The #7-ranked Cougars of Country Christian looked to finish their league competition undefeated against the #17 North Clackamas Christian School Saints. The Saints were looking to win the district tournament for the first time in head coach Grant Nelson’s tenure.
The Cougars won both regular season matchups by a combined 9 points and would hold off a determined Saints team to win 40-35 in another close matchup.
The first half was a low scoring affair with the teams combining for 23 points. “That is the best we have performed on defense against Country,” Grant Nelson said after the game. The Cougars and Saints both crashed the boards all night and allowed very few second chances for each other.
Both teams gritted out long defensive possessions in the slow-paced game. North Clackamas was coming off an overtime win the night before, and the fatigue showed in the deliberate pace the Saints chose.
At halftime, the Saints led 12-11.
It is never easy to beat a team so close in skill three times in a season. Country Christain coach Dawson Nofziger said that his team needed to be “mentally prepared” to win the game and also cited his team’s depth as a big factor all season.
The Cougars did a good job of keeping seniors Luke Nelson and Isaac Minnie (who combined for 40 points against Open Door the previous night) to just 11 and 10 points respectively. This opened up another senior, Landon Meuser, to make aggressive drives to the basket and score 8 of his own points.
Scoring picked up in the second half. North Clackamas went on a 5-0 run to start the third quarter, but Junior Matthew Weissenbrunner hit a 3-pointer for Country Christian to bring the game back to one possession.
Weissenbrunner would carry the Cougars to the win, scoring all 12 of his points in the second half, including the dagger 3-pointer with under a minute to go.
It was a classic ‘picket fence’ inbound play where three players screened out the defense to give Weissenbrunner an open shot that proved decisive. “I just read the defense and the pass was good, so I shot,” Weissenbrunner said of his final 3-pointer.
The Saints had an opportunity to tie the game late, but they lost the ball out of bounds on their possession. North Clackamas fouled to try to get the ball back, but Country Christian sunk both free throws to go up by 5 with 6.5 seconds to go.
The Cougars were also effective inside. Junior post Rhett Johnson was a consistent option for Country Christian as he towered over the North Clackmas players. The junior post hauled in numerous rebounds and provided the most consistent source of offense in the game from start to finish.
Weissenbrunner led all scorers with 12 points, followed closely by Johnson with 11.
With the win, Country Christian earned themselves a bye during the first round of the playoffs and a home game in the second round. They play on Friday, February 25th against a to be determined opponent.
North Clackamas earned a home game by being the Valley-10 runner up and will host St. Paul on Tuesday, February 22nd at 7:00pm.
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