Slow down Jackson Shelstad? Central Catholic’s Tony Angelo comes through with impressive defensive effort on state’s best player

“Defense is one of the strengths of my game, and I was super excited to play against one of the best in the country.”

By Dave Ball 

PORTLAND — Central Catholic junior Tony Angelo knew he had a big assignment coming up when the 6A state tournament bracket was finalized last week.

His Rams would be facing West Linn, the No. 3 team in USA Today’s Super 25 national rankings, and Angelo would be matched up against nationally renowned guard Jackson Shelstad. 

“He’s a quick guard, obviously a great player,” Angelo said. “Defense is one of the strengths of my game, and I was super excited to play against one of the best in the country.”

The Rams’ scouting report made note of Shelstad’s hot shooting in recent weeks — scorching the net at better than 60% from behind the arc.

Angelo’s top objective for Thursday’s quarterfinal — don’t let Shelstad do that. Angelo had a great deal of success chasing the West Linn superstar to all corners of the court, never leaving him more than an arm’s reach away. 

“I had to get aggressive in denying him and keeping the ball out of his hands,” Angelo said. “He’s been pulling up from deep, so we wanted to force him to drive the ball in where I had help or force his teammates to make plays.”

It was five minutes past tipoff before Shelstad attempted his first shot. With the Lions looking for other answers on offense, Central Catholic extended to a six-point lead midway through the second quarter and retained the upper hand well into the second half.

“We anticipated playing with a lead, we anticipated getting the win,” Central Catholic coach David Blue said. “West Linn is really, really good, but I trust in my team as well.”

Angelo kept up the tenacity after the break, picking up Shelstad in the full court when he dribbled the ball down the floor. The Lions freed up their star briefly with some screen action, but Angelo was always quick to switch back and not surrender any open looks.

“We had our big guys push up hard on screens, and when I got back, I came with active hands,” Angelo said. “I didn’t want him shooting 3s off those screens.”

At the end of the third quarter, Angelo converted an acrobatic layup that had him stumbling out of bounds behind the basket. West Linn quickly inbounded to Shelstad, who headed the other way looking to beat the horn. Angelo took notice and hustled down the floor, getting in front of Shelstad at the last moment and forcing his 3-point try to fly off target wide.

“Tony doesn’t quit — he competes and he doesn’t stop,” Blue said. “He trusted his teammates to provide help, and he gave everything he had tonight.” 

Shelstad got off only one shot in the fourth quarter, and his only scoring down the stretch came on two late free throws.

He finished with 17 points.

West Linn adapted and Adrian Mosley took on much of the scoring load with 17 of his game-high 21 points coming in the second half to help the Lions escape.

West Linn’s 49 points marked its lowest total of the season. 

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