Blowing a 16-point lead in the first half, finding a way to regroup in the third and fourth quarters and then coming up with a clutch two points to force overtime, the Philomath High boys basketball team took fans on a crazy ride Thursday night in a home game against North Marion.
In the extra four minutes, senior Kaden Muir took over and buried a 3-pointer from the corner, finished a 2-on-1 fast break and sank a couple of free throws to help the Warriors to a 57-51 victory.
Gallery: PHS boys basketball vs. North Marion (Feb. 8, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 57-51 overtime boys basketball win over North Marion on Thursday
The win keeps Philomath in the race for an Oregon West Conference title.
“Once we were in overtime, I started feeling it and after the 3, the energy got up and everything started to fall after that,” said Muir, who finished the game with 13 points.
Although Muir’s performance on offense stole the show late, it was his defense that proved to be just as crucial to help Philomath end a two-game skid. Despite 26 points from Cole Hammack, coach Blake Ecker was thrilled with Muir’s defense on the North Marion sharpshooter.
In overtime, Hammack even appeared to get rattled a little as the Huskies started to get in too big of a hole.
“When Kaden was in here, he did a pretty good job on him,” Ecker said. “I’m super happy with Kaden, he really stepped it up tonight.”
The Warriors (15-5 overall, 5-2 Oregon West) had to come through under pressure to even get the game to OT. Down 48-46, Philomath’s hustle led to the game-tying basket. On the play, Connor Harms tried to get the ball to Kramer on the wing but the ball was deflected into an area under the hoop. Kramer stayed with it and dove on the floor to try to maintain possession.
The ball squirted out to Peters who dribbled once and found Harms wide open at the top of the key. Harms took the ball and made an aggressive move in the lane toward the hoop, scoring off the glass with 4.8 seconds left.
North Marion (15-6, 5-2) was able to call timeout after the Harms hoop with 3.5 seconds on the clock. Needing to go the full length of the court, the Huskies got the ball to near half court when fouled with 1.1 seconds left — it was only the third of the quarter for the Warriors. Following another timeout, the Huskies got the ball to Hammack, who got a look but had Logan Matthews in his face and the shot fell short.
Neither team could find the basket early on in the four-minute OT until Muir’s crowd-erupting 3-pointer at the 2:32 mark. On the other end, North Marion’s Hammack missed a long 3 that bounced off the back of the rim, Harms grabbed the rebound and the Warriors were off and running. Kramer took the ball down and found Muir in transition for two more points.
Owen Heiken made 1 of 2 foul shots for a 54-48 lead with 52 seconds left and Hammack buried a 3-pointer with 34 seconds remaining to make it a one-possession game at 54-51. But Philomath hit its free throws the rest of the way — two by Muir with 26 seconds left and one by Kramer with 18 seconds left — to account for the final score.
Asked to sum up the difference in OT, Muir didn’t mention his seven points.
“Our defense,” Muir said. “We really clamped down on that and were able to hold him there.”
Ecker knows his team can get it done on the defensive end.
“We can’t always make shots but we know we can always play defense,” Ecker said. “Always, every day we come in here, we can play defense.”
Muir said the win over North Marion was huge.
“The energy after our last loss, we were really low,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep it going against Sweet Home, Stayton and Cascade — win out now to basically have a chance (at the league title).”
Cascade leads the Oregon West at 6-1 with Philomath and North Marion tied for second at 5-2. The Cougars will get their two biggest remaining games at home — Feb. 12 vs. North Marion and Feb. 20 against Philomath in the regular-season finale.
Philomath beat North Marion easily on the road on Jan. 23 by an 81-58 margin. And things appeared to be headed in the same direction early on Thursday. The Warriors held a 25-9 lead early in the second quarter. Heiken was on fire early and had double digits by halftime.
But the Huskies rallied and put together a 14-1 run over the final six minutes of the second quarter.
The run by the visitors didn’t surprise Ecker or his players.
“We knew they were going to make a run … we were hoping it wasn’t going to be that big of a run,” Ecker said. “We got into some foul trouble, we had to make some substitutions. At that point, we weren’t taking care of the ball very well, making some turnovers, poor choices and our offense sputtered in that situation.”
For the most part, Philomath slowed down the fouls in the second half, although Peters had to come out at one point and Muir was playing in the fourth quarter with four.
“We rolled with him because he was playing such good defense on Hammack,” Ecker said about Muir. “He played phenomenal, I mean, he was the player of the game.”
North Marion took its first lead since 2-0 on a Hammack 3-pointer with 5:31 remaining to set up a flurry to the finish. Carter Reilly scored with 53 seconds left for a 48-46 Huskies lead that led up to the late basket by Harms.
Heiken finished with 16, Kramer had 15 and Muir 13 to lead Philomath’s scorers.
“I was ecstatic with Kaden,” Ecker said. “Owen played a really good game, Connor came out, too, and made some big shots and rebounds.”
Philomath will now turn its attention to Sweet Home for its senior night game at 7 p.m. Monday.
