The Philomath High boys basketball team dropped a third straight game with Thursday’s 50-46 loss to Hidden Valley in the opening round of the South Coast Les Schwab Tournament in Coos Bay.
Hosted by Marshfield, the Warriors will now play in the consolation semifinals at 8:30 a.m. Friday against North Bend.
“We missed a lot of layups, just couldn’t put the ball in the hole,” PHS coach Blake Ecker said.
Philomath had a lead in the first half but the game remained close and the Mustangs were up 21-19 at the break. Hidden Valley started to pull away in the fourth quarter before a final push by the Warriors. Junior Esias Sapp led the charge with two traditional three-point plays. In fact, Sapp scored eight of the team’s 10 points over the final eight minutes.
“We were down two with 7.9 seconds left and they had the ball,” Ecker said. “We were trying to get a trap at full-court and they got around us and threw it up an easy layin on the other end.”
That put the Mustangs up by four and secured the win.
“We could’ve won,” Ecker said. “It was tough missing all those shots. But we really did play a lot better so that was encouraging to see.”
Ecker lauded the efforts of junior guard Kaden Howard.
“He had his best game of the year,” Ecker said. “He did a good job of finishing and getting some steals and rebounds. He was all over the court.”
Hidden Valley (4-2) had an advantage with outside shooting by burying six 3-pointers in the contest — two each by sophomore James Barrett and senior Evan Neufeld.
Missed free throws were an issue on offense with the Warriors making half of their 16 attempts. Philomath also had problems with turnovers with 19 but that statistic evened out with Hidden Valley’s 17.
Three players hit double digits offensively for the Warriors (1-4) with sophomore Cole Barron’s 12, Sapp’s 11 and Howard’s 10.
Top scorers for the Mustangs were Neufeld with 18 and junior Cooper Gagnon with 12.
Philomath will next play North Bend, a team that comes in with a 2-3 record following an 86-27 loss to a strong Crook County contingent on Thursday.
Hidden Valley 50, Philomath 46
Thursday, Dec. 18, at Marshfield HS, Coos Bay
HIDDEN VALLEY (50)
Jesse Connell 1 1-2 4, Evan Neufeld 8 0-0 18, Deagan Fontes 1 0-0 2, Cooper Gagnon 5 2-4 12, Mauricio Mendez 2 0-0 4, James Barrett 2 0-0 6, Eric Combs 1 1-2 4, Jordan Wise-O’Driscoll 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 4-8 50.
PHILOMATH (46)
Dreyton Nuño 1 0-2 2, Kaden Howard 4 2-4 10, Esias Sapp 4 3-4 11, Cole Barron 6 0-2 12, Jamin Peters 2 2-2 6, Hamish McConnell 2 1-2 5, Lucas Lewetag 0 0-0 0, Ace Gerding 0 0-0 0, Nathan Seits 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 8-16 46.
Team 1 2 3 4 F Hidden Valley (4-2) 13 8 13 16 50 Philomath (1-4) 12 7 17 10 46
3-Point Goals—Hidden Valley 6 (Barrett 2, Neufeld 2, Connell, Combs), Philomath 0. Fouled Out—Connell. Total Fouls—Hidden Valley 17, Philomath 13. Technicals—None.