By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
SALEM, Ore.– It’s not how you start, but how you finish.
In Friday night’s 3A State Playoff opener against Burns, the Blanchet Catholic Boys Basketball team came out maybe a little bit timid in their first State Playoff Game since the 2017-2018 season. They trailed the Highlanders by one going into the second half, 24-23. Burns controlled the pace of the game with their defense and were getting second chance opportunities on the offensive side to keep them ahead in the game with a chance in going to Coos Bay on the table.
But then. A halftime talk by their Head Coach sparked the Cavaliers going into the second half. They started to pick up the pace a little bit and next thing they knew, they were ahead midway through the third quarter and led 35-31 going into the fourth quarter on Burns.
“Coach kind of got into us at halftime because we weren’t playing like ourselves. We knew we weren’t playing like ourselves, this game shouldn’t have been as close as it was, but Burns came out ready to go. At the end of the day, the best team is going to win. In the second half we turned it on and we were able to win,” said Blanchet’s Sam Mosar.
Burns weren’t done yet however. They quickly tied it up at 35 before Blanchet went on a 9-0 run to seemingly put the game out of reach with 2:46 left in the game. Seemingly became the need to use that cushion in a hurry soon after the run as the Highlanders cut the deficit to four points in a hurry about a minute later.
They remember all the hard work that it took to get to this point. Taking Cascade Christian to Overtime up in Dayton. The St. Mary’s game earlier this month. The battles in the PacWest Conference. All the work to get to this point, they weren’t about to fade into the abyss without a fight.
And that’s what they did. Fought until the end to punch their ticket to Coos Bay for the first time since the 2017-2018 season when they finished third-place.
“It was fun. It was a lot of hard work just to get here and play as hard as we can and make it through. It’s amazing to us,” said Christian Orozco. “We’ve been talking about it all year, it’s been our goal all season and it was our number one goal to get there. And now it’s to win the State Championship. We’re going to get there and play our hardest and take care of business.”
“I got to give it to Burns, they are probably the most physical team that we’ve played and the refs let us play, which is actually really fun. But I think we were a little not used to it and so we had to adjust,” said Cavs Head Coach Han Rasmussen. “We were getting beat really back on that backside, but grit is what pulled us through. We shown ourselves what we can do, so it really comes back to playing to our identity, knowing who we are and being confident in that.”
The final was 50-43 in favor of Blanchet. Mosar finished the game with 21 points and Adam Barnett finished with 14 points as the Cavailers advance to the State Quarterfinals against Valley Catholic on Thursday at North Bend High School.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
