Rob Kerr / The BulletinRidgeview guard George Mendazona makes a move during Tuesday night’s 71-43 victory over Crook County in Redmond.

REDMOND — For the second straight year, Ridgeview is postseason bound.

The Ravens, in just their second year of existence, clinched a spot in the Class 4A boys basketball play-in round after defeating Special District 1 foe Crook County 71-43 on Tuesday night.

Heading into their final meeting of the season, Ridgeview and Crook County — the lone teams in Special District 1 — were tied 1-1. But on Tuesday, Ridgeview used full-court pressure to earn a bid to the play-in round.

“It was nice to get that nasty taste out of our mouth after the last time we played them,” Ridgeview coach Nathan Covill said, referring to the Cowboys’ 66-65 victory last week on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. “To me that’s the most important thing.”

The Cowboys jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first few minutes of the game on Tuesday, but George Mendazona and Jack Bowman broke the Ravens out of an early slump to grab a 17-10 first-quarter lead.

“We just focused on their individual players,” said Ridgeview’s Tony Stanton. “We looked at their strengths and weaknesses this last week.”

Ty Hovey paced the Ravens (2-1 SD1, 11-12 overall) with 18 points, while Mendazona chipped in with 14 points and five assists. Tanner O’Neal hauled in 12 rebounds to go along with two points.

“It feels good that the last game we’ll ever play here was a win,” Hovey said. “Now we get to go on to playoffs.”

The Cowboys began to struggle midway through the first quarter after Andrew Sofich, one of their leading scorers, injured his ankle. Crook County was outscored 22-9 in the second quarter and fell into a 20-point hole at the half.

Seth Kessi led the Cowboys (1-2, 3-20) with 10 points, and Blake Bartels finished with eight.

“Ridgeview shot the ball really well in the first and second quarters,” Crook County coach Darin Kessi said. “Ridgeview plays really well with the lead. They don’t play as well from behind, so we were focusing on that.”

Crook County’s season came to a close Tuesday night, but Ridgeview will prep for a play-in game against an opponent to be determined. The final Class 4A rankings were set late Tuesday night, but Covill said first he and his team will relish their Special District 2 title.

“Winning the district championship two years in a row, we’ll take it,” Covill said. “Twenty years from now, no one will know there were only two teams in our league.”

—Reporter: 541-383-0375, eoller@bendbulletin.com.