Panthers race by Axe for third straight win; North Medford, Crater, Phoenix also net key victories

With their backs to the wall, South Medford came out with its best showing of the boys basketball season Friday night in a 61-40 victory over visiting South Eugene.

Trying to play their way into a state playoff berth, the Panthers picked up at least eight points from five different players and dished out 17 assists to go with 10 steals in a Southwest Conference contest they led throughout.

“We got it from everywhere,” said South Medford senior Cole Adee of the teamwide contributions. “Everybody just seemed to get a piece of the action tonight.”

It couldn’t have come at a better time since the Panthers’ playoff picture hangs in the balance here as the regular season winds down.

Already with a Class 6A state playoff ranking outside a potential bid — South Medford entered the night No. 35 overall for a 32-team field — the team’s best hope has been to win out their remaining games to finish second in the SWC and earn one of the league’s three automatic bids.

Friday’s win was pivotal, pushing the Panthers (11-12, 7-4 SWC) a half-game ahead of North Medford (13-9, 6-4) in the standings behind only league-leading Sheldon (19-5, 11-0) and one game ahead of Grants Pass (10-13, 6-5).

South Eugene (13-10, 5-6) actually carries the highest power ranking for playoff seeding of all the SWC leaders (No. 20) outside of the Irish, but dropped into fifth place in the SWC standings with the loss.

“There was definitely a sense of urgency that this is our last home game and we need it,” said Adee, who scored seven of his 12 points in the first half to help his team to a 29-18 lead at the break. “We haven’t won three games in a row all year, so we’re all very pumped about it. That’s our best win all year, by far.”

South Medford found itself on the front foot from the get-go, getting a basket from each of the team’s starters and then two more by reserve post Levi Pacheco to build a 15-4 advantage in the opening eight minutes.

The Panthers cooled down a little in the second quarter but still maintained their advantage. In the second half, they did well to remain composed to find and convert quality shots while also not letting the Axe get on any scoring runs to question the outcome.

“I thought that we were patient on the offensive end and we shared the ball and we played with some poise and composure,” said South Medford head coach James Wightman. “That’s the best that we’ve played all year.”

Pacheco provided a big boost by going 5-for-7 from the field to equal Adee’s 12 points, while Isaac Tannaci tallied 10 points, six rebounds and three assists and Jake VonStrahl had nine points and four steals.

Joey Clevenger also was key on both ends of the floor with eight points four rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Landon Dufour provided a lift off the bench with three assists, three rebounds and two steals to go with his energizing play.

“We’re playing a little bit faster at times when we need to,” said Wightman, “and now all of a sudden we’re starting to make the game look a little bit slower, which is good, because before it was frantic mode and now they’re starting to learn how to just play.”

Up next will be a make-or-break showdown with North Medford at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Panthers’ former home gym at Oakdale Middle School. The Black Tornado will face Sheldon two days prior, and likely has already done enough to secure their playoff positioning heading into the crosstown clash with a No. 23 state power ranking — although wins over the Irish and/or the Panthers would certainly create a better first-round opportunity.

In the two prior meetings this season, North Medford has earned 58-52 and 62-60 wins over South Medford.

“If you are a competitor and a basketball player, this is all the time that you spend practicing, it’s this moment,” said Wightman. “It is make or break and if you lose, your season is over. Instead, to their credit, they’ve won three in a row and now we set up a shot for us to finish maybe in sole second place. From where we were two months ago to now, what a difference. We’re playing really, really well.”

SOUTH EUGENE (40): Johnson 0, Hawes 9, Rue 2, Heckard 0, Kaster 0, Shafer 2, Gabriel 14, Perry 6, Yoder 7. Totals: 14-45 11-15 40.

SOUTH MEDFORD (61): Tannaci 10, Adee 12, Dufour 2, Spires 0, Ritchie 6, Clevenger 8, VonStrahl 9, Pacheco 12, Mitchell 2. Totals: 25-55 6-13 61.

South Eugene 4 14 10 12 — 40

South Medford 15 14 14 18 — 61

3-point goals — South Eugene 1-12 (Gabriel 1), South Medford 5-18 (Adee 2, Clevenger 1, VonStrahl 1, Pacheco 1).

NORTH MEDFORD 71, WILLAMETTE 32: At Eugene, Easton Curtis led a balanced North Medford attack with 13 points as the Black Tornado built an early lead and was able to generate plenty of playing time throughout the roster.

Curtis was 5-for-11 from the field and added eight rebounds, four steals and four assists for North Medford (13-9, 6-4 SWC).

Dylan Scott finished with nine points and three assists, Traeger Healy had 10 rebounds to go with seven points and Nate Anderson grabbed seven rebounds with six points for the Black Tornado, which led 30-11 at halftime.

NORTH MEDFORD (71): D. Scott 9, Rea 8, Sawyer 3, Curtis 13, Snyder 7, Healy 7, Stewart 8, Anderson 6, Chin 8, Patterson 0, Q. Scott 2. Totals: 29 8-13 71.

WILLAMETTE (32): Baravilah 0, Garcia 2, Hall 12, Zumwalt 4, Grandberry 2, McCann 5, Newton 0, Burke 7. Totals: 11 6-8 32.

North Medford 14 16 24 17 — 71

Willamette 8 5 6 13 — 32

3-point goals — North Medford 5 (Sawyer 1, Curtis 1, Snyder 1, Healy 1, Chin 1), Willamette 4 (Hall 2, McCann 1, Burke 1).

CRATER 61, CHURCHILL 58: At Eugene, Crater junior Julien Grant kept the hot hand with 34 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter to help the Comets rally for the Midwestern League triumph.

Grant connected for six 3-pointers for the second straight game — he finished with 39 points in Tuesday’s win over Eagle Point — and tacked on four assists and three blocks to pace Crater (11-12, 5-6 MWL).

Tremaine Smith added 12 points and five steals, Elijah Bryant finished with seven points and Malachi Barlow had six rebounds and five assists for the Comets.

CRATER (61): Rodriguez 0, Bryant 7, Smith 12, Higginson 0, Grant 34, Barlow 5, Cole 3. Totals: 25 3-6 61.

CHURCHILL (58): Mann 2, Bradshaw 0, Gutierrez 4, Reyes 4, Litten 20, Wright 10, L. Read 4, Dexter 0, T. Read 14. Totals: 24 6-8 58.

Crater 8 13 20 20 — 61

Churchill 10 21 17 10 — 58

3-point goals — Crater 8 (Grant 6, Smith 1, Barlow 1), Churchill 4 (Litten 4).

ASHLAND 59, SPRINGFIELD 53: At Springfield, Ashland kept its faint Class 5A state playoff hopes alive if it can win out with three MWL games remaining.

The Grizzlies improved to 11-10 overall and 4-5 in league play, but can potentially gain ground with games remaining against Eagle Point and top-three MWL teams Thurston and Churchill.

NORTH EUGENE 79, EAGLE POINT 69: At Eagle Point, Eagle Point suffered its fourth loss in the last five games as North Eugene rallied in the second half.

The Eagles moved to 8-15 overall and 3-7 in MWL play.

PHOENIX 74, KLAMATH UNION 57: At Klamath Falls, Tobias Akpan registered 23 points to lead three Phoenix players in double figures in the Skyline Conference victory.

Martin Ortega scored 16 points and Lucas Wihtol added 10 for the Pirates (14-7, 8-2 Skyline), who broke the game open with a 25-18 run in the third quarter that was highlighted by 10 points by Akpan and a pair of 3-pointers from Ortega and Brayden Decker.

Phoenix remained a half-game behind league-leading Mazama with games against Henley on Monday and the Vikings on Tuesday remaining.

Grafton Watah scored 30 points to lead Klamath Union (8-16, 4-8).

PHOENIX (74): Decker 7, Pyeatt 9, McQueen 6, Akpan 23, Ortega 16, Dobbins 3, Roman 0, Wihtol 10. Totals: 29 8-14 74.

KLAMATH UNION (57): Lassett-Hankins 3, B. Petersen 5, Xu 0, Rodriguez 0, Vannarath 10, Glidden 0, Bogatay 9, Johnson 0, D. Petersen 0, Klecker 0, Coffman 0, Hutchinson 0, Watah 30, Saluskin 0. Totals: 21 8-12 57.

Phoenix 17 17 25 15 — 74

Klamath Union 14 15 18 10 — 57

3-point goals — Phoenix 5 (Ortega 3, Dobbins 1, Wihtol 1), Klamath Union 7 (Watah 3, Vannarath 2, B. Petersen 1, Lassett-Hankins 1). Fouled out — Lassett-Hankins.