2024 Les Schwab Invitational Day 1: Southridge and Jesuit win top-10 battles

Published 11:08 pm Thursday, December 26, 2024

The 28th annual Les Schwab Invitational tipped off Thursday, Dec. 26 at the Viking Pavilion on the campus of Portland State University with four first-round matchups.

Westview took on Camas (WA) while the rest were in-state matchups between Roosevelt and Southridge, Barlow and Jesuit, and Central Catholic and Mountainside.

Westview, Southridge, Jesuit and Central Catholic took home the wins to advance to the quarterfinals of the 16-team tournament while the other four fell into the consolation side of the bracket.

Here are some highlights from the four matchups from Thursday:

Westview 64, Camas 58

After trailing 28-24 at halftime, Westview tied the game up at 43 going into the fourth quarter and pulled away in the final frame for the win.

The Wildcats shot the ball well in the second half, going 15-for-25 from the field while holding the Papermakers to 10-for-25 from the field.

Jason Grady and James Kefgen each had 16 points for Westview, with Kefgen hitting four 3-pointers, while adding seven and six rebounds, respectively. Kai Russell put them all together with 13 points and seven assists. Peyton Read had 10 points and six rebounds and Lucas D’Haem had eight points and six assists.

For the Papermakers, big man Ethan Harris led the way with 17 points and seven rebounds, but was 3-for-12 from the 3-point line. Jace VanVoorhis had 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. Landon Frost chipped in 11 points.

Westview will take on the winner between Annie Wright (WA) and Nelson in the quarterfinals next at 4 p.m. Dec. 28 while Camas gets the loser at noon Dec. 28.

Southridge 68, Roosevelt 64

Roosevelt threw the first punch, but Southridge kept firing away from deep and Alonzo Hoff worked well down low to get the Skyhawks the first-round win.

Trailing most of the first half, the Skyhawks got a 3-pointer from Elijah Thompson at the buzzer to put them in front 41-39 at the break. Thompson finished with 15 points and five assists with two made 3-pointers.

Hoff was going to work in the paint when the deep shots weren’t available, finishing with 19 points and seven rebounds on 5-for-13 shooting. Meanwhile Keenan Reckamp was everywhere with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting with two made 3-pointers, plus two blocks and two steals.

Fuzzy Montague tried his best to will Roosevelt to a comeback win, finishing with a game-high 25 points with three made 3-pointers.

Syrius Owens held his own in the paint with 16 points and nine rebounds while Owen Nathan chipped in nine points and eight assists. Omar Eno had the most unique box score of the night, finishing with 15 rebounds and one point.

Southridge will get the winner between La Lumiere (IN) and Baker at 8:30 p.m. Dec. 28 while Roosevelt takes on the loser at 1:30 p.m. Dec. 28.

Jesuit 67, Barlow 58

Jesuit held off a second-half rally by the Bruins to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Crusaders won the second quarter 19-10 to go into halftime up 38-28 thanks to a 14-for-27 shooting performance.

In the third, Barlow came back with an 18-10 advantage to cut the lead to two points for Jesuit heading into the fourth. However, Bruins senior Brayden Barron fouled out halfway through the fourth and Jesuit’s Patrick Kilfoil hit a couple big shots to ice the game.

Kilfoil finished the night with 20 points and six rebounds to lead the Crusaders along with six rebounds and three assists. Isaac Bongen added 12 points and six rebounds while Ryan Fraser had nine points and Trey Cleeland had six points and eight rebounds.

Barlow senior Jalen Atkins had a tough night shooting from deep but still finished with 25 points to lead the Bruins. Barron had 13 points and five rebounds before fouling out while Mason Bierbrauer finished out the big three’s night with 10 points.

Jesuit will get a Holy War matchup next with Central Catholic in the quarterfinals, tipping off at 7 p.m. Dec. 28 while Barlow will take on Mountainside in the consolation bracket at 9 a.m. Dec. 28.

Central Catholic 77, Mountainside 56

Mountainside hit enough 3-pointers to stay competitive for three quarters, but Central Catholic pulled away for good in the fourth to advance.

The Rams hit seven 3-pointers in the first frame to pull head 25-10, but the Mavericks returned the favor with five triples in the second to make it a 38-28 CC lead at halftime.

However, Zamir Paschal and Isaac Carr kept going in the third frame while the Rams’ athleticism started to take over. And then the duo put it away for good quickly into the fourth as the Mavs couldn’t keep up their hot shooting.

Carr finished the night with 25 points with four made 3-pointers and five rebounds. Zamir Paschal had 13 points, 11 of them in the second half. Freshman Carter Lockhart had 12 points on four made 3-pointers while Jalen Nicholson had 11 points and eight rebounds.

Mountainside was led by Rogen Brown with 15 points with Eli Vizconde adding in 14 points. Peyton Reyes had 11 points and J’Kobi Nicholson had 10 points.

Central Catholic takes on its Holy War rival Jesuit in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Dec. 28 next while Mountainside will take on Barlow at 9 a.m. Dec. 28.

Coming up on Day 2

The first round finishes up on Friday, Dec. 27 with the out-of-state squads jumping into the action.

Up first is Owyhee (ID) taking on Grant at 3 p.m., followed by Annie Wright (WA) taking on Nelson at 4:30 p.m.

The top two out-of-state squads are next with Gonzaga College (DC) taking on Lakeridge at 6 p.m. and La Lumiere (IN) taking on 4A’s Baker in the night cap at 7:30 p.m.