Wilsonville Wildcats

Boys basketball: Wilsonville mauls Churchill to return to 5A title game

Updated: Mar. 11, 2022, 10:56 p.m. | Published: Mar. 11, 2022, 6:04 p.m.

By Scott Sepich | for the Oregonian/OregonLive

The Wilsonville Wildcats boys basketball team has been waiting three long years to compete for a state championship.

They aren’t alone, of course. Nobody has played for a 5A title since the Wildcats won in 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and with no players who appeared in that game still on the roster, Wilsonville is a rather unconventional defending champion.

Those two lost years are top of mind for the Wildcats, who will get a chance to add to their school’s championship legacy after a 58-41 semifinal win over Churchill (22-6) in a rematch of the 2019 title game. No. 3 seed Wilsonville (26-2) broke open a close game in the second half, outscoring second-ranked Churchill 37-21 after halftime.

Wilsonville will face No. 4 Silverton in Saturday’s final at 3:15 p.m. at Gill Coliseum. The Wildcats faced the Foxes in the 2015 championship game, with Silverton winning a 33-32 decision that came down to the final second.

Playing for a title is a privilege the Wildcats aren’t taking for granted, knowing that the past two senior classes didn’t get that opportunity.

“Seeing the class of 2020 having their season ripped from them and 2021 not having a tournament, it motivated us,” said junior Maxim Wu, who led Wilsonville with 15 points Friday. “Seeing them cry, it was a big point in my basketball development. It helps us appreciate it much more, that it might only happen one time.”

Fellow junior Tristan Davis, who added 14 points, said it’s been “kind of a shock” to be able to have the state tournament experience after the disruptions of the last two years.

“Just looking around and thinking ‘we’re really in the state semis,’ I wasn’t scared or anything but just to be able to play basketball again has been great,” said Davis.

Davis added that he “thinks all the time” about the disappointment felt by the classes of 2020 and 2021.

“I’ve been wanting to play hard and do this for the 2020 class, and then last year when we couldn’t play a full season it made me want to work even harder,” Davis said. “Tomorrow is going to be the toughest game we’ve ever played.”

In Friday’s semifinal, Churchill raced out to a 7-0 lead and had a 17-9 advantage early in the second quarter before the Wildcats started to turn things around. Wu hit two 3-pointers and a put-back layup at the buzzer to give Wilsonville its first lead of 21-20 at halftime.

“We started buying into the system and moving the ball,” Wu said of the first-half rally. “We wanted to emphasize team basketball and knew that the ball would find the open shot.”

In the second half, Wilsonville’s size started to wear down the Lancers of Eugene. A 13-1 Wildcat run that spanned the third and fourth quarters helped push a 30-27 advantage to 43-28. Churchill went more than six minutes without a field goal in that decisive stretch, but pulled within nine with 3:30 remaining before the Wildcats ran away for good.

The Wildcats shot 63 percent from the field in the second half and 53 percent for the game, while Churchill finished at 39 percent for the game. Wilsonville made 15 free throws to the Lancers’ four.

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With no players over 6-foot-5, the Lancers had no answer for the 6-foot-7 Davis and 6-foot-10 senior Logan Thebiay, who finished with nine points and 18 rebounds.

“Everyone loves this feeling right now,” Thebiay said of the chance to end his career with Wilsonville’s fourth championship in the last five tournaments played.

Senior Ty Weiskind led Churchill with 13 points. Senior guard Samaje Morgan, who played in the 2019 championship game as a freshman, had 10 points and three assists a day after going for 38 points and 10 assists in a quarterfinal victory over Eagle Point.

Churchill, which lost to Wilsonville in the 2017 and 2019 title games, will play against Redmond for third place at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.