West Salem falls to St. John Bosco 81-60
Defending Capital City Classic Champions will now play for third place
St John Bosco came into the Capital City Classic basketball tournament with a nationally recognized pedigree. And the defending tournament champion West Salem Titans quickly got a taste of their opponent’s offensive prowess.
SJB raced out to a 22-9 first quarter lead and never trailed in the semi-final game at Willamette University. The Braves shot 63% from the field, and 47% from three for the game. West Salem Coach Travis Myers could only watch with a certain measure of admiration.
“St. John Bosco was unreal—huge guys at every position,” said Myers.
“We were able to drive into the paint well, but weren’t able to string stops together on the defensive end.”
West trailed 46-21 at half, 62-38 after three quarters, before closing out with an 81-60 final score.
The Titans weren’t too shabby from the field themselves—54 percent from the field—including 63 percent (12-19) in the second half. The team also made 41 percent of their three pointers for the game.
St John Bosco had five players in double figures—topped by Jack Turner’s 14 points.
Jackson Leach topped all scorers for West with 20 points, including 13-16 from the free throw line. Matt Luke added 11 points, including 3-4 from three. Jimmy Lathen also contributed ten points for the Titans.
The Braves advance to the championship game, and will face Oregon’s top-ranked team in the West Linn Lions—which defeated Modesto Christian 68-56 in the other semi-final game.
West Salem still has one more contest—facing Modesto Christian in the third-place trophy game at 7:00 pm tonight at Willamette University.
The SJB-West Linn tournament title game is slated for 8:30 pm.