Trailing by eight points in the opening seconds of the second half, Philomath High needed some sort of offensive spark to try to stay in the game Tuesday evening against No. 2 and conference unbeaten Cascade.
After Cougars senior Landon Knox knocked down a 3-pointer early in the third quarter, Warriors senior Caleb Russell responded with a 3-pointer of his own to cut Philomath’s deficit at the time to five points. But in the end, Philomath was not able to take advantage of its opportunities inside in what ended up as a 43-36 loss.
Gallery: PHS boys basketball vs. Cascade (Feb. 18, 2025)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s boys basketball loss vs. Cascade in the PHS gym on Tuesday.
“We did a little tally in the second half, or maybe it was in the fourth quarter, but we would have won by one if we would have made our initial layin,” PHS coach Blake Ecker said. “Now sometimes, we had an extra layin in that possession but we didn’t count those.”
Even when the Warriors did have second- and third-chance opportunities off misses, those attempts weren’t falling either. Plus, Philomath had a 38.5% performance at the free-throw line on 5-of-13 shooting.
“It does drive you crazy when you know you put a team in a very good position to win,” Ecker said. “I mean, the offense worked, it’s open, they get wide open shots and the defense worked well again tonight.”
Russell’s long-range shooting was a bright spot and to an extent filled an offensive need that the Warriors couldn’t find elsewhere on the court. Russell scored 17 points in the game — all in the second half — in a performance that included five 3-pointers.
“I was feeling good after I hit the first one,” Russell said, referring to that shot early in the second half. “After that, I felt like I could just keep going. We were down a lot so I had to start shooting.”
Russell’s second 3-pointer with 3:35 left in the third cut Cascade’s lead to 22-18 but the Cougars had a 7-0 response to build a cushion that would remain mostly intact the rest of the way. Russell buried three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including one with 53 seconds left that got the Warriors back to within 37-33.
Cascade put the game away, however, with senior Kaiden Ford scoring with 40 seconds left and then hitting four straight free throws. Russell’s last 3-pointer came with 4 seconds left with the game out of reach.
Early on, Philomath had an especially tough shooting stretch from late in the first quarter until halftime. Senior Zack Powers hit a basket with 3:12 left in the opening quarter to give the Warriors a 6-5 lead but Philomath made only one other field goal throughout the rest of the first half — that coming on a jump shot by sophomore Esias Sapp in the second quarter. Powers hit a couple of foul shots as well but by halftime, the Warriors were down 15-10.
Those high-percentage shots inside just weren’t falling.
“We work on them in practice, too, so it’s like we’ve got to make those shots, it’s tough,” Russell said. “The free throws are huge and the layups, we’ve got to make them all.”
In addition to Russell’s 17, Powers finished with eight and Sapp scored six off the bench. The team was missing a starter because of illness.
Ford scored 22 and Knox added 11 for the Cougars (17-3).
“We’ve just got to flush the game and get ready for the next one,” Ecker said. “Next one’s a tough one, too. We’ve got two more tough ones to end the season at Stayton and at home against Newport. We need a little help plus we’ve got to win a game. We need to win one of these next two.”
The Warriors (11-10) are still sitting at No. 10 in the Oregon School Activities Association rankings. In the Oregon West standings, Cascade leads at 7-0 with Newport at 5-2 and Philomath third at 5-3. North Marion and Stayton follow at 3-5. All five of those schools are ranked in the OSAA top 10.
Philomath had a 4-1 record through the first half of conference play but has now dropped two straight — falling to North Marion Saturday before the setback to Cascade.
“I feel like we’ve got to come to practice ready,” Russell said. “Two (straight) losses, especially this one hurt, but we’ve got to come back. We need to come back with a run … and get our momentum back up.”
Philomath’s tipoff at Stayton Friday is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The Eagles (12-9, 3-5) are coming off a 65-51 loss to Newport. The regular-season finale at home against the Cubs follows this coming Tuesday.
