Oregon Prep Sports News

Les Schwab Invitational Observations

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Jefferson is clearly the team to beat in Oregon boys high school basketball.

 

The picture has been getting clearer since last spring, when the Democrats finished strong and may have been the second best team in the 6A tournament. At least, they were the only team to give the champion West Linn Lions a serious challenge.

 

There were no seniors on that Jefferson team. And this fall they added the one thing they had lacked, a quality big man, by getting Kamaka Hepa, a 6-9 transfer from Alaska, where he was the state’s player of the year as a freshman and sophomore.

 

But even without him (Hepa injured his ankle in the first game), Jefferson is fearsome. Another year of experience and growth for an entire roster will do that. In the Les Schwab Invitational tournament, the Demos lost only to national powerhouse Gonzaga of Washington, D.C. They beat Churchill 63-61, Grant 59-48 and Clackamas 80-54, that latter a shockingly decisive win over a team that has just beaten West Linn the night before.

 

Riding high on the crest of four straight state championships and then collecting four transfer stars in the off-season, West Linn would seem to be the state’s most qualified team on paper. But they aren’t there yet. They edged an ordinary Jesuit team 91-90 in the opener, got bombed by Garfield of Seattle in Game 2 and then split a couple of nail-bitters with Clackamas and Grant. The Lions can do it all in stretches, but perhaps they’re enduring the inevitable adjustment period as individual stars learn to play as a team in a new program.

 

Despite all their better known transfers, their most valuable player may be Braden Olsen, finally getting to start after backing up Payton Pritchard for years.

 

I’m thinking the Lions will be much stronger by tournament time. Their also adjusting to a new coach. But should also be stronger with Hepa back in the lineup.

 

First David, now Elijah Turns Tables On Big Guys

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The 2016 Les Schwab Invitational tournament had its David and Goliath moment as 5-9 Elijah Gonzales led the Clackamas Cavaliers to a stunning 88-87 victory over West Linn , which is going for its fifth straight state championship.

The Lions have become the team to root against after picking up four outstanding transfers to restock a roster hit heavily by graduation. They’re good, and they’re big. That point was driven home in the first half as West Linn piled up easy baskets, most of them by 6-7, 240-pound Keishon Dawkins. They were on cruise control as their lead rose to 16 points in the second quarter.

Then Gonzales came out of nowhere to take charge of the game. He helped cut the lead to two points at halftime. He did everything a little man can. He stole the ball, drained 25-foot rainbows and was unstoppable with the ball in his hands. He dribbled around and through the defense at will, then lobbed running shots over defenders who were a foot taller. West Linn fouled him repeatedly, but he was also deadly at the foul line. He finished with 38 points.

And when the Cavaliers needed one more basket to regain the lead with 29 seconds to go, he stayed on the perimeter and gave teammate Hunter Coyle the opportunity to feed Matt O’Brien under the basket for the decisive jam.

Gonzales can seemingly disrupt any game plan, and there’s no one in the state who’s more fun to watch.