The South Wasco County High Redsides were hoping the third time would be a charm for them in the OSAA Class 1A boys basketball state championship game versus the Crane High Mustangs. But the Redsides, appearing in the 1A final for the first time since 2006 and third time overall, came up short again.
No. 1-ranked Crane (31-0) proved to be deserving of its record with a 62-53 win over the No. 3-ranked Redsides (25-1) Saturday night at Baker City High School.
Despite the loss, the Redsides concluded a spectacular and nearly perfect season by bringing home the Class 1A second-place trophy to go along with their Big Sky League district championship. When they arrived home in Maupin on Sunday, the Redsides were greeted by a parade of fans driving their cars along with emergency vehicles. More fans met the team at the high school.
In a hard-fought battle between the two evenly matched squads, the Redsides led just once at 2-0 on a jumper in the lane by senior post Brock LaFaver (19 points, six rebounds). The Mustangs quickly gained the early momentum, jumping in front 21-12 at the end of the first quarter.
South Wasco, guided by longtime (20 years) Coach Jim Hull, came back to trim the margin to 25-22 on a three-point field goal by Big Sky West player of the year Oscar Thomas (20 points, five assists). The Mustangs responded by building a 34-28 halftime lead.
“I’ve coached a lot of teams, and this is one that I looked forward to having each day at practice, because they have such great attitudes,” said Hull. “These guys came each day; they were excited to be at practice and they were excited to be around each other. I think that was a key to us being successful on top of them being great basketball players.”
The Redsides fought back while trailing throughout the high intensity atmosphere of a championship game. A 13-7 South Wasco rally, capped by an Ian Ongers jumper in the lane, knotted the score, 41-41, with 3:05 left in the third quarter. Crane regained the momentum with an 8-1 run to build a 49-42 lead after three.
The High Desert League champion Mustangs seemed to find a way to answer every Redside challenge. Trailing 51-42 early in the fourth quarter, the resilient Redsides charged back again with an 8-0 run, capped by LaFaver’s jumper in the lane, making it 51-50 with 5:31 to play.
Crane’s Jared Zander sank two three-pointers in a 9-2 game-clinching run to help the Mustangs build a 60-52 lead. The Mustangs played solid man-to-man defense and held the Redsides scoreless over the final 2:24 of the game to pull out the victory.
“When we were down 51-50, I kept thinking that the key to us winning the game was we had to get over the hump and we had to take the lead,” said Hull. “We shot the ball well in the second half at about 62% (10-for-16), but we just didn’t shoot enough shots. Crane is a great team and I want to give credit to them because they’re undefeated. It’s unfortunate that we lost, but when two good teams play, that’s what is going to happen.”
The contest marked the final game of the South Wasco High career of seniors LaFaver, Thomas, Remington Anderson-Sheer and Alex Stebbins.
“I’m really going to miss the seniors and not only their leadership, but also everything that I’ve gone through with them,” said Hull. “In their freshman year, we only won seven games and we were on the losing end of most of the games. They’ve become better players and better people and to finish where they are now; it lays the groundwork again for where we always like South Wasco basketball to be. They’re leaving a legacy that people can look up to and hopefully try to match.”
Thomas earned a unanimous selection to the all-tournament first team and Ongers was voted to the second team. Thomas averaged 24 points per game in the three-game tourney and Ongers averaged 14 points. Thomas had a tourney-high 13 three-point field goals. Redsides junior guard James Best, who had six rebounds and one steal in the finals versus Crane, had a tourney high 11 assists.
Semifinals: SWC vs. Powder Valley
The Redsides advanced to the final with a 59-40 semifinal win over the No. 2-ranked Powder Valley High Badgers (24-4) March 4. The Redsides led all the way in a rematch of a contest from the COVID shortened 2021 season. South Wasco beat Powder Valley 70-65 in the unofficial (not sanctioned by OSAA) third-place state tourney game June 24, 2021 at Baker.
“Oscar just played an awesome game and Brock was chairman of the boards,” said Hull. “The Powder Valley team we beat last summer was the same team this year because they only graduated one senior from that team, and we lost just one senior as well. We gave up 31 offensive rebounds in that game. We emphasized better rebounding and that’s what we did. We out-rebounded them 45-42.”
South Wasco jumped in front 16-8 at the end of the first quarter. Utilizing their No. 1-ranked offense (67 points per game average), the Redsides outscored the Badgers 14-8 in the second to build a 30-16 halftime advantage.
The Redside momentum continued in the second half as they extended their lead to 43-23 on an Ongers free throw with 3:31 left in the third quarter. The Redsides continued their solid offensive attack and took their largest lead of the game at 59-33 after a Thomas three pointer with 4:19 left in the game.
Thomas scored 25 points and he had five assists to help lead the Redsides. Ongers had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and LaFaver had four points and 16 rebounds. Best had six points, six rebounds and four points.
Quarterfinals: SWC vs. Rogue Valley
The Redsides were less dominant in their tourney opener March 2. A Thomas free throw with seven seconds left helped them to a thrilling come-from-behind, 59-58, win over the Rogue Valley Adventist Academy High Hawks (23-4).
“He (Thomas) really hit some huge shots down the stretch,” said Hull. “I couldn’t ask for more. We just feel fortunate that we get to continue this so that we can enjoy the tournament. They never quit and I knew that we would have a run and something good would happen at the end that’s exactly what we did.”
South Wasco trailed 15-0 and was behind by double digits for most of the game. South Wasco was behind 18-9 after one quarter and trailed 35-25 at halftime. Early in the third, the Redsides trailed 41-27, but that was the turning point of the contest. An 11-2 Redside run, capped by a Thomas three-pointer, trimmed the margin to 45-38 after three. Thomas (27 points, seven steals) helped lead the comeback as South Wasco outscored the Hawks 21-13 in the fourth.
The Hawks came back and regained a double-digit 52-42 lead with 5:18 remaining in the fourth. The Redsides survived a key blow though when LaFaver fouled out with 4:21 left, while trailing 52-45. The Redsides fought back as Thomas made a three-pointer to trim the margin to 52-48 with 4:05 left.
“Joey Holloway had to play in the middle of our defense and even though he’s not as tall as Brock, he used his strength and he did a good job of keeping those guys (Hawks) off the boards,” said Hull. “We know that nothing comes easy here and we turned it into something good.”
After the Hawks went ahead 56-48, the Redsides then put together a 9-0 run, capped by Anderson-Sheer’s jumper, lifting South Wasco in front 57-56 with 1:35 left. A Best free throw with 35 seconds remaining gave the Redsides a 58-57 lead, before Rogue Valley tied the game again with a free throw of its own. Thomas was fouled on the Redsides’ final possession, and he sank one-of-two from the line to advance South Wasco to the semifinals.
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