A Ketchikan boys basketball team that had been averaging more than 80 points per game in its first three wins of the year, ran into a Philomath squad that put the clamps down, holding Kayhi to 22 first-half points and earning a convincing 68-51 victory in a difficult road environment.
“I think our guys played well, they stepped up to the challenge,” Philomath coach Blake Ecker said. “Ketchikan is a good team. That is a quality win for us. I mean they are going to have a good season this year, no doubt about it.”
Philomath appeared to be in control of the rhythm of the game from the start, but Ketchikan kept the score close through the first quarter on the back of three 3-pointers from Joeben Lorenzo. The Kings hit four 3-pointers in all the quarter with Andrew Kleinschmidt also hitting from beyond the arc, and they trailed just 15-14 after the initial quarter of play.
Ketchikan wouldn’t hit another 3-pointer in the first half, however, and finished with a season-low eight triples as Philomath just steadily pulled away.
“We scouted them a little bit, we knew that they could shoot it,” Ecker said. “We had to get out on them. If we didn’t, we were going to lose the game. We let a couple 3s go by in the first quarter. We kind of switched up the defense and No. 3 (Lorenzo) hit three or four real quick ones to get them back into the game.”
Philomath led 29-22 at the half and pushed the lead into double digits in the third quarter. Despite the crowd erupting every time Ketchikan made a shot the Warriors never let the Kings mount a serious challenge late in the game, leading 48-35 at the end of three quarters and never letting the lead dip below double digits in the fourth.
“I mean the crowd is awesome here. That is one of the reasons why we come,” Ecker said. “We appreciate what they do here and how they treat us. This game is amazing. Win, lose or draw, it is an amazing atmosphere to play in and it will help us going forward. Hopefully, we can make our state tournament, and we can expect some violent crowds like that.”
Philomath is the top-ranked 4A basketball team in Oregon and it will face what appears to be the top 4A team in Alaska for the championship of the Clarke Cochrane. The Warriors play Dimond at 9:15 p.m. on Friday.
“They are very talented,” Ecker said of Dimond. “They are going to press the whole game and we have to do a great job taking care of the basketball, and find open shots. Hopefully we can do a good job.”
Ty May and Chad Russell each scored 18 points to lead the Warriors against Ketchikan. Jacob Peters added 12 points.
Joeben Lorenzo led Ketchikan with 16 points, scoring 11 in the first quarter. JJ Parker added 11 points for the Kings and Andrew Kleinschmidt finished with nine.
Ketchikan meets Barrow in the third-place game on Friday at 4 p.m.
