PORTLAND -- South Salem senior point guard Jaden Nielsen-Skinner had already experienced the biggest stage in Oregon high school basketball.
But Wednesday night, his longtime sidekick got his first taste of the bright spotlight, and made quite an impression.
Junior guard Trey Galbraith scored 17 points, including a personal 7-0 run to end the first half, to spark the second-seeded Saxons to a 56-46 quarterfinal win over No. 7 Tigard in the OSAA / OnPoint Community Credit Union 6A tournament at the Chiles Center.
“Man, I’ve been watching South come up here since I was like in the fifth grade,” Galbraith said. “To be able to play out here was definitely an honor. I was for sure ready. I’ve always wanted to play here. The hype didn’t get to me that much.”
The 5-foot-9 Galbraith scored 12 of his points in the first half. He scored seven points in a one-minute, 11-second span – a deep three-pointer and two aggressive drives – to break open a tie game and give South Salem a 28-21 halftime lead. Tigard never got closer than five points in the second half.
“That just boosted us and made us all want to start playing at his level,” said Nielsen-Skinner, who was his usual outstanding self with a game-high 20 points and six rebounds. “He kind of set the tone for us, I feel like, offensively and defensively. Him getting those seven straight points led us to getting comfortable and getting into our offense.”
South Salem coach Tyler Allen said it was typical of the way Galbraith has played this season.
“Everyone expects Skinny to be the one to give us that run, and all of the sudden Trey comes out and gives us those possessions, and it really gets us over the hump,” Allen said.
South Salem (23-4) advances to the semifinals for the first time since 2016, when Nielsen-Skinner was a freshman starter. The Saxons will play Friday afternoon against third-seeded Jefferson, which defeated them 70-65 in the opening round of the Les Schwab Invitational on Dec. 26. In that game, South Salem built a 16-point lead in the first half before the Democrats stormed back.
“We’re excited. We definitely want that rematch,” Galbraith said. “We want the revenge from the LSI. We thought we should’ve had them. We’ll definitely be ready to go.”
The Saxons have embraced the underdog role.
“There’s about 5,000 people that are going to be here Friday that don’t think we have a chance to win, but I’ve got 15 in the locker room that do,” Allen said. “And I’ll take those odds.”
Nielsen-Skinner echoed Allen: “Nobody in the gym is going to think we have a shot, and I love it. That’s the thing I love about our team. Nobody thinks we’re going to win, but look where we are now, we’re in the semifinals. Nobody thought we were going to be this far.”
Much of the team’s success has to do with the chemistry between Nielsen-Skinner and Galbraith, a one-two punch that keeps coming at defenses.
“They’ve been playing baseball and basketball together since they were wee high to a duck,” Allen said. “Those guys have been around each other for so long, they don’t need to see where the other one is, they just can find them. It’s fun to watch those two play.”
South Salem kept the momentum going from Galbraith’s late first-half run. The Saxons opened the second with six consecutive points – a drive by senior Treyden Harris and a jumper and two free throws by Nielsen-Skinner – to lead 34-21.
Tigard (17-10) got to within 38-33 early in the fourth quarter on a three-pointer by sophomore wing Drew Carter, but couldn’t sustain enough offense to make it interesting. The Saxons had a lot to do with it, repeatedly tipping passes and forcing turnovers and off-balance shots.
It hurt the Tigers that their best player – 6-4 senior wing Stevie Schlabach – couldn’t get untracked. Schlabach, who scored 68 points in two playoff games, had two points through three quarters and finished with seven points on 3-for-13 shooting.
“We just made him work. We did that the last time we played them in December, just made him work, made him frustrated," said Allen, referencing a 60-53 nonleague win at Tigard. "Gave him two different looks, the zone and the man. Regardless of what we were in, we always knew where he was at. We had a body on him.”
South Salem also got 12 points and five rebounds from junior guard Ryan Brown. Tigard, making its first tournament appearance since winning the 2002 title, got 15 points from Carter and 11 from senior wing Diego Lopez.
