COOS BAY – It was the dream matchup that nobody thought would materialize.
But it was really happening.
Creswell against Pleasant Hill.
On the final day of the 3A Boys State Basketball Tournament.
There was only one little problem … they weren’t playing in the championship game, they were playing for fourth place.
They were also playing for the fourth time this season. Creswell’s convincing 62-42 victory Saturday evened the score for this season.
“The reality is there’s only one team – one boys team and one girls team – that gets the result they really wanted when they came here,” Creswell coach Jesse Thomas said. “After going two-and-out last year, our guys really, really wanted to play on Saturday and now we get to do that. We faced a very good team and we flushed it. We played against a team that shot 61 percent – I didn’t doubt that (our kids) would respond well today.”
Much like they did in the district championship game, the Bulldogs jumped out to an early advantage, as Ace Arnold, Landon Vaughn, and Tanner Frieze all made two 3-pointers in the first quarter as Creswell jumped out to a 23-14 cushion.
After P-Hill narrowed the margin to 30-25 at halftime, the Bulldogs pulled away in the second half behind Bailey’s inside dominance. A dunk by Mason Schartz – who mostly guarded Billies star Landen Melvin and limited him to 11 points – put on the finishing touches with 1:10 left. Schartz was playing with a badly sprained left thumb.
“We rebounded really well,” Thomas said, pointing out his team’s 38-20 edge on the boards. “Luke was great, Mason was elite defensively playing with one hand – even when he’s not scoring, he’s a driving force for us – he’s a critical piece of what we do. He has the highest basketball IQ on our team, and it’s not close. He knows where the ball is supposed to go, he knows how the ball is supposed to rotate. Whether he’s making shots or not, he helps us execute. That dunk he had at the end was sick.”
“He just works so hard every day. All those guys work so hard – but I’m happy to see this win for Mason because of the return for the work he puts in.”
Thomas said his team’s fourth-place finish feels about right.
“We could be a difficult matchup for anyone because of our size, and because we defend well, against just about anybody in 4A or 3A – but for us to make a run all the way through a bracket – I’m not sure we’re capable of doing that,” he said. “Fourth is probably a good result for us.”
Fourth time around
“We knew we could meet and the kids were excited about the chance to even it up on the season,” Thomas said. “Our guys really wanted to win. It’s hard to get high school kids in bed by 9:30 and they were in bed by 9:30 – they wanted to be ready to play today and they were ready.”
The Bulldogs will have to replace Arnold and Bailey – their two first-team representatives on the Mountain Valley Conference all-league team – and Hunter Mustin, their valuable bench player.
“The game moved a little fast for Ace skill wise last year but he got a lot stronger and right from the get-go we knew he could be the team’s leading scorer,” Thomas said, “so he and Luke will be critical seniors to replace.”
Thomas also said the MVC will be a tougher conference next season.
“Trinity Lutheran is coming into our league from 2A next year and they’re always strong,” Thomas said. “Plus, Sisters is returning a lot of talent so they’ll probably be better.
“Our league will be the toughest league in the state next year.”
