It’s two-and-out for OC

OC guys have a disappointing run at the Rose Garden

By John Denny

The Clackamas Review, Mar 17, 2010

ADVERTISEMENTS

PORTLAND – It was a tough ending to a successful season for Oregon City High School’s boys basketball team last week, as the third-ranked Pioneers bowed out of the Class 6A State Tournament with losses in their first two games.

After getting blown out by second-ranked Westview 72-51 in Saturday’s championship quarterfinals, the Pioneers dropped a 62-59 heartbreaker to Sunset, the No. 3 team from the Metro League, in Friday’s consolation semifinals.

Sunset went on to top sixth-ranked McKay 60-49 in the fourth-place final on Saturday.

The Metro League champion Skyhawks went on to lose to Metro League runner-up Jesuit 66-44 in the championship final.

Friday’s loss to the Apollos was especially hard for the Pioneers to swallow, because they led the entire second half – until Sunset put the winning points in the basket inside the final 10 seconds of play.

The Pioneers appeared to have the game in hand when Tyler Ferguson found brother Trevor open under the basket with a half-court inbound pass with 1:50 remaining. Trevor put the lay-up away and the Pioneer lead was six points, at 54-48.

Ten seconds later, Sunset freshman sharpshooter Joe McFerrin hit from downtown to trim Oregon City’s advantage to three, at 54-51.

Three missed free throws in four trips to the line in the ensuing play allowed the Apollos to keep their comeback hopes alive.

McFerrin answered single free throws by Brycen Driver and Tyler Ferguson with another trey with 48 seconds remaining, and the Pioneer lead was 56-54.

Driver swished a pair of gifters with 42 seconds to go, making it 58-54 Oregon City.

Sunset senior guard Anthony Holton took the ball to the basket at the 30-second mark and it was a two-point game again, at 58-56.

Driver was fouled and he made one-of-two free throws for a 59-56 Pioneer advantage.

Sunset 6-9 post Landen Lucas scored from close in at 15 seconds, trimming the Pioneer lead to 59-58.

Lucas drew a foul on the basket, but missed his free throw.

Sunset senior guard Anthony Holton collected a long rebound on Lucas' miss, and put the ball back up and in, giving the Apollos their first lead since late in the first half, at 60-59.

The Pioneers took the ball up the floor and called a timeout with 4.8 seconds remaining.

Unfortunately they turned the ball over on the inbound play.

Holton was fouled and swished a pair of free throws, and the Apollos celebrated their 62-59 come-from-behind victory.

Friday’s game was a turnaround from the night before, when the Pioneers had Rose Garden first-game jitters and struggled to get the ball to drop in the 72-51 state quarterfinal loss to Westview. The Pioneers were an ice-cold 17-of-53 (32 percent) from the field in that game.

Playing an aggressive match-up zone on defense and a strong team game on offense, the Pioneers played well in Friday morning’s loss to the Apollos.

Eight Oregon City players took to the floor. They all scored points, seven of them had assists and seven claimed rebounds.

The Apollos attempted to score over the zone in the first half and had mixed success. The lead changed hands eight times in the first half, and Oregon City owned a 34-31 lead at the intermission.

The Apollos attempted to penetrate the zone more in the second half, and they had less success.

After sitting out 10 minutes of the first half in foul trouble, Trevor Ferguson rallied the troops in the third quarter, hitting three shots from downtown for eight points in the period.

Trevor’s 3-pointer with 2:15 left in the third period put the Pioneers up by eight points, at 44-36.

Taylor Meyrick scored a pair of lay-ups off of crisp passes from Tyler Ferguson and from Malcolm Paulston early in the fourth stanza, and the Pioneers had their biggest lead of the night, at 50-41.

But the Apollos refused to quit. Hitting both from the outside and from close to the basket, they gradually closed the gap. And they took advantage of the missed free throws down the stretch to move on top and steal the victory.

Driver finished with a game-high 18 points – on 7-of-14 shooting – and he was named Quest Oregon City player of the game for his efforts.

Meyrick scored 10 points – on 5-of-8 shooting – and he hauled down a team-high six rebounds.

Trevor Ferguson scored 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting; Tyler Ferguson sparked the offense with nine points and four assists.

1 | 2 Next Page >>