SALEM -- If you didn't look at the calendar, you would've thought you were in Coos Bay or Pendleton with the way Western Christian and De La Salle North Catholic played Saturday afternoon.
The crowd was loud and passionate and the players were getting after it, trading blows like it was a state championship game.
In the end, 2A Western Christian prevailed 71-66 over 3A De La Salle North Catholic in the White bracket final of the Crusader Classic New Year’s Invitational boys basketball tournament at Salem Academy.
“It was beyond physical. It felt like a state championship game,” De La Salle North Catholic senior Kadeem Nelson said.
Western Christian junior Payton Richardson said of the atmosphere: “This type of game, it’s between two really good teams and we go at it, and that’s how the game is. The crowd was getting into it, too.”
The teams went back and forth throughout before Western Christian opened a 58-51 lead in the fourth quarter, when Richardson scored eight of his 24 points.
“Oh, it was huge because in recent times when the fourth quarter starts, we lose it a little bit and let the other team catch up, like what happened with Santiam Christian,” Richardson said, referring to an overtime defeat Dec. 21. “But today we really picked it up, kept moving the ball and playing. We kept flowing and kept getting stops.”
The third-ranked Pioneers (12-1) weren’t out of the woods, though, as the No. 2 Knights (8-4) got to within 66-63 with 30 seconds left. But Western Christian sealed the win with free throws.
It was the first loss to an Oregon team this season for De La Salle North Catholic, the reigning 3A champion.
“We learned a lot,” Nelson said. “Rotation, discipline, not fouling. We got into foul trouble, so not fouling and staying in front of our guys.”
Senior guard Keaton Hull led Western Christian with 26 points. Nelson and junior guard George Sadi each scored 21 points for the Knights.
Sadi hit two quick threes’ as De La Salle North Catholic jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead before Western Christian drew them back in.
Richardson drained a buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Pioneers a 37-35 lead at half, turning and hollering to the rising Western Christian crowd. Hull beat the third-quarter buzzer with a three-pointer for a 49-47 lead.
