TUALATIN – For a team that hadn't played a game in 29 days due to COVID issues, it seemed almost unfair that No. 1 Tualatin would have to shake off the rust against No. 3 West Linn on Friday night.
But it looked as if the Timberwolves didn't miss a beat, overcoming a slow start and dispatching the visiting Lions 69-58 in their belated 6A Three Rivers League boys basketball opener.
“After having a month off with no game, I thought we played really good basketball,” Tualatin senior guard Noah Ogoli said. “Everyone was excited and eager to get back on the court. Everyone was flying around.
“Everyone had a piece of the win. It was a great team win. I feel like we can keep going. But we're not satisfied.”
Ogoli and senior guard Malik Ross scored 16 and 14 points, respectively, to lead the Timberwolves (10-1, 1-0), who broke a halftime tie with the first six points of the third quarter and never looked back.
Tualatin had only two on-court practices in a three-week span before getting to work on a regular basis Jan. 19. Knowing that West Linn (10-2, 3-1) would be waiting for them Friday helped keep the Timberwolves on task.
“We had a week off, and we were able to come back, get our conditioning right, our team chemistry right,” Ross said. “We had to stay sharp. We had to come ready.”
Ross and Ogoli were charged with trying to slow down West Linn junior point guard Jackson Shelstad, the Oregon commit who entered the game averaging 26.7 points per game. And Shelstad came out blazing, scoring 10 points in the first three minutes as the Lions raced to a 13-2 lead.
But Tualatin countered with a 10-0 run to get back in the game, and took its first lead at 28-27 on two free throws by Ogoli with 1:12 left in the first half.
Ogoli opened the second half with a three-pointer that put the Timberwolves ahead to stay. He also had two baskets in an 8-0 run that pushed the lead to 44-34 midway through the third quarter.
Shelstad tried to rally West Linn – scoring 16 of his game-high 28 points in the second half – but the Lions could get no closer than five points in the fourth quarter.
Tualatin got a boost off the bench from 6-foot-5 senior Kellen Hale and 6-7 sophomore Jaden Steppe, who scored 12 and nine points, respectively. Hale provided the dagger in the fourth quarter with a steal and emphatic dunk to make it 64-55 with 1:22 left.
“Their big guys did a great job in the second half getting a bunch of easy ones,” Lions coach Eric Viuhkola said. “They were getting to the rim, and they were walling us up where we couldn't get to the rim.”
Viuhkola was impressed with the Timberwolves, whose only loss came against unbeaten Link Academy of Missouri in the Les Schwab Invitational.
“They're a really good team, and they were really, really well prepared,” Viuhkola said. “We didn't play well. We panicked a little bit, and that's probably on me. We couldn't get into any type of offensive flow.”
Shelstad had to work hard for his points, shooting 11 of 24 from the field, 1 of 7 on three-pointers. Whenever he would beat his man off the dribble, there was another defender waiting for him.
“They were gapping hard,” Shelstad said. “They just had dudes in gaps on the wings, so it was kind of almost like a zone, but it was like a gap, man defense.
“They've got a lot of athletes. That's probably the best guards all-around we've played all year. They're talented. They've got a lot of speed and they're athletic. And they can shoot it, too.”
The Timberwolves were fired up to take on Shelstad.
“It's fun going against a guy that's committed to Oregon,” Ogoli said. “When you're playing against a big-time player, you always want to do your best.”
Even with all the defensive attention, Shelstad had his moments, zigzagging his way to the basket and finishing through contact.
“He's so slippery, shifty, everything you want in a point guard,” Ross said. “There's not too much you can do to slow him down. You can just hope he has an off game.”
But Friday belonged to the Timberwolves, who showed once again that they are a legitimate contender for the 6A title. They went into the game confident that they could handle what the Lions threw at them.
“We knew we didn't need a game plan to beat them, so we just played how we always play,” Steppe said. “We don't really have a weak spot on our team. We're all there for each other. There's no part you can really exploit on our team.”
Said Ogoli: “I feel like we have the most depth in the state. Everyone on our team can play.”
Tualatin will get a chance to test that depth in the coming weeks. To make up for lost time, the Timberwolves will play eight games in a 12-day stretch, starting with Tuesday at Lake Oswego.
“We kind of feel like we got put in a bad spot,” Ross said. “But it's just a challenge we've got to overcome. We know what's at stake. Our goal is to win each one of them.”
West Linn, which got 17 points from senior guard Zeke Viuhkola, played once again without junior wing Mark Hamper, a starter who has been out for three weeks with mononucleosis.
The teams meet for a rematch Feb. 22 at West Linn. In the meantime, the Lions will digest what happened Friday.
“Obviously really frustrated from the loss, but I thought our team played really hard,” Shelstad said. “Tualatin is a really talented team and they played a really good game, as well. I think they were the tougher team tonight, which I think that's why they won the game.”
jerryu@osaa.org
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