Through the first few weeks of the boys basketball season, one of the most promising teams is Oregon City, which has risen to No. 2 in the OSAAtoday 6A coaches poll with a 7-0 start.
Despite graduating the best player from an 18-7 team in do-everything guard Gylan Payne – a 6A second-team pick who now plays at Oregon Tech – the Pioneers have cranked up their game behind seven returning rotation players.
They have won every game by double digits, except for a 63-58 season-opening victory at No. 6 Jesuit in which they rallied from an 11-point, third-quarter deficit. They have handed Jesuit (5-1), No. 5 Clackamas (4-1) and No. 7 Barlow (4-1) their only losses.
Oregon City hasn't won a league title or hit the 20-win plateau since 2010, and hasn't made the state tournament since 2019, but at this rate, the Pioneers could be in for a breakthrough season.
“I knew we were going to be able to score,” said coach Aaron Newkirk, who is in his 14th season with the team. “The surprise has been on the defensive end. We're a little bit ahead of schedule in that regard. The big question is, Are we going to keep trending in that way?”
The Pioneers miss Payne's scoring (19.8 points), rebounding (8.0 rebounds) and playmaking (5.0 assists), but the mental and physical maturation of the returning players has made up for it.
“They spent a ton of time working on their game in the offseason, and it's really shown in a lot of areas,” Newkirk said. “Our strength and conditioning program is paying dividends for us.
“Gylan had a lot of youth around him. This is one of the first teams I've had where we're not relying on a sophomore or freshman in our starting rotation. It's an older team. They all know our system pretty well, and it's certainly showing up on the court.”
Oregon City brought back three starters in 6-foot-6 junior wing Eli Hopkins (18.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists this season), 6-1 senior guard Alijah Scott (17.0 points) and 6-6 junior wing Alarion Scott (11.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.3 blocks). Hopkins made the Three Rivers League first team last season and the Scotts made the second team.
Madden Sendek (7.6 points), a 6-2 senior point guard, and Connor Lemmon (10.7 points), a 6-6 senior post, have joined the starting lineup after coming off the bench last season. The top two reserves – senior guard Alex Hoff and junior guard LJ Batchelor – also were in the rotation a year ago.
The high-flying Hopkins is having an outstanding season, scoring in a variety of ways.
“He's active around the rim,” Newkirk said. “And his three-point percentage is really improved from last year.”
With three 6-6 players in Hopkins, Alarion Scott and Lemmon, Oregon City has a size advantage on most teams. The ability of Hopkins and Alarion Scott to defend inside and on the perimeter makes it difficult to get a clean look against the Pioneers.
“Having length like that on the defensive end, you can really bother teams,” Newkirk said. “Getting out and taking away three-point shots has been really good for us so far.”
On the offensive end, Oregon City has improved its shooting across the board from last season. The Pioneers are shooting 37 percent from three-point range, dramatically up from last season, when they shot in the 20s.
Newkirk's Oregon City teams have gotten off to promising starts in other seasons but ran into adversity and tapered off. The Pioneers could be ready to change that.
“It's probably the best team we've had from a chemistry standpoint,” Newkirk said.
Oregon City will get all it can handle in a tough Three Rivers that includes No. 4 Tualatin, No. 9 West Linn and Lake Oswego. Before that, though, the Pioneers must navigate the rest of a challenging nonleague schedule, starting with four games in the Les Schwab Invitational.
Oregon City opens the tournament Friday with a first-round game against No. 1 Southridge (6-1), which is coming off a 76-72 home win over No. 3 Central Catholic (2-3) on Friday.
“I think Southridge is the best team in Oregon right now,” Newkirk said. “They're super talented and score the ball at a really high level. This will be a big defensive test for us.”
jerryu@osaa.org
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