The Philomath High School boys basketball team opened play in the Class 4A tournament Thursday afternoon with a 51-30 loss in the quarterfinals to Baker.
Playing on the Viking Gym floor at Forest Grove High School, the fourth-seeded Bulldogs never trailed with leads of nine at the end of the first quarter and 17 at halftime. Philomath, seeded fifth, doubled its scoring output in the second half but couldn’t not put a dent in the deficit to fall into the consolation side of the bracket.
The Warriors (19-7) are scheduled to play at 9 a.m. Friday against Madras, the No. 8 seed. The White Buffaloes (18-7) lost to top-seeded Cascade, 62-36. The winner of the Philomath-Madras game will advance to the fourth/sixth trophy game on Saturday morning while the loser will be eliminated.
PHS senior Preston Kramer scored a game-high 16 points on 7-of-18 shooting. Kramer scored 12 of those 16 in the second half, including a pair of 3-pointers, when the Warriors were trying to play catch-up.
Senior Jacob Peters had a team-high six rebounds with four of those on the offensive glass. Senior Connor Harms had five rebounds. Kramer had two steals and senior Kaden Muir, senior Mason Stearns, junior Hudson Raab and Harms had blocked shots. Peters had a pair of assists.
Baker had an advantage in all statistical facets of the game against Philomath, including 19-0 for points off the bench. The Bulldogs’ Hudson Spike had a lot to do with that statistic with 11 points, a performance that earned him Player of the Game honors for his team. The top player honor for Philomath went to Kramer.
Other telling stats included Baker’s advantage for points off turnovers (15-5), points in the paint (22-12) and rebounds (33-20). Philomath shot 31.6% compared to Baker’s 42.9%.
Philomath and Madras were scheduled to play during the regular season but the game was canceled because of a January ice storm. The last meeting between the two teams came on Jan. 13, 2023 in Philomath when the Warriors posted a 72-27 win.
