented but there were questions about youth, inexperience, and the melding of transfers into an already existing mix of players. But head coach Erik Lyslo and his staff have gotten everyone on the same page and the team is sharing the basketball and getting up and down the floor in transition. Ethan Abrahamson has been having a solid senior year and youngsters like Elijah Munyan and Esyah Pippa-White are turning heads. The schedule has been lighter than that of the likes of Central Catholic, Clackamas, and Barlow, but the Gophers are winning games and winning them big. We'll get a real look how real they are with their MHC opener against Central Catholic on Thursday night. David Douglas (5-5) - OSAA #13 Another surprise at this stage of the season is David Douglas, who despite a 5-5 record is ranked 13th in the current power rankings. The reason why? The Scots have some quality wins over potential post-season teams in Sherwood, Forest Grove, and Sunset. Three of the losses for head coach Chad Reeves' squad are from the KSA Tournament in Orlando over Christmas break and the other two are to Tigard and Mountainside - both currently ranked in the Top 5. The Scots lack a true superstar and are doing it by committee, and it should be interesting to see how it will hold up in league play. Clackamas (6-3) - OSAA #16 While there haven't been any doubts that superstar Ben Gregg would easily transition over to the 6A level - he's going to be a candidate for league player of the year - there were some question marks about the supporting cast. Well it seems that many of those questions have been answered as the Cavs have shown signs that they're much more than just a one-man team. Gregg has struggled with some injuries and teammates such as Ryan Lewis, Damon Erickson, and KJ Horsley have all picked up the slack. Clackamas got three quality wins on their way to the consolation title at the LSI and especially when Gregg gets totally healthy, seem primed to compete with anybody in league. Sandy (7-4) - OSAA #20 Credit head coach Jason Maki's squad for this - they've pretty much won the games they've supposed to be winning and if not for a couple of shots here and there, they might have only two losses at this point. Sandy also played fairly well in the Les Schwab Invitational The Eight. Senior Pierce Roeder has emerged as one of the state's top scorers and others such as Kaleb Hubbard and Tanner Brewster have also been solid contributors every night. But Roeder is still the key guy and as he goes the Pioneers will go. Sandy enters league play coming off a rough blowout loss to Sherwood. Barlow (4-5) - OSAA #32 The team that may benefit the most from conference play could very well be the Bruins. The schedule has been absolutely brutal for head coach Tom Johnson's team early on, with non-conference games against powers such as West Linn and Jesuit and then the Les Schwab Invitational. Individually, Evan Inglesby has been doing well but backcourt mate Jesse White has struggled offensively so far. But a win over Battle Ground helped the Bruins avoid a goose egg at the LSI and in a subsequent win over Lake Oswego, we saw the White of old lighting it up from the outside. A matchup against Central Catholic on January 14th will be a good litmus test of where Barlow is at, but overall don't expect their rating to be in 30s for too much longer. Reynolds (3-7) - OSAA #46 Reynolds head coach Ted Aubin knew it would a building year for the Raiders with a ton of new players lacking experience, especially at the varsity level. Two of the three wins on the year so far have been over teams in lower classifications. Reynolds has shown the athleticism to at least put up a battle in their other games but things will get much more challenging in league play. It doesn't help that there's been some roster turnover already mid-season. The hope will be the team gets more experienced for down the road and maybe sneak a couple of wins in here and there. Centennial (1-9) - OSAA #52 As expected, it's been a rough go for Centennial so far this season but head coach John Poetsch pretty much knew this would occur as the restructuring of the program down through the youth program continues. The Eagles are extremely young and inexperienced, and given some of their scores so far, are struggling with putting points on the board. It hasn't all been for naught as Centennial did earn one victory in non-league play, over 4A Astoria, 59-47. The hope is that isn't the one and only win they have this season as tough as the MHC looks to be, but the Eagles will continue to play hard and try their best.