Central Catholic shows off defense in 6A quarterfinal win over Holy War rival Jesuit

Isaac Carr scored 13 points to lead Central Catholic into the OSAA boys basketball semifinals

René Ferrán | Mar 6, 2024

PORTLAND - Central Catholic’s boys basketball team was known all season for its offensive firepower.

But Wednesday afternoon in the opening game of the OSAA Class 6A tournament at the University of Portland’s Chiles Center, the Rams showed they can play a little defense, too.

Central Catholic held Jesuit to its lowest point total in the past 11 seasons in a 59-33 win that advanced the tournament’s top seed to its first semifinal since 2015.

“You can be the best offensive team in the state, but if you miss all your shots, you’re going to lose a game,” said senior Marley Zeller, who only slightly exaggerated his team’s attack — their 76 points per game trailed Roosevelt (77.2) among 6A teams this season.

“But if you’re the best defensive team, you’re not going to lose.”

The Rams (25-3) remained unbeaten against in-state competition this season, allowing the second-fewest points to an opponent (Reynolds scored 20 in a mid-February game) as they continued their bid to become the first 6A school to sweep the football and boys basketball titles in the same school year since Corvallis in 1983-84.

“Defense is where you win games,” Zeller said. “We work on it every day in practice. We know that’s how we’re going to win.”

The Rams set the tone early, opening the game with a 9-0 run over the first two minutes while ensuring the Crusaders wouldn’t get many clean looks at the basket.

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Zeller joked about an X (formerly Twitter) post he read that claimed Jesuit was the No. 1 team in the state.

“I don’t know what they were talking about,” he said, smiling.

Jesuit didn’t score from inside the 3-point arc in the first quarter and trailed 15-9 after one period and 31-20 at halftime. The Crusaders shot just 36.4% from the field and turned the ball over seven times.

“I don’t think people celebrate the high IQ and understanding of what other teams are trying to do,” Rams coach David Blue said. “I mean, our athleticism is one of our strengths, but they were just all over the place being connected. They knew the game plan, got deflections, steals (10). I’m really pleased with the performance.”

Pat Kilfoil led Jesuit with 12 points, but no one else scored more than six as the Crusaders shot 27.9% from the field (12 of 43) and were held to their fewest points since a 52-32 loss to Lake Oswego in the third-place game of the 2013 state tournament.

“They were all over us defensively,” said Jesuit coach Gene Potter, whose team was at the Chiles Center for the first time since 2019. “They were super aggressive and took us out of most of the things that we wanted to do.”

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The teams also met in December at Jesuit’s Beaverton campus, with Central Catholic pulling out a 55-51 win.

“The first time we played, we have some talented guys that wanted to prove that talent that everyone’s talking about, and that’s tough to do against a team that’s so good defensively like Jesuit,” Blue said.

“So, today, we definitely put an emphasis on moving the ball, ball movement, player movement, and putting us in situations that are advantageous to us. They trusted their talent. We’re an unselfish group, and as the year progressed, it was about understanding the game plan and not worrying about how many points you score.”

The final box score underscored that last point. Junior Isaac Carr, who returned last week from a sprained left ankle that sidelined him nine games, led the Rams with 13 points, with brothers Duce and Zamir Paschal scoring 11 apiece.

Zeller, a Pepperdine signee, chipped in eight points, including a thunderous dunk with 1:16 left in the third quarter that capped a 6-0 run that pushed the lead to 42-26.

“I’ve been wanting to do that all year, to be honest,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of drives that I wanted on film and was like, ‘Damn, I should have dunked it then.’ So, that felt pretty good.”

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But for one day, at least, defense took center stage for the Rams. Carr considered it their finest defensive effort of the season — one that took them to a Friday afternoon semifinal game against two-time defending champion Tualatin, a 62-46 winner over Barlow.

“We came together and really locked in,” Carr said. “We’re super close, and I think we all really want this. We’re going to do what it takes to get it done.”

And if the Rams continue to stay as locked in on defense as they were Wednesday?

“I don’t think anyone will be able to beat us,” Carr concluded.