Wilsonville’s varsity basketball team lost at an away game at LaSalle High School this week. The game was quite a thrill to watch as the two rivals competed for their final positions in the league season. The game, unfortunately, ended with a Wilsonville loss as LaSalle outscored the Wildcats 52 to 50. This is a surprising turnout considering the Cats had won their two previous games against Hood River Valley and Hillsboro by a wide margin. In the case of the Hillsboro game, they won by a staggering 38 points. This game was a significant blow to the Wildcat’s record of success, and now it is going to affect their position in state if the Wildcats don’t win the next couple of games.

One thing of particular note is the fouls split during the game. In the first quarter, the fouls split was (LaSalle – Wilsonville) 0-1, in quarter two it was 1-3, the third quarter had 3-2, and in the fourth quarter had 6-8. The total foul split was 10-14 which is extremely high for a high school game. Another interesting thing for the Wildcats was that in this game the score was consistently close and neither teams were more than seven points away from each other at any point during the game. Typically this is not the case for the Wildcats as they are either winning or losing by a margin usually in the double digits. Unfountunaly in the end, the Cats failed in a last-minute save play and lost the game by just two points.

After the game in some post-game interviews, Tyler Grion, one of the student managers for the team, said, “It was an unfortunate result, it was a tough game in a tough environment to play in.” Player Kyle Counts said, “I think LaSalle played a great game. It showed we have some stuff to polish up and [we] are getting ready for our next game against Canby.” Despite the loss the players are taking it well and we are looking forward to the playoffs.