McMINNVILLE – Defense has been the story all season for the Thurston Colts. They held five opponents to season-low point totals, and allowed the fewest points in Class 5A during the regular season.
When they were down 13 points in the fourth quarter of their quarterfinal playoff game against Summit, they needed their trademark defense.
A 14-4 run over a 2:54 span in which they forced numerous steals, deflections, and difficult shots was the result. But the hole they had dug for themselves in the first 28 minutes of the game proved too much to overcome, and the comeback fell short in a 69-65 loss Wednesday, March 11, in the opening game at Linfield University for the Class 5A Boys State Championship Tournament.
Even still, the defensive pressure often was a sight to behold.
“We don’t want to have to do that. We’d like to defend well enough in the first three quarters that we don’t have to. But it’s nice to know we can when we need to,” head coach Blaine Liberatore said. “It’s tough to come back. It’s just a big hill to climb, and the kids almost got to the top.”
The Colts’ mindset and toughness showed maturity beyond their years. Early in league play, Liberatore showed his team the Oregon football “Ducks vs. Them” documentary series to demonstrate what it takes to be great.
Connection, Growth, Toughness, and Sacrifice are the core values of the Oregon football program, and the Colts shared much of that DNA. Liberatore said the quarterfinal comeback, though it fell short, embodied everything his team was about.
“We haven’t folded all year. That’s not what we’re made of,” Liberatore said.
“That’s not what wearing Thurston across your chest means. You don’t fold. You’re tough. You battle. You fight.”
After mounting that comeback and falling short, many teams would have struggled to find energy the next morning in a consolation game.
“Those consolation semifinal games where you lose the night before, and then have to turn around and play the next morning in the consolation bracket … Those are the toughest games of the tournament for anybody,” he said.
The Colts were also facing Crater, who they had beaten twice in the regular season, but beating a team three times is difficult. They rose to the occasion, defeating the Comets 68-49 and outrebounding them 37-24.
In the consolation final, where the winner earns fourth place, the Colts matched up with Canby. The Cougars controlled the game, winning each of the first three quarters and heading into the fourth with a seven-point lead.
The Colts responded, as they had all year. Lucas LaBounty hit key shots on his way to a 30-point game, and Leo Filipe had two blocks in the final minute, including the potential game-winning shot, to seal a 59-57 Colts victory.
“The thing I love the most about this group is that they don’t give up, and they will not give in, and we just kept coming,” Liberatore said.
Liberatore said the fourth-place finish is the third best in Colts history.
The Colts had weathered adversity all season. They started 3-4, their worst start since 2021.
Liberatore said he did not pull out any major motivational tactics at that point, but just tried to keep his players focused on the here and now.
“It was always about trying to get better at the little things, focus on the process, keep your focus narrow.
Don’t think about the big picture. Think about right now. Let’s not look too far ahead,” he said.
The message was received. A win over Class 6A West Linn by 18 points proved to the players and coaches that when they were disciplined and executed the little things, they were a dangerous team. From that point, the Colts went 19-2. In the past two seasons, they are 23-1 in Midwestern League play with two league titles.
“Ducks vs. Them” may have given the team themes and phrases to use the rest of the year, but the hunger and intensity the Colts played with came from a different source.
“Someone (from another team in our league) made the comment that the league was North Eugene’s to lose and that Crater is good and tough, but Thurston just doesn’t have the firepower to hang with either of those teams,” Liberatore said. “We printed that out and put it all over our team room and all over all over the hallway. We even brought it with us on the road, and we’d put it up in our away locker room. That was a lot of motivation for our guys because I think they felt slighted.”
Looking forward to next year, the Colts will lose LaBounty, their back-to-back Midwestern League player of the year. They return their second- and third-leading scorers. Two sophomores in All-Midwestern League first-team Treyson Hill and second-team member Leo Filipe are those other two members of the trio that scored the bulk of the Colts points.
Hill was consistently additive as a shooter and defender this season, and will take on more ball handling responsibility next season, while Filipe became more and more of a presence down low as the season went on. The experience both have gained from this year’s run will go a long way toward winning a third straight league title and making it back to Linfield for another state playoff run.
