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Late surge by West Salem ousts North Medford Thursday Mar 9, 2017 at 2:00 AM Mar 9, 2017 at 11:32 PM Kris Henry Mail Tribune @Kris_Henry There were no celebratory high-fives, but there were plenty of well-deserved pats on the back for those wearing North Medford uniforms Thursday morning as the Black Tornado boys basketball team walked off the Chiles Center court for the final time at the Class 6A boys basketball state tournament. With one North Medford starter sidelined for the tournament (senior Joey Hunter) and the team’s leading scorer (junior Kaison Faust) sitting next to him for far too long in Thursday’s consolation semifinal, the Black Tornado waged a tight back-and-forth battle with West Salem before falling 62-58 to be eliminated. “The competitive spirit of this team just kept us in it,” said North Medford head coach Scott Plankenhorn. “We actually got the lead in the third and fourth quarters even with all that, it was just an amazing effort from the guys. We fought all the way to the end and had our chances, they just made more plays in the end.” North Medford senior Brad Allen was 7-for-17 from the field and finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and two assists in playing all 32 minutes. Faust added 13 points and four rebounds despite being limited to 14 minutes due to foul trouble, while senior Tre Holmes hit some big shots and finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. The seventh-seeded Black Tornado (21-7) was looking to avenge a 79-59 loss on Dec. 9 to No. 6 West Salem (22-6), and put itself in good position to do that Thursday when Holmes hit a game-tying 3-pointer late in the third quarter and junior Oscar Banuelos closed with two free throws for a 45-43 edge. The teams traded baskets before Tyke Thompson hit one of his three 3-pointers and Kyle Greeley followed with a basket to put the Titans up 50-47 with 6½ minutes to play. Saddled with four fouls, Faust returned to the court shortly thereafter and scored to close the gap but, as it did throughout the contest, West Salem managed a quick answer. Josh Bailey made two free throws, and after a steal by Zac Bulgin, Thompson drilled another deep trey to push the Titans’ edge back up to 55-49 midway through the fourth quarter. “(Thompson) hit that deep one and that was a pretty big dagger,” said Plankenhorn. “It’s a three-point game and if he misses we have a great chance to maybe come back and tie it, but it didn’t happen. They made a lot of plays like that down the stretch and we just kept fighting.” A 3-pointer by Banuelos, who finished with eight points, trimmed the margin to 55-52 with three minutes to go, and it was 56-52 when Thompson stole the ball and Bulgin scored on a putback with 1:14 to play. Allen had a chance to cut into the deficit when fouled on a basket with 1:04 to go, but he couldn’t convert the three-point opportunity and the Titans again tacked on free throws to extend their lead. Faust scored on a putback with 25 seconds left but more free throws by West Salem after North Medford was forced to foul kept the Tornado at bay. West Salem finished 15-for-22 from the free-throw line and was 19-for-45 from the field to fend off North Medford, which shot 21-for-49 overall (42.9 percent). The Titans opened the game by hitting seven of their first nine 3-pointers to go up 31-23 in the second quarter before settling down to finish 9-for-19 overall. “It was just amazing that we were in games when we were giving up that many points from the 3-point line,” said Plankenhorn, whose team was 5-for-11 on 3-pointers. “That’s just what teams do up here and we just don’t have that capacity.” “We did a much better job on that in the third quarter and that’s why we got the lead,” he added. “Our defensive tenacity was unbelievable (as North outscored West Salem 18-9 in the third quarter), but we just couldn’t keep it going.” North Medford senior Wyatt Baptiste added eight points and five rebounds, while West Salem’s Greeley finished with 25 points and five rebounds. For the Black Tornado, an 0-2 trip to the state tournament was disappointing, but it didn’t take away the team’s first conference championship since 1998-99. “It was a hard locker room afterward for sure because of what they accomplished this year,” said Plankenhorn. “They’re going to always have that conference championship banner that they can walk into the gym and see and know that it took 18 years to accomplish that.” “We traveled over 4,000 miles as a team and all the things we did along the way made it even harder,” added Plankenhorn. “It wasn’t so much about the fact that we didn’t win a trophy, just all the things we did that was pretty cool like tough trips in the snow and going to Spokane and feeding the homeless and all things they can cherish about this season forever.” NORTH MEDFORD (21-7) Brad Allen 7-17 2-4 16, Kaison Faust 4-4 5-5 13, Tre Holmes 3-11 2-4 10, Oscar Banuelos 2-2 2-2 8, Wyatt Baptiste 4-8 0-2 8, Quinton Rumrey 1-4 0-0 3, Dylan Ireland 0-2 0-0 0, Kyle Barry 0-1 0-0 0, Joey Hunter 0-0 0-0 0, Jake O'Connor 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-49 11-17 58. WEST SALEM (22-6) Kyle Greeley 7-15 7-8 25, Tyke Thompson 4-6 0-0 11, Josh Bailey 2-8 6-8 10, Jordan Lind 3-6 1-2 7, Zac Bulgin 2-7 1-2 6, Bryson Splonski 1-2 0-0 3, Jared Oliver 0-1 0-2 0, Zach Robertson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-45 15-22 62. North Medford;14;13;18;13;—;58 West Salem;14;20;9;19;—;62 3-point goals—North Medford 5-11 (Tre Holmes 2-6, Oscar Banuelos 2-2, Quinton Rumrey 1-3), West Salem 9-19 (Kyle Greeley 4-5, Tyke Thompson 3-5, Bryson Splonski 1-2, Zac Bulgin 1-5, Josh Bailey 0-2). Fouled out—North Medford-Oscar Banuelos. Rebounds—North Medford 35 (Brad Allen 8, Tre Holmes 8), West Salem 26 (Jordan Lind 6). Assists—North Medford 8 (Wyatt Baptiste 2, Brad Allen 2), West Salem 10 (Josh Bailey 3). Total fouls—North Medford 20, West Salem 12. Technical fouls—North Medford-Jake O'Connor. Reach reporter Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected], www.facebook.com/krishenryMT or www.twitter.com/Kris_Henry