With the game tied and under 30 seconds to play, Marist Catholic senior Peyton Tyner had the shot of the night to end Philomath’s bid to finish its home boys basketball tournament unbeaten.
Tyner buried a 3-pointer with 25 seconds remaining in a game the Spartans ended up winning by a 49-46 margin. Tyner had a team-high 20 points, which included two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Philomath (7-3) struggled at times with ball control on the offensive end, which included turnovers at pivotal moments in the final minutes.
“We need to learn how to take care of the basketball,” PHS coach Blake Ecker said. “I mean, I don’t know how many times we had unforced turnovers. It wasn’t like they were putting a ton of pressure on us — we just threw it to the other team.”
Ecker agreed that it was good to play a game that challenged his players in crucial moments. The Warriors will no doubt find themselves in close games in Oregon West play and during the postseason. So far, Philomath has an 0-2 record this season in games decided by six points or less.
Marist (7-4) scored the first hoop in the fourth quarter to go up by five points on the Warriors only to see the home team respond and tie it up. Preston Kramer, the Philomath’s top scorer, hit a 3-pointer at the 6:12 mark and followed with a basket at 5:36 with a feed from junior Caleb Russell.
But Tyner came right back with a 3-pointer — he had three of those in all on the night. Philomath took advantage of a Marist turnover with 4:12 left as Kramer scored on a fast break to pull the Warriors to within one. The score remained that way for nearly 2-1/2 minutes.
With 1:50 left, Kramer came up with a steal and was fouled. He sank 1 of 2 free throws to tie the game, 44-44. Philomath had opportunities but the ball wouldn’t fall.
After Tyner hit the 3-pointer that put the Spartans up 49-46, Philomath came out of a timeout and scored a quick two with Kramer finding senior Connor Harms underneath. Still down by one, the Warriors found themselves in a difficult situation to send Marist to the free-throw line with only one team foul. PHS was able to commit fouls with 12, 11, 9 and 8 seconds left to finally get the Spartans into the bonus.
Marist senior Kaden Erlenbush came through for his team by sinking both free throws. Down 49-46, Philomath called a timeout with 8.9 seconds on the clock to try to set up a 3-pointer for the tie.
Needing to go the full length of the court, senior Kaden Muir in-bounded to junior Caleb Russell, who got the ball back to Muir and crossed center court with 6 seconds left. Kramer streaked across the top of the key and received a pass from Muir with 3 seconds left. Kramer made a move to shake Tyner, dribbled once and had a look but the 3-point attempt was no good at the buzzer.
Philomath played the game without Jacob Peters, who went down with an ankle injury in the first quarter of Thursday’s win over Scappoose.
“I was a little worried about not having Jacob — he adds a lot to us,” Ecker said. “The boys stepped up last night — tonight, those same guys were nowhere to be found, which was tough to see. The mistakes that we made, we just can’t make at the varsity level and expect to win.”
When it comes to bench scoring, Marist had a 21-0 advantage.
Of course, on the positive side.
Said Ecker, “With the amount of mistakes that we made and to keep it that close, I guess that’s not bad if you think about it.”
But Philomath definitely missed the presence of Peters, a physical 6-foot-3 senior with abilities in all facets on both ends of the court.
“At some point, he’s going to come back but we don’t know when,” Ecker said about Peters, who could be out anywhere from three to eight weeks. “We’ll see how he responds … I think he’ll be OK.”
Kramer finished with 23 points for the Warriors and Harms added nine.
Philomath will see action next on Wednesday at home vs. Amity. The tip-off for the boys’ game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
