Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Video: Jefferson 49, Wilsonville 41: Wildcats make late rally but come up short against Democrats

No. 2 Wilsonville cuts deficit to five points in second half before falling 49-41 Thursday

• By: Alex Tam  
• Published: 3/11/2010 5:33:06 PM
• Last Updated: 3/12/2010 3:31:33 PM

Photo By: Alex TamBoys basketball: Wilsonville vs. Jefferson
Wilsonville High School senior Michael MacKelvie (left) and junior Michael Etzel (middle) try to defend Jefferson High School senior Terrence Jones during the Wildcats' 49-41 loss on Thursday in the OSAA Class 5A state quarterfinals.

EUGENE – It didn’t take long for the emotion and agony of defeat to hit No. 2 Wilsonville.

Immediately after the buzzer sounded, senior Michael MacKelvie embraced his teammates knowing full well their dreams of a state title were gone.

The Wildcats gave a valiant effort but No. 1 Jefferson’s size, length and athleticism were too much to overcome in Thursday’s 49-41 loss in the OSAA Class 5A state quarterfinals at McArthur Court.

“At the end it was a little sad because my state championship dreams – and I guess all of our state championship dreams – at least for all the seniors, they’re gone now,” MacKelvie said. “I was really happy with the way we played. I think we totally out-competed them, especially in the second half.”

The Democrats appeared on the verge of busting the game open in the opening minutes of the second half when senior Stephen Madison made a layup for a 34-17 lead with 5:33 remaining.

But the Wildcats answered.

Jefferson started missing shots, and Wilsonville made its comeback.

The Wildcats went on a 13-1 run that stretched into the fourth quarter to cut their deficit to 35-30 with 5:49 left in the game. The Democrats scored just three points in the third quarter.

“The biggest thing was taking care of the ball, so we can hold them from the transition,” MacKelvie said. “They got the transition buckets in the end, and that’s when they get rolling offensively.”



After Jefferson stretched its lead back to 38-30 with 4:37 left, Wilsonville senior Jared Conroy nailed a three-pointer to cut the deficit back to five points at 38-33 with 4:15 left.

“We took better care of the ball, we were rebounding on the defensive end and we knew if we could do those two things, we felt like we could play them,” coach Chris Roche said. “But early, we gave them the ball too much.”

And it was too much Madison, a 6-6 wing who transferred to Jefferson from Prairie (Wash.) before the season. Madison scored 10 of game-high 28 points over the final three minutes to seal the win, which included several dunks in the open court.

Senior Terrence Jones, who was the obvious focus defensively for the Wildcats, finished with 14 points off 5 of 16 shooting, with 14 rebounds, four assists, four blocks and four steals.

“(Madison is) a heck of a player,” Roche said. “He’s a Division-I guy for sure, 6-6, really hard guy to match up. He hurt us but if you’re going to try to stop Jones, you’re probably going to be a little weaker on defense in some place and he took advantage of things.”

Roche said his team tried slowing the game down to keep the Democrats from getting out on the fast break. The Wildcats matched up several players against Jones, which included 6-3 junior Michael Etzel, 6-7 junior Seth Gearhart and MacKelvie.

“If they get out in the open court, they’re devastating,” Roche said. “I mean, they can score on UCLA, it doesn’t matter. They’re that good so we were better in the second half on taking care of the ball and that fed us playing better.”

Wilsonville received a surprise contribution off the bench from Conroy, who had seven points – all in the second half – along with five rebounds.

“That was phenomenal,” Roche said. “He’s a guy who’s probably played in spot minutes all year but he’s kept a good attitude and I told our guys we had to go bigger tonight, and boy, he was ready. That’s a tough thing to be a senior and not play very much, and have a great attitude, and he’s done that and tonight, it paid off. So I’m happy for him.”

MacKelvie led Wilsonville with 10 points off 2 of 12 shooting with eight rebounds. Gearhart had eight points and sophomore Kevin Marshall added six.

The Wildcats (24-3 overall) drop to the consolation semifinal round where they will play Pendleton on Friday at 9 a.m. at Mac Court. With a victory, Wilsonville will move on to the fourth-sixth place game on Saturday at 10:45 a.m.

Notes: MacKelvie was the QWEST player of the game for Wilsonville, and Madison earned player of the game honors for Jefferson. ... The Wildcats shot 13 of 40 from the field (32.5 percent), and Jefferson was 20 of 56 (35.7 percent). ... Madison and Jones combined for 42 points, and the rest of the Democrats combined for seven. ... The Democrats shot just 6 of 26 in the second half (23.1 percent) after shooting 14 of 30 in the first half (46.7 percent). ... The 49 points points marked the third-lowest point total of the season for Jefferson.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Jefferson Democrats	16	16	3	14	49
Wilsonville Wildcats	9	8	9	15	41

Jefferson - Stephen Madison 28, Terrence Jones 14, Kone-Nelson 2, Hosley 2, Polk 2, Rountree 1, Johnson, B. Jones, Mangum, Dent
Wilsonville - Michael MacKelvie 10, Gearhart 8, Conroy 7, Marshall 6, McNiel 4, Schwarzer 4, James 2, Etzel, Koford
Field goals - Wilsonville 13-40 (32.5 percent), Jefferson 20-56 (35.7 percent)
Free throws - Wilsonville 14-18 (77.8 percent), Jefferson 8-17 (47.1 percent)
Turnovers - Wilsonville 15, Jefferson 10
Rebounds - Wilsonville 30, Jefferson 38
Assists - Wilsonville 8, Jefferson 8
Blocks - Wilsonville 0, Jefferson 8
Steals - Wilsonville 3, Jefferson 11

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