The Brick Oven at La Salle Catholic College Preparatory in Milwaukie, Oregon was filled with enthusiasm on Friday night (Jan. 27). The perfect stage for a Tri Valley conference showdown between league leading La Salle Prep Falcons and Madras White Buffalos.
The nearly packed crowd were treated to a game for the ages as the Falcons and Buffalos traded scoring runs throughout with the visiting White Buffalos getting the last run in pulling out a hard fought 57-56 victory.
La Salle Prep boasted a seven point lead midway through the final quarter, before Madras came charging back on a three pointer from senior Steele Haugen and then a lay-in by another senior, Edward Zacarias to bring the Buffalos to within one point at 56-55 with :15.3 left in the game.
Moments later, Zacarias drove the lane pulling up on the right block and nailing a tear drop with :04 seconds to go, giving Madras a one point lead at 57-56. The Falcons called time-out, and got some time added to the clock.
That enabled them to pass the ball up to half court to call a time out with :03.5 seconds left. The Falcons diagramed their last shot, which came from Sean Hays in bounding the ball to junior guard Jacob McGraw, who got a good look from the left wing, but the shot was just short, and a rebound basket attempt was too late, though the shot attempt didn't go down anyway.
The White Buffaloes move into sole possession of first place in the league win extending their winning streak to five games. Madras improves to four and oh in Tri Valley Conference play and 13-4 on the season. The Falcons fall to 3-1 and 14-4 and into a tie for second place with Molalla.
Despite its first league loss of the year, La Salle Prep maintains its position in the OSAA Power Rankings at #9 while Madras moves up two spots to tenth in the State's Ranking system that determines playoff position.
La Salle Prep will host last place Estacada on January 31st in their next game while Madras will host 11th ranked Molalla on the same day.
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