The Knappa Loggers squared off against the East Linn Academy Eagles yesterday in the 2A Boys’ 3rd-place game in Pendleton, Oregon. Knappa entered the game off of an emotional loss to Salem Academy late the night before. The cinderella-story East Linn came into the game missing their top player after losing to Western Christian.
After a slow first half for the Loggers, Knappa would go on to dominate the second half, winning 49-37.
East Linn started the game explosively. The Eagles played a strong man-to-man defense with Ashton Sewell guarding Knappa’s Shane McMahon. Sewell kept McMahon in check with an “incredible performance” and Sewell ”left it all out there” according to East Linn coach Jonathan Whitehead.
East Linn handled the press from Knappa well, and led for most of the first half. The turnovers that East Linn did commit rarely led to points which allowed them to hang in with Knappa.
Additionally, the Eagles did a great job of holding Logan Morrill to just 6 points all night with the use of double teams.
The turning point in the game came at the end of the second quarter. As time wound down, McMahan tossed a no-look, over-the-head pass to Brandon Gale who sunk a 3-pointer as time expired. This gave Knappa their first lead since 1:59 in the first quarter.
The Loggers shook off the cobwebs in the third quarter. Tanner Jackson hit a 3-pointer to start the quarter and give Knappa their biggest lead in the game. Gale hit another 3-pointer on the next position and the Loggers did not look back.
After shooting 30% in the first half (12.5% from 3-point range), the Loggers shot 39% in the second half (more importantly, 40% from range).
East Linn fought hard, but could not match the depth of Knappa who continued to pull away the entire second half.
McMahan led all scorers with 14 points with Gale scoring 12. Sewell led the Eagles with 11 points and Devin King added 10 for the Eagles.
Despite the loss, East Linn was rightfully proud of their season, “It’s everything to be here [Pendleton]. It was our goal to get to Pendleton.” East Linn was seeded 13th in the state tournament and emerged with a 5th-place finish.
Knappa captured their highest finish at Pendleton in a while. “It was a gutty performance,” Knappa coach Paul Isom said. “We knew that we wouldn’t come out the same [after last night’s game], but the guys still battled through.”
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