By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore. — Day four of the Capitol City Classic brought an interesting matchup for the chance to play for fourth-place in the tournament:
The underdogs in West Salem and the Cinderella of the tournament in Western Christian.
The Titans used their length to get the lead. At points reaching double-figures, the Pioneers used their scrappiness to get back into the game. Eventually, it led at one point early in the fourth quarter 49-48 before West Salem took a 54-51 lead with 2:13 left in the game.
It was a dogfight with a lot of heart and passion. West Salem’s Evan Wusstig hit a three. Westeen Christian’s Gavin Hall responded with a basket. The Pioneers got a stop and cut the 57-53 deficit to a single-posession with 30.8 left in the game at 57-54
“We’re learning a lot as a team, but I’m incredibly proud of the kids. They dug deep. They didn’t quit. They’re just warriors… they have no quit in them,” said Western Christian Head Coach Geoffrey Martin. “No matter how tired they get, they always think they have a shot. When you have great coaches and great teammates that build each other up, it’s infectious. That energy, that excitement, bleeds from one to the next.”
Of interest at this point, with Western in the bonus and with the ball down 57-54. West Salem opted to foul and put the Pioneers on the line for two instead of risking it and having Western tie it with a three. Especially with the shooters like Lucas Zook and Hall.
It worked as Zook, who was fouled, made one of two that made it 57-55 with 6.2 seconds left in regulation.
“That’s something I believe in. Coaches have different philosophies on that,” said West Salem Head Coach Dean Sanderson. “The kids did a really nice job with that because there was too much time with that to start. We defended well. It got under ten seconds, and that’s the zone that I want to do that in.
“But we got to do a better job obviously executing at the end. We turned it over way too much and credit to Western Christian. They gave us some issues with their matchup zone, and it gave us something to work on. “
Western forced another turnover at about mid-court and called timeout with about four seconds left. But a bad bobble on the inbound, with the Titans pressing, helped West Salem advance to the fourth-place game on Monday against Inglewood of California.
Tyler Hawkins led West Salem with 17 points, and Jacob Sanderson contributed another ten in the win. Caleb Brown led the Pioneers, who will play Sprague Monday at 230 pm at Willamette University, with 12 points. Logan Hill, Gavin Hall, and Lucas Zook all scored ten points for Western Christian.
