The Philomath High boys basketball team trailed at halftime but put on a defensive clinic in the second half and ended up with a double-digit victory over Marshfield on Friday night to advance to next week’s Class 4A state tournament.
The 49-37 first-round playoff win for the Warriors should sound familiar to local hoops fans. Philomath beat the Pirates in similar fashion back in mid-December, 51-38, after trailing at halftime and limiting the opponent to nine second-half points.
Gallery: PHS boys basketball vs. Marshfield (March 1, 2024)
A collection of photos from Philomath High’s 49-37 boys basketball win over Marshfield in the first round of the 4A playoffs on Friday.
In this more recent win, the Warriors allowed just six points in the third and seven points in the fourth.
“Defense is everything — if they can’t score, they can’t win,” Philomath’s 6-foot-5 post Owen Heiken said afterward. “We didn’t play real great in the first half. We just had to figure it out and make adjustments in the second.”
Coach Blake Ecker, who continues a remarkable streak of qualifying basketball teams for the state tournament, stresses strong defense as a key to success. He saw a Warriors squad that really put the clamps down on the Pirates in the second half.
“We talk about it everyday in practice and work on our defensive stuff,” Ecker said. “We knew what they were capable of … it would just be nice if we could put two halves together.”
Philomath (19-6), seeded fifth in the playoffs, now heads to Forest Grove with a stiff challenge in what appears to be the tougher side of the bracket. The Warriors will play fourth-seeded Baker in the quarterfinals at 3:15 p.m. Thursday and with a win would likely go up against Cascade, the defending champions, top seed and Oregon West rival that the Warriors have struggled against over the past two seasons.
The championship game is scheduled for 5:45 p.m. Saturday, March 9.
“We try to expect to do that,” Ecker said about taking teams to the state tournament. “That’s not always going to happen. It’s hard to get there.”
Philomath’s chances of making it this year seemed questionable in the first half against Marshfield. The Pirates never trailed through the first 16 minutes and even held a 10-point lead with 2:25 left in the half on a 3-pointer by junior Jonah Martin.
“We got off to a shaky start just like the first time we played them and played great defense in the second half,” PHS senior Preston Kramer said. “The shots aren’t always falling but you can play great defense.”
Marshfield (14-11) plays a physical brand of basketball and junior Luke Jackson causes problems inside with his 6-foot-8 frame.
“He gave us some fits,” Ecker said. “Once we started passing the ball quicker and they were on their heels a little more, we started finding the open looks.”
PHS senior Jacob Peters was limited to four points in the first half — he had two baskets in the final 45 seconds.
“They weren’t calling a lot of fouls on them inside and so it was frustrating,” Peters said. “But we figured it out in the second half.”
After getting into the 10-point hole, the Warriors finished the half on a 9-2 run to trail by just three points at the break. Junior Caleb Russell got the juices flowing with a 3-pointer and then after the Pirates countered with a hoop, Philomath finished with free throws by Heiken and Kramer followed by the two baskets by Peters.
Said Kramer about the mood at halftime, “We were happy we made that little run.”
Ecker didn’t want to stray too far from the original plan.
“We gave up a bunch of offensive rebounds in that first half but we still wanted to attack them inside offensively,” he said. “We still wanted to go at them because they were really extending their defense.”
After giving up the first three points of the third quarter, Philomath settled into a rhythm and went on a 14-3 run. Kramer and Peters started finding the hoop with more frequency, senior Connor Harms hit inside after an offensive rebound and senior Kaden Muir finished the quarter with a 3-pointer followed by a quick-hit layup after receiving a pinpoint pass from Russell.
“We really turned it on in the second half,” Peters said. “It came down to rebounding .. it came down to second-chance shots.”
Marshfield stuck around for a bit longer and was down just 37-34 with 5:24 left in the game. But the Warriors put together a 9-0 run to put the game away. Peters hit a pair of free throws and later added two with an assist to Muir, Kramer buried a 3-pointer and then Muir scored with an assist to Peters for a 46-34 lead with 2:31 left.
Philomath had three players hit double digits with Muir and Peters finishing with 12 apiece and Kramer adding 11. On the boards, Peters finished with 14 and Harms had 11.
Senior Gannon Frost had a team-high 11 points for the Pirates.
With the first-round win behind them, the Warriors will now focus on Baker, a team that comes to Forest Grove with a 24-1 record — its only loss coming to Cascade, 59-51. Philomath and Baker last met two years ago in the semifinals with the Warriors winning 67-60 en route to the state championship.
“We have a really high ceiling,” Peters said, “and we’re not close to what we’re capable of doing.”
