By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– The Western Christian Boys Basketball team challenged Chatsworth of California.
They didn’t care who they were playing, but they just knew they could control what they could control with their effort, and everything would fall into place. It was at an astronomical level to match their opposition to open up the Capitol City Classic Thursday night at Willamette University.
The Sea of Blue backed them as they faced a 37-29 deficit in the third on the heels of a strong first half. The Pioneers thanked them by turning into motivation and momentum, slapping the court, and went to work. Eventually turned that deficit into a 52-44 lead with 6:22 left in the game.
“It was just our plan for the game: No matter what the score was, just go out and give everything we had. This is an opportunity of a lifetime playing against the top player in the country, an insanely good team. Whether we’re up by five or down by 30, we’re just going to play our hearts out,” said Lucas Zook. “This was a game of runs. We knew they were going to make runs, we were going to make runs, we just couldn’t let their run get too big and we just had to lock down on defense and get easy buckets on offense.”
It was that effort that got them there, but then it became finishing the job. They knew it wasn’t going to be easy, Chatsworth made sure of that as the California-based squad got the game to 54-53 with 3:57 left in the game. The Chancellors were coming off a Division-IV, roughly 3A-4A equivalent in Oregon, California State Runner-Up, appearance from last season and entered the Capitol City Classic 6-0 on the year.
At this point of the game, it was a challenge of what’s left in the gas tank? Could the little 2A Defending State Champions of Oregon take down the Goliath that was Chatsworth?
The answer was yes, they did.
It was all heart as the Chancellors kept it to a one possession game until the final minute when Western Christian began to pull away once more. Eventually sealing the 70-60 victory at the line to advance to play Oregon City Friday night back at Willamette University at 7pm.
“That was all heart right there. It was all heart,” said Gavin Hall of the finish. “We all buckled down, we all slapped the floor. That means we’re all coming together playing with heart and defense. Making sure that we get a stop and coming down to set up the offense and hoping to get another bucket.
“To play against a top team in the nation and beat them, it’s out of this world. I’m not going to lie.”
Hall and Zook each scored 23 points each in the win, and Caleb Halgren scored 12 points. Logan Hill led the Pio’s with seven rebounds, three steals, and two blocks in the victory.
Alijah Arenas led Chatsworth with 37 points.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
