Down two points with the clock well under 2 minutes, Philomath High needed to find a way to score.
The Warriors had seen a 10-point lead late in the third quarter disappear with visiting Newport finding success from three-point range. Meanwhile, Philomath’s offense went in the tank during a critical stretch with just two points through the first six minutes of the fourth.
Gallery: PHS boys basketball vs. Newport (Feb. 25, 2025)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 46-45 boys basketball win over Newport on Tuesday.
Gallery: PHS cheer and dance seniors (Feb. 25, 2025)
A collection of photos from Philomath High School’s senior night for members of the cheer squad and the Shining Stars dance team on Tuesday.
A berth in the Class 4A state playoffs was at stake for both teams — the winner automatically qualifying as the conference runner-up, the loser forced to fight another day in the play-in round.
With 1:41 remaining, Philomath senior Caleb Russell spotted senior teammate Logan Matthews in position for a possible alley-oop. Positioned on the right side of the hoop, Matthews caught the ball in mid-air and tried to finish with a dunk.
“Yeah, I tried, it was close,” Matthews said, a player who is very capable of slamming the ball with a 37-1/2 inch vertical jump.
Although the shot didn’t drop, Matthews was fouled. In front of a packed PHS gym on Senior Night in a high-pressure situation, he calmly sank both foul shots to tie the score.
Later with just 12 seconds left and Philomath down by one point, Russell again found Matthews near the hoop on the right side. A perfect pass turned into an easy lay-in and the Warriors took a 46-45 lead.
“We ran it twice and it was the right timing for it … it worked out really well,” PHS coach Blake Eker said. “Huddy (senior Hudson Raab) set a great screen and we got it up there. I mean, we got four points out of it.”
Newport had a chance late to pull it out with junior Aaidyn Bokuro getting a look but his shot didn’t fall, PHS sophomore Esias Sapp secured the rebound and the final buzzer sounded.
In one of the more exciting games in recent memory, Philomath pulled off the 46-45 win to punch its ticket to the playoffs
“Throughout the season, we’ve just gotten so much better,” Matthews said, a reference to the team’s 2-6 record through the first 2-1/2 weeks. “At the start, things were a little shaky but I feel like every game we played, we came together more and more as a team and it’s been great.”
In addition to the Russell-Matthews plays that led to go-ahead points, Sapp’s performance off the bench proved to be another key to the victory. Sapp scored 10 of his 15 points off the bench in the third quarter when Philomath built a double-digit lead. A couple of 3-pointers and a 5-for-5 performance at the free-throw line were part of his night.
Newport rallied in the fourth quarter behind 3-pointers. Senior Rory Barber buried one with 6:58 remaining and a little more than 30 seconds later, junior Easton Herrmann hit one to cut Philomath’s lead to 40-39 — the closest the Cubs had been since the game was knotted at 20-20 in the opening seconds of the third quarter. After junior Josiah Peters scored inside for Philomath, Newport’s Herrmann nailed another 3 to tie the game, 42-42. At the 5-minute mark, the shifty Bokuro slashed through the lane to put the Cubs up, 44-42, to set up the final stretch.
“The way they came back I didn’t really expect,” Matthews said. “They had one guy heat up (Herrmann) and we didn’t necessarily see that coming.”
Ecker said his team just stopped making shots.
“We just weren’t matching them or getting anything going there,” Ecker said. “We had a really good third quarter and got up by 12.”
After Philomath had taken the lead on the Matthews lay-in with 12 seconds left, Newport had the opportunity to try to steal the win. The Cubs called timeout with 9 seconds left but had to go the length of the court to get a play set up.
Philomath came at Newport with pressure on the in-bounds play.
“We wanted them to pick up the ball and start the count,” Ecker said, referring to the rule that the game clock doesn’t start running until a player touches the ball. “We thought No. 3 (Bokuro) was going to drive and that’s what he did. We were watching for that and trying to bring over some help … possibly take the charge if he got in too far.”
Bokuro made it toward the right side of the lane before attempting a shot.
“We didn’t want No. 3 (Bokuro) or No. 5 (Barber) to get the ball,” Matthews said. “We knew that as soon as they did get the ball, they were just going to try to drive in, so we were prepared for that. We had a guy rotate over from the back side and it worked out.”
Philomath swept the season series over Newport, an exceptional program that is ranked in the top 10. Herrmann finished as the team’s top scorer with 16 points and Bokuro added 12. Newport (15-8 overall, 6-4 Oregon West) will host a play-in game at 6 p.m. Friday against Cottage Grove.
In addition to Sapp’s 15, the Warriors had a double-digit scorer in Matthews with 10.
Philomath (13-10, 7-3) was seeded ninth for the playoffs and will need to hit the road March 8 for a game at eighth-seeded Seaside (16-8), champions of the Cowapa League. The two teams last met in the 2022 playoffs when the Seagulls pulled out a 62-61 win over Philomath in the 4A tournament’s quarterfinals.
Ecker said the team is trying to set up a tuneup game but as of Wednesday, nothing had been announced.
