Roosevelt's miracle finish vs. Grant has Roughriders 2 wins from 1st title since 1949: 'You definitely dream about this'

Utah State signee Terrence Hill Jr. rescues Roughriders with winning layup as time expires, sending Roosevelt to OSAA 6A semifinals

René Ferrán | Mar 7, 2024

The agony and the ecstasy.

Roosevelt senior Terrence Hill Jr. has now experienced both at the OSAA Class 6A boys basketball state tournament.

Two years ago, it was his missed box-out that in part led to Summit’s last-second victory over his Roughriders in the quarterfinals.

Wednesday night at the University of Portland’s Chiles Center, it was his layup off a run-out at the buzzer that lifted No. 3-seeded Roosevelt to a 67-65 win over crosstown rival Grant and to the semifinals for the first time since 2011, when the Roughriders played in the 4A tournament.

His teammates and coaches mobbed him under the basket as a packed house roared in equal parts disbelief and rapture.

“This feels amazing,” Hill said. “You definitely dream about this.”

The Roughriders (25-2) watched an 18-point third-quarter lead fritter away, and when the Generals took their first lead at 63-61 with 47.2 seconds left and Hill on the bench working out a cramp in his right calf, coach Jamarr Lawson acknowledged to having flashbacks to the Summit game.

But as Zhalei Van made the free throws to put Grant ahead, Hill came to Lawson, and the Utah State signee said he was ready to go back in.

“And I was like, ‘Are you sure?’” Lawson said. “As bad as I wanted him in the game, I didn’t want to hurt him. He has a really big career ahead of him.

“And he answered, ‘Yes, Coach. I gotta go do this for my team.’”

With the score tied 65-65, Grant inbounded under its basket after a timeout with 8.9 seconds left. Mekhi Muhammad got free for an open corner 3-point attempt but overshot the basket, and Owen Nathan rebounded for the Generals.

He saw Hill and teammate Syrius Owens sprint ahead and threw the ball toward them at midcourt. For a split second, there was hesitation as to who should get the ball, but Owens claimed it, then flipped the ball to Hill as he raced ahead to lay the ball in, with it settling in the net as time expired.

“I see my guys celebrating, my coaches, I’m hugging everyone. And just seeing my family afterward — I definitely missed that, for sure,” said Hill, who spent last season playing for a prep school in Arizona before returning to North Portland for his senior season.

“It’s the True North. I’m in my community. I’m in my home. UP is right down the street from my house. So, I feel good, for sure. I just want to finish the right way.”

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In the other locker room, Grant coach Sean Brownhill emphasized to his players they have nothing to hang their heads over.

“If we would have played better in the first half, we wouldn’t have been in that spot,” he said. “But like we told them before the game, ‘Leave everything on the court.’ And so, we asked them if they left everything on the court, and they all said, ‘Yes.’ So, it’s one of those things where there’s nothing to be sorry for because you know you left it all out there.”

When Roosevelt led 48-30 with 5:29 left in the third quarter, it certainly didn’t look like there’d be much drama at the finish.

But Grant (19-8), making its first appearance at the Chiles Center since 2019, wasn’t cowed by the moment. The Generals went on a 23-5 run over the next eight minutes, with Keion James’ and-one putback tying the score at 53-53 with 5:27 to play.

“We got super comfortable at halftime,” said senior point guard Utrillo Morris, who scored a game-high 23 points for Roosevelt. “We weren’t thinking the game was over at all. Grant is a great opponent, but I felt like the whistles started going the other way a little bit, and we were also taking a whole bunch of quick shots. The game started turning around. But luckily, at the end, we just came together.”

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Morris played a big part in that. His driving basket with 36 seconds left tied the score at 63-63, and after two free throws by Vashon Hardges put Grant back ahead, Morris drove the lane and dished to Owens for a wide-open layup with 19.6 seconds to play.

“He does that every year, every game,” Hill said of Morris. “It’s not a surprise to me. I know what he can do. He’s my brother forever.”

And now, the Roughriders are two wins from their first state championship since 1949. They’ll face Beaverton, a 64-56 winner over Southridge in Wednesday’s late quarterfinal, on Friday afternoon.

“It’s going to take everything — rebounding, defense, just playing as a team, for sure,” Hill said.