FOREST GROVE — The Baker Bulldogs followed a simple defensive game plan Friday night — keep Cascade’s Kaiden Ford and Landon Knox from taking over the game.
The defending champion Bulldogs executed their plan to near perfection, riding a suffocating defense to a 66-47 victory over the top-seeded Cougars in Friday’s semifinals of the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 4A boys basketball tournament at Forest Grove High School.
Baker’s Isaiah Jones and Jaxon Logsdon scored 20 points apiece, but it was the defense that carried the No. 5-seeded Bulldogs in Saturday’s 8:30 p.m. final against Marshfield, a 65-43 winner over Mazama in Friday’s other semifinal.
The Bulldogs (18-8) also have a chance to become the first team to win consecutive state championships since Cascade won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.
“This is what we’ve worked hard for all year,” said Jones, one of three seniors in Baker’s starting lineup. “This is the goal — to not only get back to state championship final, but also to win it.
“We set the standard for ourselves last year and even though we have a different team, I think we can do it again.”
Baker set the tone early, racing out to a 10-0 lead in the first six minutes. The Bulldogs’ three senior starters — Grant Gambleton, Jones and Logsdon — provided the early offense, but what jumped off the scoring summary was that Ford and Knox started a combined 0 for 7 from the field with two turnovers.
Ford finally got Cascade on the scoreboard with a pair of free throws with 1:52 to play in the first quarter, but a trend had already been set.
“Talking on defense was a huge thing and it was a whole team effort,” Logsdon said. “Guys on the bench … everybody was in the game.”
Almost everybody knows that Knox is option 1A and Ford is option 1B when it comes to Cascade’s offense. They’re two of the state’s most creative playmakers at the 4A level with the ability to get to the basket or at least get to the free-throw line anytime they touch the ball. And if there isn’t a lane to drive, they’re not afraid to step back and launch from long range.
But almost none of that was available in the first half of Friday’s semifinal as Baker extended a 14-6 lead at the end of the first quarter to 30-18 at the break.
Cascade finished the half shooting a paltry 16.7 percent (3 for 18) from the field with almost everything going through the team’s two senior guards. Of the Cougars’ 18 shots in the half, Ford and Knox took 17. Of the team's 14 free throws, they took 12. And of Cascade's 18 first-half points, they accounted for 17 and freshman Brysen Higgins had the other one.
“That was the best defensive effort we’ve had all year,” Logsdon said. “Those two guards are the best in the state, easily, hands down the best. I mean, I feel like we did the best we could against those guys.
“But a team like that, they can come back. I mean, they were down like 15. They could have come back from that. We had to keep going and going and going until the last minute.”
Baker opened the third quarter on a 15-9 run, extending the lead to 45-27 on a Jones three-pointer with 55 seconds left in the period.
As for Ford and Knox, Ford had two points in the third quarter and Knox had five.
The Bulldogs’ aren’t the first team to try and knock Ford and Knox off their games, but they're one of the only teams that found a way to keep them off balance from the opening tip to the final horn.
So, how’d they do it?
“Our game plan was to force Ford and Knox to take contested jump shots with a hand in their face and we tried to limit their paint touches,” Baker coach Jebron Jones said. “We tried to get them uncomfortable and we tried to run ‘em, which is why we pressed most of the game, to try and get their legs out from under them.
“I think that showed throughout the course of the game with the way they missed shots. It worked out well for us.”
And how much did the Baker defense feed the Bulldogs’ offense?
“One-hundred percent,” Jebron Jones said. “It helps when they don’t score because we played good defense and then we can run down and maybe get a layup or an open kick out without having to run too much offense on our side.
“And if they have to work so much on offense, they’re going to be more likely to be lackadaisical or tired on defense.”
In the fourth quarter, Baker’s lead fluctuated between 16 and 24 points, leaving no doubt which team belonged in the Saturday's championship final.
“We came out hot,” Jebron Jones said. “We knew we had to contain those two guys early on to not give them any hope. I think we did a good job of consistently exerting energy and showing effort throughout the course of the game, no matter what the score was. I’m proud of my guys for doing that.”
Ford finished with 20 points and Knox had 19, but they went a combined 11 for 42 from the field, including 3 for 15 from three-point range.
“Baker’s a great team,” Knox said. “Every game, you know you’re going to get tremendous effort, they’re going to be tremendously prepared, they’re going to have a game plan both offensively and defensively, and … tonight we just didn’t get it done.”
Maybe one or both of the Cascade stars was nursing an injury. Maybe one or both of them were playing through an illness. What was it, if anything?
“No excuses,” Knox said. “I mean, yeah, give Baker the credit. They had a great defensive plan. But if you go back and watch that game, you’ll see me and Kaiden missing a bunch of shots that we normally hit. Shots around the rim, open threes, pull-up jumpers — stuff that we hit routinely every day in practice, every day in games just didn’t want to go in tonight.
“Sometimes that’s how basketball goes — you miss shots, the other team makes more, and you lose.”
In Friday’s other action:
No. 2 Marshfield 65, No. 14 Mazama 43: Senior guard Steel Carpenter had a game-high 29 points and eight rebounds as the Pirates of Coos Bay overwhelmed the Vikings in Friday’s final semifinal game of the day.
Luke Jackson finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Keller Vinyard had 13 points to help send Marshfield (23-3) into its first championship final since 1962 (or 2021 for those who want to count the unofficial state title the Pirates won during the Covid-interrupted season).
“I think it’s amazing,” said Carpenter, who went 9 for 23 from the field with three three-pointers. “We’ve been grinding for this since my sophomore year, but we’d never made the playoffs before. So, for our first time making the playoffs and making this kind of run, it’s pretty special.”
Marshfield jumped out to a 28-13 halftime lead and then pulled away in the second half, knocking off the upset-minded Vikings of Klamath Falls out of title contention.
“This is a super-resilient group,” Marshfield coach Jesse Ainsworth said. “Also a group of kids that are 100 percent bought in to the program. And more importantly, this is a group that when they were sophomores, we graduated 12 seniors who won a Covid state title their junior year, and these guys were a part of that rebuild.
“I’m a game-to-game guy, but right now, I’m extremely happy. I’m going to allow the boys to enjoy it tonight, and I’ll enjoy it until I get back to the hotel and start locking into film and have a game plan ready for tomorrow.”
Gabe Nanni led Mazama with 16 points, and Ryan Hayden added six points and nine rebounds for the Vikings (15-12).
No. 4 Crook County 55, No. 8 Seaside 34: Bryce Lowenbach finished with 18 points, 19 rebounds, four assists, four steals, and three blocked shots to help lift the Cowboys of Prineville over the Seagulls in Friday’s 9 a.m. consolation game.
The Cowboys (20-7) opened a 28-18 halftime lead and then maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half.
Gabriel Lopez scored 14 points and Jace Jonas added 12 for the Cowboys, who shot 47.7 percent (21 of 44) from the field to Seaside’s 29.3 percent (12 of 41).
Madden Wunderlich had a team-high eight points off the Seaside bench and Jake White added seven for the Seagulls (17-10)
No. 7 Phoenix 71, No. 11 Scappoose 52: Lucas Whitol scored a game-high 28 points and Tobias Akpan had 26 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists, lifting the Pirates over the Indians in Friday’s second eliminatiion game.
Martin Ortega added nine points for the Pirates, who opened a 30-25 halftime lead before pulling away in the second half.
Quintin Olson led Seaside with 24 points on 9-for-22 shooting from the field. Drew Butler added eight points and 10 rebounds in what was Bill Westerholm’s final game as head coach of the Seagulls (17-10).
In 27 seasons at Seaside, Westerholm compiled an overall record of 384-275 and led the Seagulls to back-to-back state championships in 2017 and 2018.
jimbeseda@gmail.com
Subscribe
