Jace Cates scores 25 points, but the Cougars are outscored in the fourth quarter of another league setback.

Again, the Canby boys basketball team was competitive. Again, it was close to its first conference victory of the season.

Again, it was denied.

The Cougars played Lakeridge evenly through three quarters but faltered down the stretch, coming away with a 79-68 loss at home Jan. 28.

It’s part of a growing pile of woulda-coulda-shoulda games for Canby, which dug itself a deeper hole in the loaded Three Rivers League.

“It’s tough on everyone,” said junior guard Cates, who scored a game-high 25 points. “We should be 3-0, but we’re 0-3.”

That’s the tough reality for the Cougars (7-8, 0-3 in the TRL), who started the regular season with six-point losses to Lake Oswego and Oregon City.

With the game tied at 53-53 entering the final period, Lakeridge wing McKay Burg made the first of his four fourth-quarter threes to give his team a lead it never relinquished.

Burg, who drained three more shots from distance in the final 3 minutes, finished with 17 points.

“That’s just something that we expect him to do, and he’s been stroking it for us like that all year,” Pacers coach Dane Walker said. “We continue to see improvement in his confidence and his ability to shoot the ball.”

Eric Dungey scored a team-high 21 points, including a highlight-reel alley-oop dunk in the first half, while Reggie Oliver added 10.

***

AT A GLANCE

Lakeridge 79, Canby 68

Jan. 28 at Canby High School

1 2 3 4 F

Lakeridge 18 16 19 26 — 79

Canby 23 11 19 15 — 68

Lakeridge (79): Eric Dungey 21, McKay Burg 17, Reggie Oliver 10, Max Minervini 8, Jake Spurgeon 8, Bryce Anderson 7, Bo McClintock 3, Blake Gjesdal 3, Joe Sindlinger 2.

Canby (68): Jace Cates 25, Austin Taylor 17, Jordan Sanders 11, Tony Kraus 4, Austin Evans 4, Nick Huggins 3, A.J. Schlatter 2, Trey Bellmore 2.