The Wilsonville Wildcat basketball team has been rolling the last couple months, their last loss came all the way back on December 20th when they fell to West Albany to conclude a disappointing Capitol City Classic showing. Since then, Wilsonville has won 15 games in a row (including the victory over La Salle) and have now moved into the #2 seed in 5A.
Wilsonville and La Salle share a history that not many teams can brag about, both schools have experienced great basketball success over the last decade especially on the boys side, though Wilsonville for the most part has had more success overall and La Salle has built a very respectable program over just the last few years.
The matchup between these two 5A powers was a big one for both schools, Wilsonville ranked #3 in 5A going into the game looked to clinch another NWOC title as well as cementing their place atop the 5A rankings with just a couple games before the playoffs get underway. For La Salle, their biggest motivator last night was the fact that Wilsonville traveled to La Salle earlier in the year and took down the Falcons 52-45. They also wanted to climb higher into the 5A rankings (#11 going into the game).
Early on, La Salle seemed to be playing faster and more aggressive, and they dominated the first half getting out to a 26-21 lead heading into the half. The Wilsonville offense struggled to get Kallen Gutridge open looks and the La Salle defense swarmed all other options.
The Falcons seemed to find a formula that worked for them on offense with Milan Skoro knocking down everything from mid-range as well as getting a major contribution off the bench from Freshman Guard Rigdhen Khyungra. Wilsonville looked a half step behind and a little sluggish as the Falcons were in possession of all the momentum heading into halftime.
Coming out of the half though Wilsonville came out of the locker room with a lot more urgency then they showed in the first half the offense picked up the slack and the defense got stops when they needed it most. Jacob Boss and Gutridge both started to connect from the field and when they were not open Emmitt Fee and Ezra Carter both made plays on the low post.
Heading into the final few minutes, an intense back and forth ensued. Wilsonville and La Salle seemingly traded buckets until the final minute, with the Falcons up by one with about 15 seconds left just needed to stop Wilsonville and the game would be over. Instead, Gutridge took matters into his own hands and putting up a layup that didn’t go in but resulted in him being fouled and going to the free throw line.
Gutridge hit the first attempt to tie it but missed the go ahead shot, La Salle missed a shot at the buzzer and the most intense game of the season would head to overtime. In the first minute, both teams missed a couple shots before finally Nick Colyer broke the scoreless period with a monumental 3 pointer, then as La Salle tried to respond Gutridge stepped in front of a pass and took it the rest of the way for a big 5 point lead in front of a frenetic Wilsonville crowd.
La Salle took a timeout but it didn’t do much for them, the Falcons looked drained of all the fire they had in the first half. Wilsonville closed it out with some free throws from Boss and some missed shots by the Falcons the final score being 68-58.
Wilsonville showed great resilience in the face of adversity something they take pride in, after the game Jacob Boss who finished with 17 points had this to say about the Wilsonville performance: “This one had some meaning, we went out there and played our game, when times got tough we rose up to the occasion which felt really good.”
The leading scorers for the Falcons were Milan Skoro who finished with 15 points, as well as Rhigden Khyungra who also had 15. Aiden Kelly had 11 before leaving in the 4th quarter with an injury. La Salle now sits with a 14-10 overall record and 9-5 league record will try to regroup with a matchup at home on the 23rd against Parkrose.
Wilsonville improves to 20-3 overall, and 14-0 in league as they quickly turn their sights to a contest at home against Hood River Valley on the 21st. Nick Colyer commented on the upcoming couple games before the playoffs: “We want to finish the league schedule with a couple great efforts and hopefully a couple wins, we are playing a couple good teams so it should be a challenge.”
Wilsonville will close out their regular season trying to keep their perfect league record against Hood River and Canby.