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Sports update: Jefferson beats Grant to clinch another PIL boys basketball title
2/20/2018The game was close again, but the Jefferson boys basketball team wrapped up a Portland Interscholastic League title, this time with a 72-68 victory over Grant at a packed Jefferson High School gym on Friday.
The victory was the Democrats’ 31st in a row in PIL play and clinched their fourth consecutive PIL title since the league was reunited as a Class 6A league in 2014-15 (Jefferson shared the 2015-16 title with Franklin).
Jefferson beat Grant for the third time this season, all in close games that came down to the final moments. Friday’s saw Grant use a 10-1 fourth-quarter run to tie the game 68-68 on Ty Rankin’s 3-point shot with 1:24 remaining.
Jefferson senior K’Lum Strickland scored on a layup with 54 seconds left, then made two free throws to seal the win for the Democrats, the defending state champions.
Junior Marcus Tsohonis had 24 points and senior Kamaka Hepa added 20 points for Jefferson. Senior Kelton Samore scored 18 points, and Rankin and Damon Hickock each had 15 points for Grant.
Jefferson and Grant, which entered the game ranked first and second in the OSAA Class 6A statewide computer ranking, could meet again at the state tournament. Last year, the rivals played in the first round of the state tournament at the Chiles Center, with Jefferson winning 77-61 on its way to a state title.
This time, if the rankings hold, they could meet in the championship game March 10 at the Chiles Center in what would be the first all-PIL final since 1988, when Grant beat Wilson 57-56 to take the Class AAA championship. The final OSAA rankings will be issued at 10 p.m. Wednesday.
(See also: More photos from the Jefferson-Grant game)
Wrestling: Cleveland’s Jontae Hardaway finished runner-up at 106 pounds in the Class 6A state tournament at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday. The junior lost a tight final in overtime against Sprague senior Bollong Joklur.
Hardaway, the PIL champion, took a 1-0 lead with an escape in the second period. After Joklur took a 2-1 in the third with takedown, Hardaway quickly tied the score with an escape, and the match went to OT, where Joklur got the win with a takedown at the 48 second mark.
Two other PIL wrestlers reached the championship semifinals. At 113, Cleveland freshman Elija Fishler won back-to-back matches by pinfall to reach the semifinals before losing in the third-place match to finish fourth. At 220, Grant junior Gabe Hambruck won three matches before eventually losing in the fifth-place match.
Cleveland finished 14th to lead PIL entries in the team standings.
Swimming: Lincoln, behind junior Nate McFaul, tied for fifth in the Class 6A state boys meet at Mt. Hood Community College on Saturday. McFaul finished third in the 100-yard butterfly and fourth in the 200 freestyle.
Cleveland senior Rees Kyle matched McFaul for the best finish by a PIL swimmer, taking third in the 100 backstroke. Lincoln junior Kai Hilbourne reached the finals in two events, finishing sixth in the 200 and 500 freestyle. Cleveland sophomore Cody Soo was fifth in the 200 freestyle.
McFaul and Hilbourne were joined by junior Alex Young and freshman Adrian Clement on the Lincoln team that finished fourth in the 400 freestyle relay.
In the girls meet, Lincoln finished 10th. The Cardinals team of junior Abby Blackford and sophomores Phoebe Kemp, Katherine Lochner and Alesandra Pardini reached the final of the 400 freestyle relay and finished sixth.
-Mike Tokito
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