Senior Caleb Russell buried a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left to lift Philomath High’s boys basketball team to a 46-44 victory at Gladstone Tuesday night.
Russell’s winning shot came after a flurry of activity around Philomath’s hoop in the game’s final seconds. The Warriors had a chance to tie with 22 seconds left with a pair of free throws but neither attempt dropped. Philomath secured the offensive rebound on the second miss but could not convert on the putback. The Warriors maintained possession, however, with the ball out of bounds off the Gladiators.
On the in-bounds play, coach Blake Ecker said senior Logan Matthews had an open look in the lane from about 3 feet but teammates weren’t able to get him the ball. Russell ended up with the ball near half court and Ecker said he was looking for a lob play but noticed the clock was ticking away and took the 3-pointer.
The Warriors (6-7) have now won three of their last four games with the lone loss over that stretch coming against a team that won a state title last season. The game at Gladstone was the team’s first in 11 days.
Junior Josiah Peters led Philomath scorers with 13 points on five field goals and 3 of 4 from the foul line. Sophomore Jamin Peters scored eight of his 10 points in the first half. Russell finished with nine and Matthews added seven.
Philomath’s struggles at the free-throw line this season continued with the team hitting just 46.2% on 13 attempts.
Senior Jase Schmidt led the Gladiators (5-8) with 18 points.
Philomath will now take another week off before returning to the court Jan. 21 at Sweet Home in the team’s Oregon West Conference opener.
