Southridge 63, Mountain View 56 & North Medford 44, Sunset 42: Seven Intriguing Prospects
Thanks to the wintery weather in Oregon, several games were rescheduled a couple of days from Tuesday as teams from Central and Southern Oregon weren’t able to make the trip. On Thursday night, we were able to take in two…
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Continue ReadingThanks to the wintery weather in Oregon, several games were rescheduled a couple of days from Tuesday as teams from Central and Southern Oregon weren’t able to make the trip. On Thursday night, we were able to take in two games involving Metro League teams – first a gutty win by Southridge over Mountain View and then a comeback close victory by North Medford over Sunset on the road.
In the first game of the night, Southridge struggled early but took control in the third quarter and fought off a late Mountain View comeback to win, 63-56. The Cougars chose to zone Southridge which seemed to confuse the Skyhawks, but in the beginning of the second half senior Brock Henry started to find his shot and behind the playmaking of senior Ben Pak, Southridge built a lead. But Mountain View wouldn’t go away as senior Chase McClain and junior Grant Jordan kept on fighting back. A bucket by Pono Van Dusen with less than a minute left gave them some breathing room, 59-56, and the Skyhawks held the Cougars scoreless while hitting their free throws to finish out the game strong.
Southridge advances to play at Jefferson in the next round, which will be on Saturday night.
“We started out really slow and the zone surprised us a little bit and got us out of rhythm,” said Southridge head coach Phil Vesel. “But the third quarter I thought defensively we were better and when we executed against their zone we started to build some confidence. Now against Jefferson, it’s going to be a tough game and a tough environment but we’re going to go and compete up there.”
In our second game of the night, North Medford shook off the cobwebs of a low-scoring first half to roar back and beat Sunset, 44-42. With 22.4 seconds left in the game, the Black Tornado gave the ball to point guard Darrius Wells who broke free from his defender to penetrate and dish it to post Garrett Parker for the go-ahead layup with 2.2 seconds remaining. Sunset had one final chance but Will Reese’s baseline shot was off the mark. Senior Jaray Thomas led North Medford with 15 points and Jett Carpenter added ten points, all in the second half. Sunset was led by junior point guard Braeden Sato with 14 points.
North Medford advances to face Jesuit on Friday night.
“We just kept on coming to practice, but we had a lot of rust as we hadn’t played in awhile,” said North Medford head coach Scott Plankenhorn. “I thought that we got a lot of stuff off our bench and they played great, and our defense was just superb. Now it’s back at Jesuit again and we’ve been there before so we know it will be a chore, so we’re just going to go there tomorrow bring our best and see what happens.”
Here are the seven most intriguing prospects we saw from both games:
Brock Henry (2019 Southridge) – Henry finished with a game-high 29 points and he earned them from three-point range (4-for-9), mid-range shots (9-for-18 shooting overall), and from the line (7-for-8 ft). He showed pretty good judgement on when to bomb away from outside or attack the zone, and was really helpful on the boards with five rebounds. Henry continues to hold an offer from Lewis-Clark State in Idaho and is hoping to visit the school soon.
Ben Pak (2019 Southridge) – As the season has gone on, Pak has been focusing more on being a pure point guard and it really showed against Mountain View. He was constantly looking at making the right pass, whether it was hitting guys for open shots on the perimeter, finding guys underneath for layups on the break, or even spotting guys on the alleyoop. Pak finished with ten points and nine assists and was also very active on defense. Pak is getting some Division III interest and we will have an update posted on him soon.
Chase McClain (2019 Mountain View) – McClain didn’t quite have things going with his long range shot, but showed great ability to shake off his defender to create shots off the dribble and was able to knock down some pull-ups or get to the basket and finish, ending up with 21 points. Physically strong, he is able to overpower his defender to get to the basket and absorb contact and either finish, draw the foul, or do both. Defensively there were a number of occasions where he was the only guy back in transition but was able to make it difficult for the opponent to finish on the break. McClain has been getting interest from colleges at all levels and now that his season has completed, he will start to sort through his recruitment.
Grant Jordan (2020 Mountain View) – Jordan was forced to play inside most of this season due to the fact that the Cougars lacked size. But he’s a lanky 6-foot-3 wing at heart and he displayed those attributes on Tuesday night. Jordan attacked the basket well off the dribble but also showed that he could shoot from the outside by knocking down a couple of threes. He finished the night with 16 points and after a spring/summer of improving his perimeter skills, will enter next season as Mountain View’s main man.
Jaray Thomas (2019 North Medford) – Thomas is a well-built 6-foot combo guard who is strong off the dribble and very athletic. While offensively he led North Medford with 15 points – largely off tough drives to the hoop – he also made an impression on defense. He was matched up against Sunset forward Colby King who is a physical player that is tough to contend with, but Thomas held his own against his bigger opponent and had some key stops on him down the stretch. Thomas has not been getting much recruiting interest to this point but is willing to start the JC route for college basketball.
Jett Carpenter (2020 North Medford) – A “football kid” as a wide receiver/linebacker, Carpenter measures in at a rock-solid 6-foot-4 and against Sunset was very tough to handle around the basket. While he was scoreless in the first half, he more than made up for things in the second stanza by scoring five buckets sometimes against double teams.
Braeden Sato (2020 Sunset) – Sato led Sunset with 14 points, but struggled to get clean looks in the second half as the North Medford defense honed in on him. Still, the point guard is very quick off the dribble and has deep range on his three-point shot. There may be times when he might look a little more for his teammates but he’s such a talented scorer – and one Sunset depends on – that looking for his own offense might actually help the team more.
Sunset’s last possession of the game: