"I like going into battle with seniors," North Clackamas Christian (NCC) head coach Grant Nelson said after his team edged out the St. Paul Buckaroos 43-35 on their home court.
The NCC Saints hosted the Casco League #3 St. Paul in the first round of the OSAA 1A Classification state basketball tournament as the #2 Valley-10 team after upsetting Open Door last weekend.
Despite defeating the Buckaroos 51-18 earlier this season, both teams knew this game would be different. St. Paul did not have all their players and only had a limited number of practices in the first go-around. Further, St. Paul was much younger and needed "time to gel" as head coach Kevin Baker put it.
St. Paul was a completely different team. Led by 6'6" Junior Warren Rose, the Buckaroos controlled much of the game. "We just wanted them to play hard," Baker said after the game.
And the Buckaroos did just that. Their high-energy defense held the 3-point powered offense of NCC to just 3-22 shooting from beyond the arch.
With the 3-ball not falling, senior Landon Meuser took over as the most consistent source of offense for the Saints. Meuser drove aggressively to the basket and grabbed several offensive rebounds. Meuser would be the only NCC player to score in every quarter.
On offense, the Buckaroos did an excellent job of running set plays to create offense, "They're well coached and have great set plays," NCC coach Grant Nelson said after the game. The Saints did their best to contain Warren, but the junior forward still scored 16 points and facilitated the offense for his team. "He made some great decisions with the ball," Baker said.
As Grant Nelson put it, "We said to not let 22 [Warren] beat us, and it looked for a while like he would. But where NCC had an edge was in guard play of their seniors.
All night seniors Luke Nelson and Meuser harassed the Buckaroos' young backcourt. The constant pressure allowed the undersized Saints to keep Warren's domination to a manageable level. "I tried to be handsy and limit his game by not letting him go to his left," Meuser said after the game.
Every possession, St. Paul keyed on Luke Nelson, keeping the senior to just 8 points in the first half. It would take until the fourth quarter for Luke Nelson to take over. He scored 10 of his team's 18 points in the fourth. "As a senior, Luke has been there and knows what to do," Grant Nelson said of his son.
For all their difficulties from range, two of the three made 3-pointers could not have been better timed for the Saints. On back-to-back possessions, seniors Isaac Minnie and Luke Nelson hit deep shots to give the Saints a 5-point lead.
NCC did not look back once they had claimed that lead, outscoring St. Paul 18-9 in the fourth.
An unexpected hero for the Saints emerged in the form of another senior, Kaden Brent. With Minnie in foul trouble, the Saints called on Brent, who did not play in the district tournament, to take over big minutes.
"He's tough minded and brings intensity," Grant Nelson said after the game.
Brent played in the third and fourth quarters, often times relieving Meuser from guarding Warren. When Minnie fouled out with 3:10 remaining in the game, Brent was subbed in and played the remainder of the game.
As St. Paul tried to pull back into the game, Brent pulled in a crucial rebound through a foul and knocked down a free throw to put the Saints up by three possessions. "I was a little nervous, but you get in the groove. It was awesome to be on the [free throw] line," Brent said after the game.
"I don't normally give out game balls, but I gave Kaden one tonight," Grant Nelson said, adding, "he's one heck of a kid."
With the win, the Saints advance to the round of 16. They play at 4th-seeded Crosshill Christian at 8:00pm Friday. "We're going to give it everything and hope for the win," Meuser said.
Unfortunately for the Buckaroos, their season is over. However, the team returns all of their players next season and will be a force to be reckoned with. "They have great chemistry, they love each other, and they are great learners," Baker commented on his team.
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