Saturday was a momentous day for high school basketball in the Basin, with Lost River taking fourth place at the OSAA 1A boys basketball championships and the Klamath Union girls, Henley girls and Henley boys punching their tickets to the 4A quarterfinals at Forest Grove High School. Here’s how each game unfolded.
Lost River 57, Union 54
A series of clutch plays in the final 1:09 helped No. 7 seed Lost River (25-5) hold off No. 8 seed Union (23-9) for a historic win in the 1A boys fourth place game at Baker High School.
Union got the ball trailing 55-51 with 1:17 to go, and Connor Dunlea took a charge eight seconds later. With Lost River already in the bonus, the call sent him to the free throw line. He missed both but ran back to block Trae Frank’s 3-point attempt with 1:06 remaining. The Bobcats retained possession, only for Emmett O’Brien to steal the ball and get fouled with 49 seconds on the clock.
O’Brien made the first free throw and missed the second, but Tate Freeman grabbed the rebound for the Raiders, resulting in free throws for Kayden Hartman with 41 seconds left. Hartman went 1-of-2 to give Lost River a 57-51 lead. KJ Klebaum hit a triple four seconds later to bring Union within three, leaving the Raiders with a chance to run the clock down to four seconds on their final possession. The resulting shot didn’t fall, but Freeman knocked the rebound out of the Bobcats’ reach, preventing them from getting a look at a game-tying shot before time expired.
The victory gave Lost River their highest state tournament finish since 1999 (when they also finished fourth) and broke the program record for wins in a season.
There was very little to separate the teams in the first quarter; Dunlea hit a three with 10 seconds left to break the sixth tie of the period and give the Raiders a 16-13 lead heading into the second. Union stayed within striking distance until a Dunlea layup with 4:19 to go sparked a 7-0 Lost River run that lasted 2:40 and put the Raiders up 27-17. The Bobcats answered with a run of their own to close the half; Tee Ledbetter converted an and-one with 1:39 remaining and Frank buried a three with four seconds on the clock to cut Lost River’s lead to 27-23 at halftime.
The Raiders led 34-27 with 4:46 left in the third quarter before Union went on a 7-0 run to tie the game with 3:04 remaining. Chase McAuliffe got back-to-back buckets in the final 33 seconds to put Lost River ahead 40-36 at the start of the fourth quarter. McAuliffe made another big play with 6:02 left in the game, blocking a game-tying shot that resulted in a Hartman three 14 seconds later to make it 45-40.
For the second time at the state tournament, Connor Dunlea was named the Lost River player of the game after leading all scorers with 26 points, this time on 9-of-18 shooting. He also recorded 4 steals and 2 rebounds. Chase McAuliffe ended up with 9 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks, while Tate Freeman had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Kayden Hartman finished with 7 points and 5 rebounds; Kyle Diaz had 3 points; Charles Overcash had 2 points; and Emmett O’Brien had 1 point and a game-high 8 rebounds.
Dunlea was named first team all-tournament after finishing third among all players with 21.3 points per game and leading all players with 4.7 steals per game. McAuliffe was named second team all-tournament after tying for third with 9.3 rebounds per game and tying for second with 1.3 blocks per game.
Tee Ledbetter was named the Union player of the game after leading the Bobcats with 23 points (on 9-of-18 shooting) and 8 rebounds. Trae Frank had 12 points and 4 rebounds; Chase Koshinsky had 7 points and 4 rebounds; KJ Klebaum had 6 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals; Evan Cloutier had 4 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals; and Lane Peterson had 2 points.
Lost River and Union both graduate four players from their respective teams this year. The Raiders lose Dunlea, McAuliffe, O’Brien and Juan Navarro while the Bobcats lose Ledbetter, Frank, Cloutier and Elijah Gliddon.
Klamath Union 56, Pendleton 42
No. 5 seed Klamath Union (17-3) advanced to their first 4A quarterfinals since 1989 with a win over No. 12 seed Pendleton (13-12) at Pel Court.
Keely Hall led the Pelicans with 18 points (on 6-of-11 shooting), 9 rebounds and 4 steals. Dianara Peña was the only other Klamath Union player in double figures, finishing with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. Dakota Neese had 5 points and 5 rebounds; Erin Garcia had 5 points; Jazzi Wilson had 4 points; Kshalee Thomas had 3 points, a team-high 6 steals, a team-high 5 assists, and 3 rebounds; Andi Harmon had 2 points and 7 rebounds; and Bella Armijo had 2 points.
The Pelicans held the Buckaroos to 26% shooting, including 12% from three. Pendleton also shot 14-of-31 (45%) from the free throw line.
Klamath Union opens the OSAA 4A girls basketball championships against No. 4 seed Cascade (17-7) at 3:15 p.m. Thursday.
Henley 71, St. Helens 48 (Girls)
No. 2 seed Henley (21-2) won convincingly at home against No. 15 seed St. Helens (12-14) to advance to their second straight state quarterfinals.
The Hornets led 21-11 after the first quarter, with Annie Campos matching the Lions’ point total on her own. They scored the first nine points of the second quarter en route to a 44-27 halftime lead and were up 59-37 at the end of the third.
The teams were whistled for a combined 45 fouls, with 23 called on St. Helens and 22 called on Henley. No player on either team fouled out, but the Lions had to sit their second-leading scorer, D’Aye Davidson, for the remainder of the first half after she picked up her third foul 13 seconds into the second quarter.
Annie Campos finished with 30 points (she finished the first half with 21), 13 rebounds and 3 steals to lead the Hornets. Anna Harper and Lily Fussell both came close to double-doubles; Harper had 12 points and 8 rebounds, and Fussell had 9 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals. Other contributors for Henley were Kennedi Modin with 6 points; Prestyn Schade with 5 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals; Jewell Northcutt with 5 points and 3 steals; Senia Campos with 3 points; Bayli Ladner with 1 point and 5 rebounds; and Mya Mauch with 4 rebounds.
Two sophomores led St. Helens in scoring: Devan Lee had 21 points (including 10 in the second quarter), and D’Aye Davidson finished with 10 (including 8 in the third quarter). Other scorers for the Lions were Bella Meuchel with 6 points, Maddie Hancock with 5, Makenna Hardin with 3, Maisy McDole with 2 and Maddie Hancock with 1.
This was St. Helens’ first playoff appearance since 1997, and 12 wins is their second most in a season since 2004.
Henley opens the OSAA 4A girls basketball championships against No. 7 seed Madras (18-6) at 8:15 p.m. Thursday. The Hornets beat the White Buffaloes 74-62 at the Sisters Shootout Dec. 29.
Henley 59, Astoria 53 (Boys)
In strikingly similar fashion to last season’s first-round game between these two teams, No. 7 seed Henley (16-7) took a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter but had to hold off a late rally by No. 10 seed Astoria (18-7) to win at home and advance to the state quarterfinals.
The Hornets–who will be making their second straight quarterfinals appearance–never trailed, taking a 10-8 lead after the first quarter and going into halftime up 27-17. Henley seemed poised to run away with it after scoring the first seven points of the third quarter, but the Fisherman outscored them 16-6 over the last 6:17 of the period to cut it to 40-33 at the start of the fourth.
Halfway through the fourth quarter, the Hornets led 49-39 and looked to be in control. Then, Astoria got one made free throw from Kanon Huber, got the rebound when he missed the second, and saw Beck Olson hit a three on the resulting possession to make it 49-43 with 3:34 left in the game. The teams traded empty possessions until Owen Williams buried a catch-and-shoot three from the top of the key to get the Fishermen within 49-46 with 2:39 remaining.
Both teams scored on their next trips down the court (Markus McCreadie sank two free throws and Williams hit a layup). They then traded empty possessions again until Owen Harper put back a missed free throw to give Henley a 53-48 lead with 1:23 to go. Williams answered with a free throw line jumper with 1:11 on the clock. Then, with 39 seconds left and the shot clock down to seven, Luke Bennett threw a pass from the right elbow that bounced off the rim toward Aiden Hayes, who raced in from the left corner and slipped past two defenders for a reverse layup and-one. He made the resulting free throw to put the Hornets up 56-50 with 34.5 seconds remaining.
After an Astoria timeout, Williams nailed another catch-and-shoot three to get it back to a three-point game. The Fishermen fouled Bennett with 11.5 seconds to go and watched him sink both free throws to make it 58-53. They rushed into a three on the ensuing possession, and Hayes got the rebound in the paint. He was fouled with 4.8 seconds on the clock and made 1-of-2 free throws for the game’s final point.
Luke Bennett led Henley with 19 points (including four triples), 5 rebounds and 5 assists, followed closely by Markus McCreadie with 16 points (including 7 in the second quarter), 8 rebounds and 2 blocks. Owen Harper had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Aiden Hayes finished with 5 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Other contributors for the Hornets were Lane Frank with 3 points, Bryson Montag with 2 points, and Chris Janney with 5 assists and 3 rebounds.
In his final high school game, Owen Williams scored 34 points to lead Astoria, including 16 in the fourth quarter. He finished with five made 3-pointers. Beck Olson led the rest of the Fishermen with 8 points (all in the second half), followed by Merrick Benesch with 6 (all in the first half), Kanon Huber and Benton Moore with 2 each, and Quin Gohr with 1. Except for Huber and Gohr, all of Astoria’s scorers were seniors.
Henley opens the OSAA 4A boys basketball championships against No. 2 seed Junction City (21-3) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The Tigers beat the McCreadie-less Hornets 67-50 at the Sisters Shootout Dec. 29.
