McNary High School basketball players run off the bench to celebrate a 44-43 victory against Tualatin at McNary High School on Wednesday. MOLLY J. SMITH / Statesman Journal
KEIZER – The play had worked once seconds earlier so with the game on the line, why not run it again?
With McNary High School’s basketball team trailing Tualatin 43-42 and the final seconds ticking off the clock, senior guard Harry Cavell drove the lane and banked in a leaner with 4.7 seconds left to propel the Celtics to a 44-43 win Wednesday night in the first round of the OSAA Class 6A state playoffs.
When the game was on the line, McNary got the ball to the best player on the court.
“Best player in the league right here, baby,” McNary senior Trent Van Cleave said. “We want it in his hands.”
The win advances No. 11 seed McNary (21-4) advances Saturday’s second round to play No. 6 seed South Salem in a matchup of the top two teams from the Greater Valley Conference.
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South Salem, a 67-49 winner against Southridge in Wednesday’s first round, won both times the teams played this season.
“We’re excited about it,” McNary coach Ryan Kirch said. “I think it’s going to be a great thing for the city. We have confidence against them. We played them really well at their place and lost, we were up by one right at the end. We’re excited. We’ll look forward to the opportunity.”
The zone defenses used by No. 22-seed Tualatin (12-12) stunted McNary for large portions of the game and kept the ball out of the hands of Cavell.
Tualatin took out a 24-21 lead with 2:44 left in the first half on a turnaround basket on the baseline by Luke Osborn.
The Celtics finished the first half on a 7-0 run – including a three-point play by Cavell as time expired on the half to go up 28-24.
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McNary led 36-30 on a rebound basket by Matthew Ismay with 4:52 left in the third quarter, but Tualatin went back to its zone and held the Celtics scoreless for the next eight minutes.
Osborn, who scored 22 points, opened the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run to give Tualatin a 41-36 lead.
“I think he’s super strong,” said Cavell, who finished with 15 points. “He’s strong going left, and then when he goes right he’s got that quick fade so it’s hard to guard. We knew he would probably get his. A good player like that is going to get his points, but we just wanted to win the game.”
But Tualatin went passive on offense down the stretch.
The Timberwolves were content to try to run down the clock, giving McNary a chance to claw back into the game.
A rebound basket by Adam Harvey with 1:04 left cut Tualatin’s lead to 41-40.
After Tualatin’s Nathan Senger hit two free throws with 29 seconds left, McNary cut the lead back to 43-42 on a Cavell basket with 19 seconds left.
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“We like to press anyway, we feel comfortable putting pressure on,” Van Cleave said. “At the end they just played a little timid and we took advantage of some of their turnovers.”
Van Cleave fouled Senger with 17.4 seconds left, but Senger hit the first free throw in the one-and-one situation, giving Cavell the opportunity to play the hero.
“It was a play we ran in the past, and I thought early on in the game they did a real nice job guarding Harry, they X’d him and didn’t let him touching the ball,” Kirch said.
“He’s the player of the year, and big games you’re going to get the ball in his hands, he wants the ball in his hands. We drew up a really nice play that allowed him an option to get to the rim, we had a shooter in the corner, and we just told him to go make a play.”
bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6701 or Twitter.com/bpoehler
McNary 44, Tualatin 43
Tualatin: Luke Osborn 22, Nathan Senger 10, Angeles 9, Reid 2, C. Osborn, Hale, Tufua, Deuna. Totals 16 9-13 43.
McNary: Harry Cavell 15, Harvey 13, Ismay 6, Van Cleave 4, Goff 4, Neitzel 2, Martin, C. Cavell. Totals 19 5-9 44.
TUA 14 10 11 8-43
MCN 14 14 8 8-44
3-point goals: Tualatin 2 (Senger 2); McNaryu 3 (Harvey 3).