McKay Brings OSAA Sixth Place Trophy Home to Salem

Scots fall to Grant in physical game; Plater, Berrier receive all-tourney honors.

Photo courtesy: Mark Gilman FullAccessSports.com

EUGENE - The McKay Royal Scots ended their best season in 14 years on a small down note, but the team still was in good spirits after falling to Grant 78-72 in the fourth place trophy game of the OSAA 6A Boys Basketball Tournament at McArthur Court in Eugene.

The game had no downside for the Scots, who still brought home the sixth place trophy in the eight team tournament.

Grant, which lost the Portland Interscholastic League title on the last day of the regular season, posed problems for McKay -- mostly in the area of team speed.

"They were just flat out quicker than us," said McKay coach Jack Martino. "We had real problems with it in the first quarter. To our credit, we adjusted well, but dug ourselves a real hole that was tough to get out of."

The hole, points-wise, was a total of eight, as the Generals raced out to a 19-11 lead at the end of one.

McKay turned the ball over five times in the period while giving up a combined 14 points and four three-pointers to Grant's Paul McCoy and Mike James.

In the second, McKay gained a little ground on the Generals, trailing 36-29 at half. Greg Plater had nine points in the period, and went into the locker room with 15.

In the third quarter, the game turned ugly. Several apparent fouls on the aggressive Generals went uncalled, including a near-tackle of McKay's Jordan Berrier near the scorer's table that resulted in a foul on Berrier.

A technical foul was issued against the McKay bench moments later. A double foul was also called on Plater and Grant's Daniel Collins, who bumped Plater defensively for several possessions.

A chorus of boos from McKay fans continued for most of the quarter, as the General lead grew to 53-39 at the end of the third.

McKay rallied behind Plater in the fourth quarter, as the Central Valley Conference player had six field goals, including a pair of threes and several acrobatic layups.

McKay went on a 22-8 run to get within six at 68-62 with 1:45 left. But McKay was forced to foul and the Generals were steady from the free throw line, 11-18 in the final quarter, to keep the game out of reach.

McKay ended the year with a record of 22-7. Plater finished with 37 points on 15-26 from the field, the second highest individual total of the tournament. Reese Smith added 14 points, and Berrier had nine for the Scots.

Grant went 19-9 on the season. The Generals had ten three pointers in the game, including six by James (24 points) and 3 by McCoy (23 points).

The Scots also received additional honors at the end of the tournament, as Plater was named to the first team all-tournament squad, and Berrier was named to the second team.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports