Everyone dreams of having the game of their life in the state championship game, but Country Christian senior Blake Halverson might have been one of the few to actually do it.
Halverson went 9-for-9 from the field with a made 3-pointer to score 22 points and lead his Cougars squad to a 60-48 win over Union in the OSAA/OnPoint Community Credit Union 1A boys basketball state title game Saturday at Baker High School.
The state title is Country Christian’s second in program history with the first coming 11 years ago in 2015.
“I think it’s still setting in a little bit, still a little surreal,” Cougars head coach Dawson Nofziger said. “It feels good to see all that hard work for the boys pay off and to do it on the biggest stage and all come together on our last game of the season is just awesome.”
Nofziger’s father Doug was the coach of that 2015 squad, and now the son gets to add his name to the state title list as well behind a well-executed performance from the 2026 squad.
“Not many guys can say they won a championship after their dad did it at the same school, and to have him on the bench with me,” Nofziger said. “Playing under my dad years ago and then coaching alongside him and then having him help me these last eight years, it’s stuff little boys dream about.”
Union threw the first punch by going up 8-2 to open the game, but the Cougars didn’t flinch and closed the first frame out on a 12-2 run to take a 14-10 lead after the first.
That’s where Halverson did a good portion of his damage as well, scoring 10 points in the first to get the Cougars back on track.
“We knew they were going to throw a punch and they’re more than capable of it,” Nofziger said. “Blake’s consistency all night, especially in that first to keep us going – really all week he's been a steady guy for us.”
Country Christian junior Ryan Gordon was next up in the second frame when he hit three shots and a free throw to score seven.
However, like he did the night before in the semifinals against North Clackamas Christian, Union junior Landon Fratzke started to heat up and scored eight consecutive points for the Bobcats.
Country got a response right before the buzzer though from senior Andrew Ives who hit a jumper to make it a 27-23 Cougars lead at halftime.
Halverson had 14 points at the break while Gordon had seven and four rebounds. Union senior KJ Klebaum led with nine points, four rebounds and three steals at halftime while Fratzke had eight points.
“We always try to focus on winning the third quarter no matter what it’s like going in there,” Nofziger said of the message at halftime. “Before the game tonight we said, ‘There’s only 32 minutes left for us to write a story.’ At halftime it was just that, reminding them saying ‘Finish writing your story. It can be a long one about all the ups and downs or it can be a short story about being state champs.’”
The Cougars got a jolt to start the second half as senior Tyson Smith knocked down a 3-pointer, the first for either side on the night, that put them up 32-25.
A state title is never easy though, and Klebaum wasn’t going to let it be with two buckets and another Union score in there from sophomore Dawson Miller. That cut the Country lead to 32-31.
But each time the Bobcats made a run, the Cougars were able to collect themselves and find a response, and this one came in the form of three-point play from Ives to bump the lead back up to 35-31 CC.
The two sides traded scores, then Klebaum got a steal and score to make it 37-35 Country, but this time it was senior Danyon Schneider providing the response with back-to-back buckets to increase the Cougars lead back to 41-35.
“That’s been all season where some of our role guys, they’ve bought into it and they come up big in those moments,” Nofziger said. “When they are called on, they get it done and they’re ready at all times for that. I thought our interior passing with (Schneider, Ives and Gordon) was really good tonight.”
Sophomore Jace McCraw stopped the bleeding for Union, but CC got a 3-pointer from senior Jesse Hernandez to take a 44-37 lead into the fourth.
The Cougars built a 10-point lead early in the frame up 47-37 and were still up 51-44 with less than five minutes to go.
Fratzke scored again, the Bobcats got a stop and Klebaum found the nylon to make it a 51-48 Country lead with 3:23 still to go.
Both sides dug in on defense to get multiple stops on both ends, but eventually it was Halverson coming to the rescue with a 3-pointer to put the Cougars up 54-48 with 1:39 to go.
“Our offense hasn’t been clicking for the last couple of weeks, so we really harped on the ol’ defense wins championships,” Nofziger said. “They bought in every night and I think these last two weeks we’ve held people under their average.”
Union’s shooting touch evaporated while the Cougars hit enough of its free throws to start icing the game in front of a large Country Christian contingent that was also out in Baker for the girls team.
The clock eventually struck zero, leaving the Cougars with a 60-48 victory and the program’s second state title.
Halverson finished with 22 points and five rebounds while going 9-for-9 from the field with a made 3-pointer and 3-for-6 from the charity stripe.
It wasn’t all him though as Schneider had 12 points with 10 rebounds and Gordon had 12 points with 13 rebounds. Country Christian shot 46.2% from the floor as a team while holding Union to 32.8%.
After finishing second in the Valley 10 League regular season race and dropping both games at the district tournament to take fourth, the Cougars were limping a bit into the playoffs.
But when the records are reset to zero and you have a team as close as the Cougars, stopping them for 32 minutes isn’t easy, and they cemented that legacy in blue on Saturday.
“I was impressed with how well we traveled, it felt like a home game,” Nofziger said. “It was awesome and to do it for the community and have them all behind us is just special. That’s a long drive for them and they sacrificed and they showed up. And we felt it, we needed it.”
Boys placement games
Fourth/Sixth place
No. 9 Crosspoint Christian 49, No. 3 South Wasco County 45: The game was tied three separate times in the fourth quarter at 39-39, 41-41 and 43-43, but it was the Warriors surviving in the final minutes to win the consolation bracket and take home fourth place.
Caden Mortiz hit a layup for Crosspoint with 1:28 to go, and after getting a stop on defense, the Warriors gave it right back to him and hit again to make it 47-43 Crosspoint with 54 seconds to go.
SWC made another shot to cut it to 47-45 and then had to start fouling to get into the penalty and force some free throws. However, with time still remaining between the shot block and game clock, the Redsides dug in on defense after getting to four team fouls.
On the ensuing play, Moritz found Dylan DeJong for a layup inside to make it 49-45 Crosspoint, and a 3-pointer from South Wasco didn’t hit as the game ended.
Moritz finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead Crosspoint while Brock Throne had eight points and 13 rebounds. Davis Hartwell had nine points and Trey Johnston pulled down 11 rebounds.
Jason Hull, the new state-record holder in single-season points, had 15 to lead the Redsides along with seven rebounds and four steals. George Barnett had 10 points and Rowen Huff had six points and nine rebounds.
Third/fifth place
No. 6 Open Door Christian 58, No. 4 North Clackamas Christian 51: The Huskies opened up a big first-half lead and never let it go in the second half to secure a third place finish at state.
Ben Buzhdaga was the driving force in the first half with 13 points on three made 3-pointers. Eric Johansen knocked down a couple 3-pointers as well in the first half to give ODCA the 29-24 halftime lead.
The second half was nearly even at 29-27 ODCA, but it the Saints were never able to get closer than three points as the Huskies held throughout the afternoon.
Ethan Zelenivskiy ended up as the ODCA leading scorer with 21, 14 of those coming in the second half, along with 11 rebounds. Buzhdaga had 19 points and four rebounds.
NCCS was led by Brandon Lee with 17 points and nine rebounds, Zeke Walt had 10 points.
austinw@osaa.org
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