By Mark Gilman
MaxPreps.com
The long regular season is over, and now Oregon's top basketball teams begin the quest for their respective state championships this week for the 5A and 6A boys.
At the 6A level, the odds-on favorites remain No. 1 Lake Oswego and second-rated South Medford. Lake Oswego has a first round bye in the 28-team preliminaries. They will play Saturday against the winner of Gresham and Sprague.
The full 6A schedule for round one Wednesday looks like this:
Sunset at McMinnville; Clackamas at McKay; David Douglas at Sheldon; South Eugene at Tigard; Centennial at Westview; Sprague at Gresham; West Linn at Benson; Barlow at Canby; North Medford at South Salem; Tualatin at Oregon City; Aloha at South Medford; and Redmond at Grant.
In addition to Lake Oswego, three other league champions (Lincoln, Jesuit, and Central Catholic) have a first-round bye in the 6A bracket.
At the 5A level, twenty teams will compete in postseason action, which will be played Tuesday and Friday. Tuesday games involving third and fourth seeds include:
Crook County at West Albany; Sherwood at Thurston; Crater at Madras; and Woodburn at St. Helens. Winners of those games will face Roosevelt, Mountain View, Corvallis and Ashland respectively on Saturday night.
Other 5A Saturday games include: Churchill at Klamath Union; Silverton at Hillsboro; Century at Jefferson; and Hermiston at top ranked North Eugene.
The 5A and 6A boys will play their respective quarterfinal, semifinal, and championship games jointly at Mac Court on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene. 5A games will start Wednesday, March 7, while the final eight teams from the 6A ranks will begin action on March 8.
