Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Wilsonville 61, Sherwood 41: Wildcats pick apart Bowmen to win by 20

No. 3 Wilsonville shoots down Sherwood, 61-41, on Friday

• By: Alex Tam  
• Published: 2/2/2010 3:38:32 PM

Photo By: Courtesy David WeaverBoys basketball: Wilsonville 61, Sherwood 41
Wilsonville High School senior Michael MacKelvie elevates for a shot during the Wildcats’ 61-41 victory on Friday night at home.

It was a typical victory for the Wilsonville boys basketball team.

Punish the opponent defensively, execute to perfection offensively and out-hustle the other team.

It was all evident as the No. 3 Wildcats picked apart Sherwood for a comfortable 61-41 victory on Friday night at home in front of a packed gymnasium for the rivalry game.

“It was added excitement,” senior Michael MacKelvie said. “You could just tell in the locker room, we were all pumped up. I’ve never seen a crowd like that at a high school. It was pretty awesome.”

Wilsonville (16-2 overall, 6-1 Northwest Oregon) remained in a tie for first place in the NWOC with Glencoe (10-6, 6-1) heading into the teams’ matchup on Tuesday at Glencoe.

Wilsonville coach Chris Roche said the challenge for his team now is to play with the same intensity as Friday, and bring it the rest of the season.

“We’ve had a taste of it,” he said. “Can we do it when it’s not a packed house and three-quarters of the crowd is carrying you through?  We’ve got to do it on the road when nobody’s there. We’ve got to do it here against teams that are not supposed to be as good as Sherwood but are capable. We got to do it every night.”

After a slow start for both teams, the Wildcats got it going in the second quarter to extend their lead to 25-10 with 1:04 left in the first half off junior Seth Gearhart’s layup.

In the third quarter, Wilsonville increased its lead to 41-19 when sophomore Grant McNiel converted on a jumper.

In the fourth, the Wildcats led by as many as 27 points at 59-32 following two free throws by sophomore point guard Kevin Marshall, who controlled the tempo of the entire game.

“They mix up what they do on defense so they’re a tough team to play but when a sophomore point guard plays like that, it’s really impressive,” Roche said. “And basically what he did was make sure we were all in the right spots, communicated really well and made a lot of plays that weren’t necessarily flashy plays or highlight film plays but they were winning plays.”

MacKelvie led Wilsonville with a game-high 22 points and Gearhart added 18. McNiel had seven points, and Marshall had six.

Senior Nicky Schoen led Sherwood with 13 points and sophomore Sean McGill  added 12.

“This was a big game for us,” Roche said. “We had a big challenge, we know we have another challenge ahead and so hopefully we’ll rise to the challenge. I was glad to see us have fun. It looked like — win, lose or draw — we made a determined effort to enjoy things.”

On Friday, the Wildcats will host St. Helens at 7:15 p.m.

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