Wilsonville Wildcats

‘It’s a special thing we’ve got going here.’ Wilsonville meets force with force, shuts down mighty Summit for yet another 5A boys basketball title

“Our competitive spirit was through the roof today, and it was from the opening tip to the final buzzer. And that’s the only way we can compete with them.”

MAR 11, 2023 By Bob Lundeberg | Photos by Leon Neuschwander 

CORVALLIS — Wilsonville’s stranglehold over Class 5A boys basketball will live on for at least one more year. 

In arguably their greatest defensive performance of the season, the Wildcats held juggernaut Summit to 36 points — nearly half its average — to secure the program’s third straight OSAA state championship. No. 3 Wilsonville, making its seventh consecutive title game appearance, smothered the top-seeded Storm 43-36 Friday night at Gill Coliseum for the program’s sixth state title under coach Chris Roche.

“I think it starts with our tradition here,” said junior wing Kallen Gutridge, who scored a game-high 17 points with four steals. “We’ve been to the last seven, won five of those. It’s a special thing we’ve got going here, and it’s all because of Coach Roche and what he has us do every year.”

Added sophomore post Emmitt Fee: “I feel like we do stuff differently than all the other teams. Coach Roche, he’s just an amazing coach. We game plan how we play defense, and I think that just separates us.”

Roche won his first state title at the old 3A level in 2005. The Wildcats are tied with Jefferson for the most in 5A history, placing first in 2016-17, 2019 and 2022-23. No trophies were handed out in 2020-21 because of COVID-19.

With a young roster and the addition of three tough Central Oregon teams to the classification, Roche said this year’s title was the most improbable of the bunch.

“We knew that if we kept getting better and stayed together, we had enough players that were pretty talented that maybe we could get here,” he said. “And if we get here, maybe we’d create a little havoc.”

Summit, the 6A runner-up last year, entered Friday averaging just under 70 points per game with a season-low of 57. With four starters standing 6-foot-4 or taller, the Storm netted 75 and 79 points in their first two state tournament games. 

Pearson Carmichael, a 6-7 Boise State commit who torched Redmond for 30 points in the semifinals, finished 3 of 14 from the field with 10 points. Summit shot just 14 of 36 overall (38.9 percent) and 0 of 9 from beyond the arc.

“Their defense is unbelievable,” Carmichael said. “I want to be humble, but holding me to 10 points, like, I don’t know. Just the way they play team defense and their help and everything, it’s just really hard to score.” 

Roche said stopping Carmichael was priority No. 1 for a Wildcats defense that led 5A in scoring defense entering the state tournament at 42.2 points allowed per game. Wilsonville was even better at Gill Coliseum, shutting down Woodburn (26 points), Crescent Valley (24) and Summit. 

“(Carmichael) is so good,” Roche said. “We were so worried about him because he can shoot 3s, he goes left, he goes right, he O-boards. He can do everything, so we had to watch him.

Meanwhile, they’ve got (Mac) Bledsoe and (Hogan) Carmichael and (Collin) Moore. There’s all these talented guys around him, so it’s very tough.

“I just thought our competitive spirit was through the roof today, and it was from the opening tip to the final buzzer. And that’s the only way we can compete with them.”

Summit took its first lead of the second half on a Moore fast-break layup that made it 30-29 early in the fourth quarter. Kyle Counts, who sat out most of the third with four fouls, checked back in at the 6:23 mark, and Wilsonville promptly pulled ahead for good on consecutive jumpers by Gutridge. 

Gutridge had the play of the game in the final minute, going coast-to-coast for an old-fashioned 3-point play following a Carmichael miss at the rim. The tough finish put the Wildcats up 39-32 with 36.1 seconds to play.

“I saw an opening,” Gutridge said. “I beat them before they could get in front of me and draw a charge. I thought if I went up strong, maybe I could get a foul or an open layup.”

Wilsonville played keep-away for a good chunk of the fourth quarter in both teams’ final game without a shot clock. After a Maxim Wu layup with 4:45 remaining, no points were scored for nearly four minutes. 

Moore led the Storm, now a two-time state runner-up, with 16 points and three assists.

“We tried to use last year as motivation, but not a lot of us played on that team,” Carmichael said. “This is motivation, and next year we’re coming for it.”

Gutridge canned a 25-footer in the final seconds of the first quarter to give Wilsonville a 12-10 lead. Wu added another to open the second and Gutridge muscled his way for a layup that made it 17-10 Wildcats, completing a 13-0 run.

After a basket by Miguel Taylor, Nick Colyer converted a 3-point play for an eight-point Wilsonville lead. The Storm scored the final six points of the second and trailed 20-18 at the break. 

Counts picked up his third foul late in the first half on an illegal screen. The 6-foot-7 junior was then whistled for his fourth with 5:13 remaining in the third, but the Wildcats survived with Counts on the bench. 

Fee said it was important for the smaller Wildcats to stay physical with Summit.

“Meet force with force,” Fee said. “All throughout playoffs, my coaches have said that if you meet force with force, good things are going to happen.”

Fee had four points, 10 rebounds and two assists. Wu, a senior point guard, had eight points and three assists in his final high school game.

“Maxim Wu has been as good a leader and teammate as I ever could’ve imagined him being as a quiet, little, skinny freshman,” Roche said. “Now he’s out here running the show against darn near a college team, and he was awesome.”