Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Video: Wilsonville 55, Pendleton 47: Wildcats slip by Pendleton, guarantee themselves a trophy

No. 2 Wilsonville hangs on in fourth quarter to advance to Saturday's fourth-sixth place game

• By: Alex Tam  
• Published: 3/12/2010 11:53:53 AM
• Last Updated: 3/12/2010 11:31:49 PM

Photo By: Alex TamBoys basketball: Wilsonville 55, Pendleton 47
Wilsonville High School sophomore Kevin Marshall drives to the basket past Pendleton's Devon Polhamus in the second half of Friday's 55-47 victory in the consolation semifinals.

EUGENE – They have called it Trophy Saturday.

That’s been the goal all season long for No. 2 Wilsonville – a guarantee that it would play for a state trophy.

And the Wildcats were able to come through with a 55-47 victory over Pendleton in the consolation semifinals at the OSAA Class 5A state tournament at McArthur Court on Friday morning.

“All you need is one win (in Eugene) to get there so we definitely wanted to get (to Saturday),” junior Seth Gearhart said. “Doing it just feels great.”

It was a quick turnaround for Wilsonville, who played less than 24 hours earlier and fell to No. 1 Jefferson, 49-41, in the quarterfinals. The team drove back to its hotel afterward, and quickly wanted to forget about the game before an early 9 a.m. start today.

“We wanted to kind of put that (loss) behind us,” Gearhart said.

The Wildcats came out strong, shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half en route to a 14-6 lead after the first quarter and taking a 29-20 halftime lead.

“Coach has been telling us all week that either way, if it was good or bad (Thursday) night that this game would be harder,” junior Michael Etzel said. “So we just knew we had to bounce back 9 a.m. in the morning, so it was tough but we through it.”

Pendleton, however, didn’t back down in the second half.

The Buckaroos went on a 17-7 run in the third quarter capped by senior Josh Ernst’s three-pointer that gave Pendleton a 37-36 lead with 2:17 to go.

But Gearhart answered with a layup to give the Wildcats the lead back at 38-37 before the fourth quarter.

Wilsonville stretched its lead to four when Gearhart scored again for a 45-41 lead with 5 minutes left. But Pendelton again rallied as Ernst hit two free throws and senior Shannon Hartley made a layup to tie the game, 45-45, with 3:42 left in the game.



Although the Wildcats did not make a field goal over the last four minutes, they made 10 of 12 free-throw attempts in the last 3:21 of the game to seal the win. After junior Lamar Fairley cut Wilsonville’s lead to one at 48-47 with 2:36 to go, that was as close as Pendleton got as Etzel made two free throws for a 50-47 lead with 1:01 left.

Gearhart then had a steal on Pendleton’s ensuing possession, which forced the Buckaroos to foul.

“We had to take care of the ball better against their trap and we just moved it and worked for great shots and lay-ins,” Gearhart said. “And that’s exactly what we needed to do.”

“We started tightening it up with the ball,” Etzel added. “We took care of it … and we just held the ball, were poised with it and everything that coach talks about – we did it for the last four minutes.”

Coach Chris Roche said he was worried about Friday’s game after putting so much effort and game-planning into Thursday’s matchup against Jefferson.

“I’m really proud of the guys because they were really focused on Jeff and Jeff’s a phenomenal program, a great team,” Roche said. “And after losing, it would be easy to have an excuse that we weren’t just ready. Playing a good team like Pendleton, too, that spreads you and has great athletes, I was worried because I felt like this would be a really hard game. But we had enough character and enough guts in the end and enough toughness to get it done.”

Roche said his team learned how to bounce back following last year’s heartbreaking one-point defeat to Century in the semifinals.

“Nothing can be more heartbreaking than that,” Roche said. “So this year, we knew what we had to do. We just had to re-gather, play like we practice every day and be the most competitive team and I thought we did a good job.”

Gearhart led Wilsonville with 18 points and eight rebounds, going 10 of 13 from the free-throw line. Senior Michael MacKelvie had 15 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Sophomore Grant McNiel had 16 points off 5 of 6 shooting.

Fairley led Pendleton with 12 points off 5 of 7 shooting, along with four assists. Senior Tyler Simpson added eight points and six rebounds.

“One of our goals is to play on Trophy Saturday every year and this is two straight years,” said Roche, whose Wildcats took third last season. “This group has been fantastic, and they’re as nice of a group of kids as last year. The two groups are as nice as you could coach every year, so I’m very blessed to be able to work with these guys.”

The Wildcats will play Summit in the fourth-sixth place game on Saturday at 10:45 a.m. at McArthur Court in Eugene. Summit defeated Glencoe, 70-63, on Friday to advance.

Notes: Gearhart was named the QWEST player of the game for Wilsonville, and Fairley earned player of the game honors for Pendleton. ... Wilsonville shot 16 of 37 from the field (43.2 percent), and Pendleton was 18 of 34 (52.9 percent). ... The Wildcats were 22 of 29 from the free-throw line (75.9 percent), and Pendleton was just 8 of 10 (80 percent).

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Pendleton Buckaroos	6	14	17	10	47
Wilsonville Wildcats	14	15	9	17	55

Pendleton - Lamar Fairley 12, Simpson 8, Davis 7, Ernst 7, Polhamus 6, Fox 3, Clem 2, Whitten, Jones, Barry, Carter
Wilsonville - Seth Gearhart 18, Grant McNiel 16, Michael MacKelvie 15, Etzel 2, Marshall 2, James 2, Haqq, Munson, Livesay, Koford, Conroy
Field goals - Wilsonville 16-37 (43.2 percent), Pendleton 18-34 (52.9 percent)
Free throws - Wilsonville 22-29 (75.9 percent), Pendleton 8-10 (80 percent)
Turnovers - Wilsonville 12, Pendleton 18
Rebounds - Wilsonville 20, Pendleton 18
Assists - Wilsonville 8, Pendleton 10
Blocks - Wilsonville 0, Pendleton 2
Steals - Wilsonville 9, Pendleton 8

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