After its rise as a 1A contender, Trinity Lutheran's boys basketball team got its first taste of 2A last season, making it to the state quarterfinals.
Now the Saints of Bend, ranked No. 2 in the OSAAtoday 2A coaches poll, are going after their first state championship before they make the jump to 3A next season.
Trinity Lutheran wrapped up the regular season Friday with a 77-31 home win over Culver, improving to 23-1 overall and 10-0 in the East Cascades Conference. The Saints are winning by an average of 24.3 points per game, up from 12.4 last season, when they finished 18-10.
“As an entire team, it's probably the most talented team we've ever had,” said Kyle Gilbert, who took over as coach in 2016 after an 0-21 season and guided the Saints to the 1A final in 2019. “We've got key pieces where we need them. We've had some high-level players before, but this year we just kind of have it all.”
Trinity Lutheran graduated three starters from last season, including a first-team all-state selection in senior forward Andrew Imhoff (22.8 points, 10.4 rebounds), who now plays at Chemeketa Community College.
The Saints have put together a versatile lineup around the two returning starters in 6-foot-2 senior Chace Nichols and 5-11 junior Chimi Gilbert, who share point-guard duties. The other starters are 6-7 junior forward Austin Imhoff, 5-9 junior guard Quentin Romney and 6-2 junior guard Rhett Lewis.
Imhoff and Gilbert lead the team in scoring at 16 points per game, with Nichols and Romney contributing 13 and 11 points per game, respectively.
“They play very unselfishly. They don't really care who gets the credit,” Kyle Gilbert said. “On any given night, any one of them could be on fire, and everybody is encouraging them, feeding them the ball, celebrating with them. They all can shoot threes. You can't really pinpoint taking away one thing.”
Austin Imhoff, who pulls down 13 rebounds per game, has a different playing style than his brother, Andrew. Austin is more like their grandfather, Darrall Imhoff, who played 12 seasons in the NBA as a 6-10 center.
“Austin is more of an old-school post,” Kyle Gilbert said. “He's got a lot of moves down low. He doesn't get to the three-point line as much. He's got a bright future. He's grown a ton since his sophomore year.”
The Saints have had a good run of athletes. Before Andrew Imhoff they featured forward Matt Eidler, a 2020 graduate who scored 2,344 career points (No. 10 on the state's all-time list) and played in college at Concordia (Wis.). Their 1A semifinal team in 2024 had second-team all-state forward Jack Foley, an all-state football receiver at 5A Mountain View who now plays college football at Wake Forest.
“We've always had really high-end, top-level people with a bunch of good players,” Kyle Gilbert said. “This year, I don't know if the top-end is as high, but when you put all five together, it makes it pretty special.”
The only blemish on Trinity Lutheran's record is an 80-73 overtime loss at 3A No. 2 Westside Christian on Dec. 6. In that game, the Saints led by five points and had possession inside the final minute of regulation but the Eagles rallied to force overtime on a three-pointer at the buzzer.
“We learned a lot from the Westside game,” Kyle Gilbert said. “It taught us a great lesson.”
Since that loss, Trinity Lutheran has won 21 in a row. The Saints have beaten three teams ranked in the OSAAtoday 3A coaches poll in No. 5 Riverside, No. 6 Creswell and No. 10 Blanchet Catholic and dipatched three teams ranked in 2A in No. 3 Regis, No. 5 Stanfield and No. 8 Western Christian. They also topped 1A No. 1 Country Christian 70-60.
Against Regis, Trinity Lutheran fell behind by 15 points before rallying to win 84-73 and avenge a 10-point loss in last year's state quarterfinals.
The Saints' best win might be an 80-68 victory at 5A Caldera, a game in which they led by 20 points in the fourth quarter.
“We were on top of our game,” Kyle Gilbert said. “I think they saw some of the ceiling they could get to in that game.”
Trinity Lutheran successfully petitioned to move all of its programs up to 3A in 2026-27, believing that it is a better fit for competition and travel. The growing school, which moves into a new building this week, aspires to expand its athletic program to include football.
“There's definitely huge potential for continued growth,” Kyle Gilbert said. “We always kind of wanted to be at 3A.”
St. Helens chasing history
St. Helens, co-No. 5 in the OSAAtoday 4A coaches poll, took a big step toward its first league title since 1983 with a 52-40 home win over No. 3 Scappoose on Friday.
The Lions (15-3, 8-1), who have won nine in a row and 13 of their last 14, hold a two-game lead over Scappoose (15-5, 6-3) and Astoria (14-7, 6-3) with three Cowapa League games remaining. They play host to Astoria on Feb. 24.
Senior guard Andrew Waite had 19 points and 16 rebounds and senior guard TJ Kearse added 15 points and six rebounds in Friday's win, which avenged a 54-39 loss at Scappoose on Jan. 9.
Waite hit a three-pointer to cap a 9-2 run that opened a 39-31 lead early in the fourth quarter. Scappoose responded with seven consecutive points, pulling within 39-38 on a basket by senior forward Brayden Miller with about four minutes to go.
But St. Helens closed out the game on a 13-2 run. Kearse had seven points during the decisive surge, starting it with a three-pointer.
Miller led Scappoose with 14 points.
Baker tops in GOL
Baker clinched the regular-season title in the 4A Greater Oregon League with a 75-67 home win over La Grande on Friday.
The Bulldogs (11-10, 4-1) hold a one-game lead over La Grande (12-10, 3-2) and Pendleton (13-11, 3-2) with one league game remaining. Baker, which finishes its league schedule Thursday at Ontario (4-18, 0-5), holds tiebreakers over La Grande and Pendleton.
In Friday's game, the Bulldogs trailed La Grande by 10 points in the second quarter before going on a 16-0 run to lead 33-27 late in the first half. The Tigers responded to retake the lead and the teams were tied four times in the fourth quarter.
Baker went on a 9-0 run, getting three-pointers from senior Eli Long and junior Gavin Scott, to open a 65-56 lead with 2:53 left. Senior Kale Dalke made four free throws in the final minute to ice the win.
Long scored 25 points to lead the Bulldogs, who also got 13 points from junior Quin Wellman. Seniors Landon Hood and Blake Hildebrandt scored 19 and 18 points, respectively, for the Tigers.
The Dalles trips No. 2 Madras
Injury-plagued The Dalles denied No. 2 Madras' bid to clinch the title in the 4A Tri-Valley Conference and kept its own playoff hopes alive with a 70-67 road win Thursday.
The Riverhawks (10-11, 2-3), missing two starters and two rotation players due to injury, added five JV players to avoid a forfeit and came through with their best win of the season.
Junior guard Oliver Stevens led The Dalles with 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Stevens scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and produced the game-clinching steal.
Senior Calder Morrison added 20 points, making all five of his three-point attempts. Sophomore Bryson Cates scored 11 points and played excellent defense on Madras standout junior guard John Buffalo-Ball. The Riverhawks shot 20 of 22 from the free-throw line.
Madras (17-4, 5-1) leads No. 4 Molalla (17-4, 3-2) in the conference standings. The White Buffaloes, who beat Molalla 68-42 at home in the first round of conference play, visit the Indians on Thursday.
jerryu@osaa.org
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