CORVALLIS — Prepping for Wilsonville’s brand of defense requires more than an overnight cram session.
And with that lesson delivered in spades by the two-time defending state champion Wildcats, Churchill will shoot for third place against a familiar Midwestern League foe on Friday.
Sophomore post Dakota Reber scored 15 of his 24 points in the second half to lead fourth-seeded Wilsonville to a 58-43 victory over the No. 8 Lancers in the Class 5A boys basketball state semifinals at Gill Coliseum on Thursday night.
The Wildcats (21-6) won their 17th consecutive game and will play Thurston for their third consecutive Class 5A title. The Lancers (20-8) will face MWL champion Crater for third place at 3:15 p.m. Friday.
Churchill shot 17-for-52 for the game for 32.7 percent and only 6-for-22 from three-point range for 27.3 percent. The Lancers led briefly early but lost contact when the Wildcats scored the first 10 points of the third quarter, including eight in a row by Reber, to lead 35-21.
“You would like to have a couple days to prepare for them, so you can get some reps on what they do,” Churchill coach Kelly Bokn said. “They don’t necessarily do things completely different from other teams, they just do it better, so you have to be a little sharper, a little crisper.”
Senior Cole Wilkinson led Churchill with 15 points, and sophomore Silas Bennion scored nine. Junior Jonathan Nchekwube added eight points and 11 rebounds.
Wilsonville coach Chris Roche pulled a surprise by starting 6-foot-1 senior Ryan Napoli, who didn’t play the previous day against Springfield, to shadow the quicksilver Bennion. The gamble paid off as Churchill’s struggles on offense were compounded by early foul trouble.
“Ryan’s a really good defender, and Silas can really shoot it and is a heckuva player for a sophomore, so we knew we had to guard him,” Roche said. “Yeah, we were focused on him a little bit, and I thought we did a pretty good job on him overall.
“We take great pride in playing great defense. It’s something we hang our hat on, but I’m a little bit surprised just because Churchill is so good and they have a lot of offensive talent.”
The Lancers suffered through four scoring droughts — one in each quarter — that totaled 18 of the game’s 32 minutes.
“They’re really a strong, defensive-minded team, and they really took us out of our rhythm, out of our ability to run our offense, and that showed on the scoreboard,” Bokn said. “In order to combat that, you have to run good offense and you have to play together to set good screens and work off each other.
“We were a little stubborn with that. We really didn’t do that very well most of the season, to be honest with you.”
By contrast, Wilsonville was the model of scoring efficiency, attempting only 29 shots and making 19 for 65.5 percent despite committing 14 turnovers to Churchill’s nine.
“That never hurts,” Roche said of his team’s hot hand. “When we took care of the ball, we got pretty good shots.
“If we hang onto the ball, we can convert on the back end, so you’re kind of playing Russian roulette when you press us like that, but I thought they did a good job of that.”
The Wildcats were 10-of-12 in the second half, with the 6-5 Reber accounting for seven of the field goals. He was 8-of-10 overall and had two of his team’s three three-pointers.
Reber’s 11 rebounds led Wilsonville to a 30-20 edge on the boards.
“He’s a super-talented kid, and he’s had a lot of good games this year, but that’s his best game,” Roche said.
Junior guard Jack Roche, the coach’s son, added 12 points and five assists. Sophomore Gabe Reichle had 10 points.
Wilsonville made 17 of 24 free throws as Churchill was forced to press and foul but could get no closer than nine points in the fourth quarter. The Lancers were whistled 22 times. Senior Lucas Schwin fouled out with six points on two three-pointers, and three others finished with four fouls.
The game was a rematch of sorts of the 2017 title match, won by the Wildcats, though neither lineup resembled last year’s. Wilkinson didn’t play basketball for the Lancers as a junior, and Bennion, Nchekwube and sophomore Isaiah Wallace weren’t on the roster.
“Maybe we caught them at the right time, because another week, another month, another year, that’s going to be an unbelievable team,” Roche said. “They’re really good right now, but they’re going to be unbelievable.”
Churchill gets another chance to show off that potential in the third-place game. Crater won both meetings during the regular season.
“That’s the silver lining,” Bokn said. “Really, the goal for us every season is, can we play on the third day of the state tournament for whatever hardware you can bring? I’m super happy that these kids are getting that opportunity.
“Kids bounce back way faster than adults, so these guys will be singing in the van on the way home. We’ll bounce back and give it a good tussle tomorrow.”
