Wilsonville Wildcats

MCMINNVILLE – Wilsonville seniors Kyle County and Kallen Gutridge are affectionately known in the Wildcat program as “Huey” and “Dewey,” two of Donald Duck’s mischievous nephews.

“Spend 10 minutes with them and you’ll get it,” said Wilsonville coach Chris Roche.

On Friday afternoon, Kyle Counts (Huey) scored a game-high 18 points and added four assists and Kallen Gutridge (Dewey) added 13 points and five assists to help Wilsonville rally from a 10-point first-half deficit to conference rival Rex Putnam to win, 57-51, in a semifinal game at the 2024 OSAA / OnPoint Community Credit Union 5A Basketball State Championships at Linfield University.

The win, the third in as many opportunities this season versus the Kingsmen; put Wilsonville into the state championship game for the state-record eighth consecutive season.

“We’re not defining our program by getting to the championship game,” Roche said. “That’s not who we want to be. But, in the moment, when we’re trying to get there, it’s so hard to do it eight times in a row. It’s a tribute to the kids and how special they are. It’s not just this group but a decade’s worth of kids.”

This particular semifinal win was especially hard against a scrappy, quicker than quick Putnam team that unsettled Wilsonville for most of the first half and parts of the fourth quarter. Indeed, the game hung in the balance, tied at 49-49 with just over two minutes remaining, when Gutridge hit by far the biggest shot of the game, a three-pointer from well beyond NBA range that found nothing but net.

“He has no problems taking the big shot,” Roche said. “He makes a lot of them. If he misses he’s going to take the next one. He’s a special kid.”

Momentum had favored Putnam, which had scored four straight points on lay ins from Jaiden Pickett and Lennon Greenleaf to tie the game; when Dewey decided this was his time.

“The shot clock was winding down,” Gutridge explained. “I have confidence to make that shot, especially if they give me space. I just took that shot, was confident about it and it went in.”

No doubt.

Wilsonville added to its lead on its next possession. After Tyler Adams missed on a tying attempt from long range for Putnam, Emmitt Fee rebounded the ball and fed Gutridge for a lay-up with less than one minute remaining that finally ended Putnam’s upset hopes.

“We didn’t play our best ball in the first half,” said the 6-4 Gutridge, Wilsonville’s record-setting, state championship quarterback. “We caught our rhythm in the second half, took control of ourselves on offense and made great plays down the stretch.”

Putnam, playing its first semifinal since 1990, appeared ready to spring an upset when it turned a 15-11 first quarter deficit into a 31-21 lead late in the half. The Kingsmen’s brilliant second quarter featured “show and go” back door layups galore (aka “the Princeton offense”), plus triples from Adams, Pickett and Chase McDonald. Putnam turned Wilsonville over repeatedly in the quarter, using a trapping defense both full court and in the half court. Wilsonville finished the quarter with eight turnovers, as Putnam got more and more energy with every play it made.

Roche admitted that the Putnam trap affected his team’s play.

“They’re really good at it,” Roche observed. “They have great guard play and all can shoot and are athletic and quick, so them pressing and trapping makes sense. When we handle it well they get out of it but we struggled with it tonight and they kept going, It bothered us for sure. Even when we would beat their pressure, we didn’t slow down and never got into an offense the whole first half.”

Putnam took the trap off to start the third quarter. That’s when Wilsonville started to find its flow. The Wildcats had more freedom to attack inside and use its pronounced height advantage. Putnam’s eight-point halftime lead evaporated after four minutes on a bucket from junior Jacob Boss. Wilsonville also got nice work during the stretch from Counts, Gutridge and Nick Colyer to get to all square.

“We had an advantage inside so we wanted to pound the ball inside and play inside out,” Roche explained.

Wilsonville scored the go-ahead basket in the paint when Counts fed Ezra Carter for two, but Putnam, which missed the playoffs a year ago, did not go away. Brooklynd Latta, who battled foul trouble all game, made an athletic play in the paint to get Putnam even once more and the teams traded points the rest of the quarter, with Wilsonville finishing on top, 41-40.

Pickett, a junior Roche called one of the best unknown players in the state, started the fourth with a bucket to put Putnam, which started trapping again, back in front. Wilsonville valued the ball a little better this time and scored seven points in a row, capped by Gutridge’s ultra-athletic wing three, to go up 48-42 with less than five minutes to play.

Adams hit a corner three out of a time out to slice Wilsonville’s lead to three and, after a Carter free throw, Putnam’s quickness created those two baskets that brought the game to 49-all and set the stage for Gutridge’s long-distance dagger.

Putnam tried to put pressure on Wilsonville at the end but was unable to trap with the kind of success it had in the first half.

“We fly around,” said Putnam’s first-year head coach Ali Mihub. “Everything starts with us on defense. We just didn’t have our legs late.”

Four Kingsmen did the bulk of the scoring for Putnam. Adams had a team-high 14 points, including two three-pointers. Pickett had 13 points and a whopping six steals. Greenleaf and ultra-quick Chase McDonald scored 11 apiece, most on headlong drives to the cup.

Despite the loss, Mihub was bursting with pride over taking the two-time defending state champions to the brink.

“I’m so proud,” he said. “These kids put in so much work. They deserve all of this.”

Besides Huey and Dewey, Wilsonville’s roster was full of unsung heroes in this game. Fee was huge on the glass, scored six points and added four impressive assists. Colyer and Boss both scored from distance and up close. Carter provided great energy and five big rebounds off the bench.

Roche lauded his team for its determined second-half comeback.

“We didn’t get completely out of sorts in the first half; we were just sped up,” he said. “We regrouped and I thought we responded like champs in the second half.”