Tualatin boys basketball Coach Bubba Lemon knew he would need some players to step up with starting forward Nolan Keeney battling illness this week.
When his fellow frontcourt mate Javier Diaz hit foul trouble in Saturday night’s second-round playoff matchup, Lemon was forced to dig even deeper into his team’s depth.
Thankfully for him and for the Timberwolves, players up and down the entire roster contributed to a dominant 87-50 win at home Saturday night against South Salem.
For Lemon, that started with Carter Lemon, the team’s sixth man and the coach’s nephew.
“That kid is Mr. Reliable,” Coach Lemon said. “He’s definitely our sixth man here, so whenever anyone is out, he fills in really well. I’m super proud of that kid.”
Lemon took the energy he typically brings off the bench and brought it throughout the game, especially on the defensive end. He also hit a few threes.
The Timberwolves received some huge shots from another starter, senior Diogo Alves, who drained four three-pointers. What impressed Lemon even more than Alves’ sharpshooting was the rest of his game Saturday night. With a leaner front court, Alves went down into the paint and skyed high for a few huge rebounds.
“Him having the presence down low, it really changed the game,” Lemon said. “We also put him on their number one player and he did an awesome job with that.”
Lemon also praised the play of sophomore Damian Olvera and senior Damari Fields, who both saw a lot more minutes on Saturday.
Even with contributions coming from some different places Saturday night, at the center of the Timberwolves’ strong play was, per usual, the backcourt of junior Jemai Lake and sophomore Pat Vialva Jr.
Lake netted 29 points, and late in the fourth he dropped in a lay-up to give him 1,000 career points. Vialva scored 17 as Tualatin’s next-highest scorer.
The game started off incredibly fast-paced, and the two guards dealt with a ton of pressure from South Salem, which started the game with a press. Still, the backcourt managed to play at the game’s pace while not rushing into costly mistakes.
South Salem hung around for much of the first quarter, but Lake and Vialva hit back-to-back threes late in the first, and Tualatin led 25-17 after one.
The Timberwolves exploded out of the gate to start the second quarter and never looked back. Tualatin opened the second quarter on a 13-0 run to lead by nearly 20. The game was never close after that, as Tualatin cruised into the state quarterfinals.
Next up for the Timberwolves is a trip to the Chiles Center at the University of Portland for a quarterfinal matchup against Westview. The game is at 8:15 p.m. Thursday.
