West Linn boys basketball team sends a giant message on eve of playoffs: ‘Never count us out’

The Lions tie Tualatin for the Three Rivers League title thanks to a remarkable comeback victory in Friday's regular-season finale

West Linn players, including Kevin Benson (10), Wyatt Smiley (1), Sawyer Young (4), Jalen Snook (5), Trey Price (20), Gavin Gross (13) and Cade Lee (14), watch the action late in the game in the Lions’ 71-49 win over Tualatin. / Dan Brood

WEST LINN — The West Linn boys basketball team sent a message Friday night — and the Lions sent it loud and clear.

Actually, the Lions might have sent more than one message, but there was one loud, booming message, and other Class 6A contenders would be wise to pay attention to it.

West Linn senior guard Jalen Snook said it best, keeping it plain and simple.

“Never count us out,” Snook said after the Lions’ crazy 71-49 win over Tualatin in a Three Rivers League finale played in front of a huge crowd at West Linn High School.

“We’re always coming.”

West Linn senior Jalen Snook looks to get past Tualatin’s Pat Vialva Jr. during the Lions’ come-from-behind win over the Timberwolves. / Dan Brood

Never count the Lions out — that seems to go for a game, for the playoffs and, if they have their way, for the Class 6A state tournament.

“I think that some people forgot about us, and we’re going to let them know about it — what truly comes out of West Linn, and we’re ready for the playoffs,” Snook said.

As for some of the other messages the Lions sent in Friday’s game, well, they can play some shutdown defense, they can go on red-hot shooting sprees, they have a chip on their shoulder, and they’re absolutely brimming with confidence.

Oh yeah, one more — they’re highly motivated.

“I think we’re still a little underrated. That’s a top-two team in the state, and we came out and we beat them by 20,” said West Linn sophomore guard Trey Price, who had a game-high 21 points. “I feel that we’re still getting doubted, and I feel like teams don’t realize the type of team that we are. So, we just have to keep playing like this every single game.”

“This says that you can never count us out of anything,” said West Linn senior wing Kevin Benson, echoing Snook’s sentiments. “We’re coming in and we’re playing hot. We’re playing our best basketball.”

West Linn’s Kevin Benson shoots over Tualatin’s Javier Diaz during the Lions’ 71-49 victory Friday. / Dan Brood

That certainly showed in the impressive win over Tualatin, where the Lions turned a 12-point third-quarter deficit into a 22-point victory. With the win, West Linn tied Tualatin for the league championship, with each team going 8-2 in league play. Both teams moved to 19-5 overall.

“League champs — it’s such a good feeling,” Price said. “We just came together as a team, and this really feels amazing.”

“This means everything,” Benson said. “I mean, it’s not the end, obviously, but yeah, that was huge for us. It was awesome for us, awesome for our team, and we’re going to the playoffs strong.”

“It means a lot being able to come out and do this,” Snook said. “We’ve had some tough stretches throughout the year, and playing our best basketball at the end always feels good, especially with a big win like this.”

While it definitely was a big win for the Lions, the really impressive thing is how they got it.

Tualatin, which entered as the No. 2 team in the latest Class 6A coaches poll (West Linn is No. 7), held a 39-31 lead after a spirited first half. The Timberwolves got back-to-back long-distance 3-pointers from junior guard Jemai Lake to increase their lead to 12, at 45-33, with 4 minutes and 20 seconds left in the third quarter.

But the Lions weren’t worried.

“We still believed we could do it,” Benson said. “Obviously, we didn’t give up, and we came out and got it.”

West Linn sophomore Trey Price gets a shot off against Tualatin’s Damian Olvera during the Lions’ 71-49 victory Friday. / Dan Brood

“Our coach (Travis Myers), he’s so calm under pressure,” Price said. “He’s taught us to stay calm and to stick to what we do.”

What the Lions did was absolutely amazing.

West Linn senior wing Gavin Gross started things with a 3-pointer. That ignited a 12-0 run, which included seven points by Price, tying the score at 45-45 with 1:52 left in the quarter.

Lake scored on a baseline drive to give the lead back to Tualatin, but at that point, there was no stopping the Lions.

West Linn answered with a 3-pointer from Benson and a basket on a drive to the hoop by Snook before Price ended the third quarter with what could have been the biggest basket of the game — he sank a pull-up 3-pointer as the horn sounded, giving the home team a 53-47 lead going to the fourth quarter.

Members of the West Linn squad celebrate after sophomore Trey Price’s buzzer-beating 3-point basket to end the third quarter of Friday’s game. / Dan Brood

“We got that momentum when Trey hit that (3-pointer) at the end of the third quarter,” Snook said.

And the Lions ran with it — in an almost unbelievable way.

West Linn, getting baskets from Price, Snook, Benson and senior Sawyer Young, who connected on two 3-pointers, made its first eight shots from the field in the fourth. Tualatin missed on all 12 of its shots and scored two points in the period.

The Lions tallied 20 consecutive points and finished the game on a 38-4 run, covering the final 12 minutes.

“Defensively, we just had to step it up. We all came together, got rebounds and defensively picked it up. Our offense got going and got some transition baskets,” Snook said of the amazing fourth-quarter performance. “Everybody had confidence and I felt everybody was able to distribute and come through at the right time. Sawyer (Young) hit some clutch shots for us, and that really helped us out.”

“We just came out and kept hitting shots, big shots, and we made some big-time plays,” Benson said. “We hit some big shots, and we really wanted it. We wanted to win. We came out and we knew we were good enough. It just all came together in the end. We came out super hot, and we won it.”

Members of the West Linn team, as well as the student body, celebrate after the Lions’ 71-49 win over Tualatin in Friday’s Three Rivers League showdown. / Dan Brood

“I think it was just getting stops on defense. That translated to our offense,” Price said. “We just came out super hot defensively. We were all just ready. It was amazing.”

And the timing of an “amazing” win like that couldn’t have been better.

“This was a good one for us, especially going into the playoffs,” Snook said. “We’re peaking at the right time. That’s exactly right. We’re going to come out with energy and play our best every time we step on the court. We’ve got guys willing to do what it takes, and we’re excited. This has given us a lot of confidence going into the playoffs. Any team, any given night, I think we’re able to beat.”

West Linn, which enters postseason play as the No. 4 team in the OSAA Class 6A power rankings, will play host to Cleveland in a first-round game Wednesday. If they win their first-round contest, the Lions will host a second-round game March 8. The eight winners in the second round will advance to the Class 6A state tournament at the Chiles Center on the University of Portland campus.

“We want to win a state championship,” Benson said. “It’s going to take everything we’ve got.”

“We want to get to the Chiles Center and win the state tournament,” Price said. “We’re going to play the exact same way — energy, defense, we’re going to stick to our principles and play as hard as we can.”

“Win,” Snook said of the Lions’ playoff aspirations. “We need to come out every game with a bunch of energy and knowing we have a chip on our shoulder and show everyone that we can win it.”

In addition to Price’s 21 points, West Linn got 16 points from Snook, 11 from Benson, 10 from Gross (with three 3-pointers) and nine from Young.

West Linn senior Gavin Gross tries to keep control of the ball against Tualatin senior Nolan Keeney during Friday’s Three Rivers League contest. / Dan Brood

Lake paced Tualatin with 17 points. Sophomore Pat Vialva Jr. added 16 points, and senior Nolan Feeney had seven.

The Timberwolves will enter postseason play as the No. 2 team in the OSAA power rankings and will play host to Sandy in a first-round game Wednesday. If they win, they also will be home for a March 8 second-round contest.

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