Small School Roundup: Open Door Christian boys basketball looking to make history

Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 29, 2022

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To say the 2021-22 season has been a long time in the making for the Open Door Christian Academy boys basketball team would be an understatement.

Most of the group making noise on the court for the Huskies has been coached by Michael Tompkins since they were in elementary school.

Now, in Tompkins’ fourth year coaching the boys, ODCA is sitting at 13-1 overall and 8-1 in the Class 1A Valley 10 league, the only loss coming to league-rival Country Christian 53-50.

“The seniors, juniors and sophomores on this team are truly special to me. I have coached them since they were in the fifth grade,” Tompkins said. “The players that are juniors and sophomores, this is our seventh year together as player and coach, so that helps with our chemistry and the players already understand what my expectations are as a coach.”

It’s a labor of love for Tompkins, who is also the athletic director at ODCA, teaches health and fitness at the school, coaches the JV boys team and also coaches junior high boys and girls basketball.

Through all of that, the Huskies have climbed to No. 9 in the OSAA rankings and are currently No. 4 in the OSAA coaches poll.

Being toward the top isn’t a familiar feeling for the ODCA boys squad. The school first opened in 1978 and has never had a boys basketball team make the state tournament.

“We are having a really good year and it has been a lot of fun, but the boys are adapting to being ‘the hunted’ now and trying to deal with the pressure of an ‘expected win’ each time they step out on the court,” Tompkins said. “It has been a great learning experience for them.”

The whole sports season has been a transformation at ODCA as its volleyball team made the state tournament in the fall for the first time in program history.

Leading the way in the winter for the boys basketball team have been juniors Jason Kovalchuk and Issac Van Vleet, as well as sophomore Preston Tompkins.

Kovalchuk is the Huskies’ leading scorer with 16 points per game, while Van Vleet is right behind with 15 a game. Van Vleet is also the leading rebounder with 9.6 boards a game plus 1.9 blocks per game.

Coach Michael Tompkins described Preston Tompkins as a defensive specialist, evidenced by 3.6 steals a game, and is also a solid scorer with nine points a night.

“The road ahead won’t be easy for us since our goal is to win league and districts,” Michael Tompkins said. “With our only loss to Country Christian, I think it showed our boys this isn’t going to be a walk in the park, but don’t overreact as the season is a marathon, not a sprint.”

The marathon will come to an end Feb. 18-19 during the Valley 10 league tournament. The first, second and third place finishers will take the three state bids that each 1A league receives for the state tournament.

The location of the tournament is still to be determined, but with the Huskies having looked solid all year, history could be in the making a few weeks from now.

“Our motto this year is ‘play for the man next to you’ and ‘one day at a time,'” Michael Tompkins said. “We don’t get caught up in our OSAA rank. If we do what we are supposed to do each game night, we will be successful and we can be OK with how the end of the season results turn out.”

OES boys hoops net huge upset

No small school around Multnomah County had a bigger win this past than the Aardvarks, who knocked off undefeated league rival Westside Christian 51-45 on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

The win put OES into second place in the Lewis & Clark league, but De La Salle North Catholic owns the head-to-head matchup so far with a 73-43 win over the Aardvarks earlier in January.

Still, OES has been in a groove since the loss to De La Salle and is currently ranked No. 6 in the OSAA rankings. The rematch with De La Salle is set for Tuesday, Feb. 1, at home.

Corbett girls hoops takes two losses

After starting the season 14-0, the Cardinals suffered back-to-back Tri-Valley League losses to the top two teams.

It started with a heartbreaking 46-45 loss at Gladstone on Tuesday, Jan. 25, with the final bucket coming in the final few seconds. The next one came at home Friday, Jan. 28, to Madras, with the White Buffaloes picking up a 44-40 victory.

With only five games left on the schedule, the Cardinals will need to win out and get some help in order to capture a league title. The two rematches come Feb. 15 at home against Gladstone and Feb. 18 at Madras.

Riverdale girls basketball takes over Lewis & Clark League race

Saturday featured a showdown between Riverdale and De La Salle North Catholic, who both came into the matchup undefeated in league play.

It was the Mavericks who walked away still unblemished in league play, though, with a big 61-35 win over the Knights.

Now 13-6 overall and 7-0 in league play, the Mavericks control their own destiny toward winning a league title and hosting in the first round of the state playoffs, as long as they stay in the top 16 of the OSAA rankings in which they currently sit No. 14.

The rematch at De La Salle comes up quick, too, at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 8.