By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
MILL CITY, Ore.– After opening the season with just two wins in their first 13 games, the Santiam Wolverines have punched their ticket to the 2A State Playoffs. Santiam defeated Colton 81–62 in the Tri-River Conference third-place game to secure the conference’s final automatic berth.
And to accomplish that crazy turnaround, a turnaround that saw the Wolverines win nine of their last 12 games, Santiam had to stop a gritty Vikings squad on Wednesday night.
Colton rallied from two double-digit deficits, overcoming a 19–9 first-quarter hole to briefly lead 27–25 in the second and later cutting a 14-point deficit to 61–60 with 5:54 remaining, setting up a tense finish at Santiam High School.
“There’s no quit from this team. It starts with the seniors, Logan Roberts, Malachi Jensen, they get us going. Those seniors are the leaders. The program is going to miss them. We just don’t quit, no matter what, those boys don’t quit,” said Colton Head Coach Kyle Pollack. “We went on our run, got it back within one and if a few calls go our way it might be a different game. It’s alright we didn’t play our best. I can live with it because they didn’t quit, they’re a bunch of good kids and they love the game, they love their teammates. We’re such a big family…that’s why it hurts so much right now because I know they love each other.”
Santiam needed to make an adjustment quick. Colton had the momentum and were right back at their heels. Thankfully the Wolverines, they had that one play ready to go in response to what Colton was throwing their way defensively.
And that adjustment. It worked to perfection. Over the final 5:54 of the game, the Wolverines were able to re-add to their lead while their defense clamped up to make sure their offensive output didn’t go to waste.
“Last game they Triangle-And-2 us and they kept Ace (Areni) and Kross (Martinson) at bay, so I put a new play in that gets them free and I think that’s what got them free and that got us the points that we needed to push for the win,” said Santiam Head Coach Elvis Hicks. “I think now they’re all playing as a team, they play as a family. They play together.”
Hicks knew that they had the talent to be special, but it took them a minute to get there. Composure. Buy-In. We over Me. The three F’s that Hicks pointed out: Play Free. Play Fast. Play For each other. It’s paid off over the last 12 games and especially over those nearly six minutes to close out the game as they closed out the game on a 20-2 run. Crazy to think that this team was at one point 2-11 on the year and now are heading back to the postseason for the second-straight season.
“This season has been wild. For me, I broke my hand and missed half the season, I was out. I came back and we all started playing together, we started winning and now we’re here and it’s great,” saod Areni. “We all know our roles really well and we play really well together. We played forever together. I’m really excited for our next game.”
Areni scored nine of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as he, and Martinson who led Santiam with 24 points, combined for 47 in the victory.
Despite Wednesday’s heartbreak, expectations will be even higher for Colton next season. The Vikings return six players from this year’s squad, including sophomore Grant Bell, who scored 19 points against Santiam. He trailed only Roberts, who poured in 24 points in his final game in a Colton uniform, as the Vikings closed the season at 13–13.”This was the year before the year. Next year I think we should amke some noise in the league. I’m excited, I’m losing my starting Point Guard in Logan, but besides Logan everyone else that’s a key factor is coming back. We got a couple of freshmen coming up and hopefully we can make some noise in the league next year,” said Pollack.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
