HERMISTON – Things did not go according to plan on the road last week for the Hermiston Bulldogs boys basketball team.

The Bulldogs (8-4, 0-2 IMC) suffered Intermountain Conference losses to Bend and Redmond, but Hermiston hopes to rebound Friday when it hosts Summit at 7 p.m. and Saturday when it hosts Crook County at 2:45 p.m.

“We do need to win these two games, especially after losing our first two conference games,” Hermiston head coach Larry Usher said. “We’ve played poorly in the first quarter lately and we need to come out strong.”

The Summit Storm (2-3 IMC) enter Friday’s contest coming off wins over Pendleton and Hood River last week, but lost to Bend 59-36 Tuesday.

“They have kids that play hard for 32 minutes and you have to be in the right frame of mind to beat them,” Usher said. “We have to play aggressive and focused.”

Jackson Baber scored 16 points against Hood River Valley and his 11.9 points per game leads the Storm.

“Baber brings experience and he’s pretty good,” Usher said.

Tyson Rich contributes 10.5 points per game, but Summits’ offense is second to last in the IMC, scoring 50.5 points a game.

The Crook County Cowboys (8-6, 3-1 IMC) couldn’t have asked for a better conference start, despite a loss to the defending state champion Redmond Panthers Tuesday.

“I see Hermiston as one of the top four teams in the IMC along with us, so this is a big game,” Crook County coach Dave Davies said. “(Hermiston) has great scorers in (Mark) Carollo and (Jake) Burns and we will have to slow them down.”

Burns scores 16.2 points per game and ranks fourth in the IMC and Carollo is second at 20.8 points per game.

“Hermiston is the second toughest place to play next to Redmond,” Davies said.

Tom McCarthy has caught fire for the Cowboys of late, scoring 44 points last weekend, including 30 points and eight 3-pointers against Pendleton. McCarthy is averaging 13.4 points per game.

“Tom shoots the ball really well and is very consistent,” Davies said. “He’s incredibly poised for a sophomore.”

Usher said the Bulldogs hope to limit McCarthy’s opportunities.

“It will be interesting to see what (McCarthy) can do against some of our size,” Usher said.

Peter Bjorvik leads the Cowboys with 14.4 points per game and comes off a 12-point performance against Redmond.

“Bjorvik is a legitimate post player,” Usher said. “It will be a challenge to keep him off the glass.”

Last year Hermiston had its way with both Summit and Crook County, posting a 4-0 record.

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Joe McHaney can be reached at (800) 522-0255 (ext. 1-304) or by e-mail at jmchaney@eastoregonian.com.

IMC boys

League Season

Redmond 3-0 7-5

Bend 3-0 8-4

Crook Co. 3-1 8-6

Summit 2-3 3-11

Mt. View 1-2 7-6

Hood River 0-2 1-11

Pendleton 0-2 4-8

Hermiston 0-2 8-4