As the Tualatin boys and girls basketball teams navigate the start of Three Rivers League play, both teams are picking up their play as the post season nears.
The girls team is looking to defend their state title from last year, and is off to a 4-0 start in league play, with an average margin of victory of 52 points in those four games.
The boys team dropped their league opener by two points to Oregon City, but has won their next three all by double digits.
Here’s a bit of a closer look at how each team is doing at the start of league play:
Girls team defense getting back to state title prowess
Tualatin Girls Head Coach Wes Pappas’ teams are always known for their defense, and last year’s state championship team was no exception. This year’s team has picked up its defensive intensity as the season has gone on.
In the Timberwolves’ last five games as of our press deadline, they’ve given up 30 points or fewer in each game. Part of the reason Pappas thought it took a little while for the defense to pick up was that Tualatin lost Jordyn Smith from last year’s team to graduation. Smith was a force in the middle, defending the paint and pulling down rebounds.
Playing that role now is primarily senior Alex Padilla, who shifted to the center from elsewhere on the court.
“It was a work in progress at the beginning of the season,” he said. “Alex does a really good job in the middle, but then it kind of bumped things around, because Alex would play in other places. It just shifted things around. I’m never satisfied, but we’re coming out ready to play.”
Tualatin has put its last few games out of reach practically before the end of the first quarter. Against Lake Oswego, the Timberwolves led 24-2 after the first, against Tigard, Tualatin led 18-2 after the first quarter.
Against Lake Oswego, Tualatin was up 56-12 at the half, and had only one basket from outside the paint.
“It was free throws and layups, and we had one three-pointer,” Pappas said. “That’s it. We were able to attack the rim. A lot of it early was just turning defense to offense. We were turning a lot of those turnovers into transition buckets, and that’s our style. When we’re at our best, it’s turning defense to offense and scoring in transition.”
Boys team ready for gauntlet of league play
As of our press deadline, the Three Rivers League has three of the top five ranked teams according to OSAA rankings: Oregon City at number two, Tualatin at three, and Lake Oswego at five.
Tualatin was on the road to take on Lake Oswego toward the end of January, and the Lakers entered that contest on a nine-game winning streak. The Timberwolves led by five at the half and increased their lead to ten midway through the third, but Lake Oswego battled back to trail by just two heading into the fourth.
Things were tight the first few minutes of the final quarter, but Tualatin pulled away late, ending the game on a 22-12 run to pull out the 79-66 win.
“Takeo (McCrae) really helped us step up and change up our defense in the second half,” Tualatin Head Coach Bubba Lemon said. “We were able to get some stops and get some transition buckets to make things a little easier on the offensive side.”
McCrae, a senior in his first year at Tualatin, also hit a tough lay-up in traffic while being fouled and then hit the free throw late in the game to help the Timberwolves pull away for good. On back-to-back possessions, it was the front court for Tualatin to put the game out of reach, as junior Damian Olvera hit an old-fashioned three-point play followed by McCrae doing the same.
“That’s who they are, and we get to see it every day in practice,” Lemon said. “That’s what’s really good about it, is we see it every day in practice, and now we see it in games.
We need them to play like that to win, and when we have Damian passing the ball like he did tonight, it’s great to see. Everyone trusts everybody on the court, and that’s awesome to see.”
