West Linn boys basketball is the Oregon Team of the Week, presented by the Oregon National Guard.
Photo by Brian Murphy
Numbers and rankings are great, but wins and titles are better.
That is largely the attitude of the
West Linn (Ore.) boys basketball team which is attempting to repeat as a 6A state champion.
On Saturday, the Lions improved to 21-4 with their 17th straight win, a 76-52 victory over Grant in the second round of the state tournament. They now face Central Catholic (17-9) in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Payton Pritchard, West Linn
Photo by Brian Murphy
Sophomore
Payton Pritchard scored 21 points, including 19 in the first half that was finished off with a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer. According to
Oregonelive.com’s Andrew Nemec, that gave West Linn its first double-digit lead, 39-27 — one it would extend in the second half.
"Nobody cares about stats," West Linn coach Eric Viuhkola told Nemec. "All we care about is playing that next game. We want to win another state title."
For their focus and win streak, West Linn is the MaxPreps Oregon Team of the Week, presented by the Oregon National Guard.
The state’s top-ranked team, according to the
MaxPreps computer rankings, has won one other state championship, that coming in 1997.
With Viuhkola at the helm starting in 2008, the Lions have had only one losing season — 14-16 in 2010-11 — but rattled off two 15-win seasons before going 22-7 two years ago, 21-6 last season and are currently 21-4.
This year’s squad is blessed with a lot of offensive firepower, as it showed with an opening game 105-72 win over Tualatin.
Pritchard, a 5-foot-9 sophomore, had 28 in that one,
Anthony Mathis 20 and
Ryan Shearmire 10.
Mathis is a 6-2 junior shooting guard and Shearmire is a 6-5 senior and two-time All-State player.
Seven other times West Linn has scored at least 80, including an 80-39 opening-round playoff win over Century when the Lions scored only 11 in the first quarter following an eight-day layoff.
They really picked things up after that, especially senior C.J. Sitton who drilled four 3-pointers en route to a team-high 17 points. Pritchard and Mathis had 15 apiece.
Thursday’s game is a repeat of last year’s title game, a 45-41 win over Central Catholic. Shearmire had 15 points and nine rebounds in that title game.
The Lions lost six games last year, but caught fire late thanks in part to the team’s mantra of "Poise, belief and toughness."
"We knew we had the talent," Viuhkola said after winning the state title last year. "We just knew that we had to come together and believe in each other."
We’ll see if that belief holds true the rest of the playoff season.
MaxPreps editorial assistant Kirstin Beal contributed to this report.Do you know a team that deserves
consideration for Oregon Team of the Week? Email us with your
nominations at ORteamoftheweek@maxpreps.com.
