South Salem’s Elijah Schwartz (0) starts in the North Salem vs. South Salem boy’s basketball game at South Salem High School on Tuesday.
North Salem’s Jordan Sampson (35) and Alex Vasquez (0) and South Salem’s Christian Russell (21) go up for a rebound in the North Salem vs. South Salem boy’s basketball game at South Salem High School on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016.
South Salem’s Khalid Thomas (20) shoots the ball past North Salem’s Isaiah O’Connell (3) in the North Salem vs. South Salem boy’s basketball game at South Salem High School on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016.
Winning conference championships have become standard for South Salem High School’s boys basketball team.
The No. 6-ranked Saxons clinched their third consecutive conference title with an 82-36 home win against North Salem on Tuesday.
Now they’ve got more work to do.
“I’m proud of the guys,” South Salem coach Tyler Allen said. “Again, it was a preseason goal for us to win the league title, and again we’ve clinched this and we’ve got a couple other goals that we’ve got in mind, but it was goal to have our first goal established and met tonight.
“And the team hopefully has got a new hunger for their second and third goal which is not to lose a home game and then to make it to the Chiles Center as well and once we’re there to do some damage.”
South Salem (20-2) improved to 14-0 in the Greater Valley Conference and clinched the outright conference title.
The Saxons also clinched a home game in the March 2 first round of the OSAA Class 6A state playoffs. And at No. 6 in the OSAA’s power rankings look to have home-court advantage throughout the state playoffs.
“All it is, is just the next step,” said South Salem senior Gabe Matthews. “I mean we’re not really looking at the fact we’re undefeated. Every game needs to be the next step toward the playoffs and that’s the biggest thing.”
Christian Russell scored 15 points, Khalid Thomas scored 12 points and Gavin Baughman scored 10 points for South Salem.
The win was the 100th in Allen’s four years as coach at South Salem.
“He’s done a great job the past few years,” Russell said. “He’s a great coach. He’s a great guy. He’s a really nice guy to everybody and makes us work hard.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler
South Salem’s Gavin Baughman (34) goes for two points as North Salem’s Jordan Sampson (35) tries to block his shot in the North Salem vs. South Salem boy’s basketball game at South Salem High School on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016.