North Medford came out with a different look Friday night — at least hair-wise — but the same effective play that allowed the Black Tornado to exit the Abby’s Holiday Classic this past Monday with a third-place result.

North Medford opened a 12-3 advantage on host Crater during nonconference play and held a double-digit lead throughout the second half to score a 64-54 victory in Central Point.

The Class 6A Black Tornado have now won four of their last five games, with Friday’s tilt featuring a new for 2025 style for seniors like Easton Curtis, Tate Snyder, Nate Anderson and Dylan Scott — whose bleach-blonde hard matched their already blonde senior counterpart Dillon Sawyer.

Whether blondes have more fun will be yet to be determined, but it certainly didn’t faze North Medford (7-5) against the 5A Comets (6-6), who remain without injured senior star Kyle Bittle.

Scott poured in 13 of his 22 points in the first half, then helped close out the win for North with seven points in the final frame. Scott also finished with six rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Curtis finished with 16 points and six rebounds, while Anderson had seven points, eight rebounds and three assists and Snyder contributed seven points, three steals, three rebounds and two assists.

Elijah Bryant paved the way for Crater with 23 points and seven rebounds, while Ben Higginson added eight points, eight rebounds and two assists.

Malachi Barlow chipped in with eight points and four rebounds, while Jakobi Cole pulled in five boards and freshman L.J. Leland made the most of his playing opportunity with nine points for the Comets.

After jumping out to a 6-1 record, Crater has now lost five straight entering next Friday’s Midwestern League opener at North Eugene.

NORTH MEDFORD (64): Scott 22, Rea 2, Sawyer 3, Curtis 16, Snyder 7, Healy 3, Stewart 4, Anderson 7, Zimmer 0. Totals: 25 9-14 64.

CRATER (54): Rodriguez 0, Bryant 23, Smith 3, Leland 9, Higginson 8, Grant 3, Barlow 8, Cole 0. Totals: 18 9-20 54.

North Medford 14 12 16 22 — 64

Crater 7 7 15 25 — 54

3-point goals — North Medford 5 (Scott 1, Sawyer 1, Curtis 2, Healy 1), Crater 9 (Leland 3, Higginson 2, Barlow 2, Bryant 1, Smith 1). Fouled out — Higginson, Grant. Technical fouls — Higginson.

PHOENIX 73, COTTAGE GROVE 54: At Phoenix, Tobias Akpan supplied a steady stream of scoring to lead four Phoenix players in double figures in the nonconference win.

Akpan amassed 30 points and was complemented with strong scoring efforts by William Pyeatt (13 points), Martin Ortega (10) and Lucas Wihtol (10).

Phoenix (6-5) broke the game open with a 27-17 advantage in the second quarter.

COTTAGE GROVE (54): Lemon 11, Vaughn 8, Delime 0, Lam 6, Bauer 0, Bruner 21, Cooper 8, Harrison 0, Robertson 0. Totals: 21 0-3 54.

PHOENIX (73): Decker 8, Pyeatt 13, McQueen 2, Akpan 30, Ortega 10, Petrone, Govenor 0, Wihtol 10. Totals: 31 7-10 73.

Cottage Grove 10 17 11 16 — 54

Phoenix 13 27 15 18 — 73

3-point goals — Cottage Grove 12 (Bruner 5, Lemon 3, Vaughn 2, Lam 2), Phoenix 4 (Decker 2, Pyeatt 1, Withtol 1).

CASCADE CHRISTIAN DROPS TWO: At Salem, Cascade Christian senior Jaren Fronckowiak combined for 29 points in the 3A second-ranked Challengers’ opening two games at the Crusader Classic but the effort was not enough as 3A No. 8 Umatilla earned a 60-50 win Thursday and 2A No. 8 Stanfield scored a 68-47 upset Friday at Salem Academy High.

Fronckowiak opened the tournament with 15 points, four assists and five rebounds against Umatilla, while Hudson Gotzman knocked down four 3-pointers to finish with 14 points and grabbed four rebounds.

Cade Goldade also led the charge against Umatilla with 12 points and six rebounds, while Deryk Farmer was limited to seven points, five rebounds and three assists.

In Friday’s loss to Stanfield, Fronckowiak managed 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals and Bryley Richardson chimed in with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.

The Challengers fell into an early hole thanks to Stanfield’s 18-8 surge in the second quarter that helped create a 14-point bulge.

CASCADE CHRISTIAN (47): Richardson 10, Fronckowiak 4, Kleker 6, Casebeer 0, Willard 0, Farmer 7, Goldade 4, Snowden 0, Gotzman 5, Alvarez 0, Beamish 0, Murphy 1. Totals: 17 10-14 47.

STANFIELD (68): Bailey 15, Odell 6, Sperr 0, G. Mendez 5, D. Mendez 3, Jesus Arellano 10, Jesse Arellano 15, Angel 9, Sanchez 5, Ibarra 0. Totals: 24 12-17 68.

Cascade Christian 13 8 17 9 — 47

Stanfield 17 18 15 18 — 68

3-point goals — Cascade Christian 3 (Fronckowiak 2, Gotzman 1), Stanfield 8 (Odell 2, Jesus Arellano 2, G. Mendez 1, D. Mendez 1, Angel 1, Sanchez 1).

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CASCADE CHRISTIAN (50): Richardson 0, Fronckowiak 15, Kleker 3, Casebeer 0, Willard 0, Farmer 4, Goldade 12, Snowden 0, Gotzman 14, Alvarez 2, Beamish 0. Totals: 18 5-9 50.

UMATILLA (60): Estrada 2, Monahan 2, Montez 18, McGee 11, Garcia 21, Raymond 0, Munoz 4, Frost 0, Langley 0, Tesch 2, Prindle 0, McCallister 0. Totals: 21 12-16 60.

Cascade Christian 9 14 14 13 — 50

Umatilla 9 12 27 12 — 60

3-point goals — Cascade Christian 9 (Gotzman 4, Goldade 2, Fronckowiak 2, Kleker 1), Umatilla 6 (Garcia 3, Montez 2, Munoz 1).

OREGON EPISCOPAL 66, ST. MARY’S 49: At Portland, St. Mary’s senior C.J. Seggelink scored 14 points and freshman A.J. Zimmerman added 10 points and five rebounds off the bench in the road tilt.

Class 3A third-ranked Oregon Episcopal jumped out to a 22-12 lead in the first quarter behind 10 points from Joe Schwalbach, who finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds.

ST. MARY’S (49): Zimmerman 10, Anderson 5, Hensman 2, King 6, Seggelink 14, Van Horn 1, Chmelir 2, Kiene 5, Ausland 1, Primerano 3.

OREGON EPISCOPAL (66): Boudreaux 5, Schwalbach 25, Holzman 17, Sendecke 0, Sedik 3, Rothenfluch 0, Hagerman 11, Elabdeia 5, Mansfield 0.

St. Mary’s 12 13 12 12 — 49

Oregon Episcopal 22 17 17 10 — 66