La Grande Tigers Upset Madras 62-56, Advance to 4A State Championship Game

The La Grande Tigers had answers at both ends of the floor for almost everything the Madras White Buffaloes threw at them. Blake Hildebrandt led all scorers with 20 points and Beckett Hutchins added 16 points and six rebounds, pacing the No. 8 Tigers to a 62-56 victory over the No. 4 White Buffaloes in the semifinals of the OSAA 4A boys basketball tournament at Forest Grove High School.

Landon Hood contributed nine points, seven rebounds, and eight assists to help send the Greater Oregon Conference-champion Tigers into the championship game. The victory marked a milestone for the program: the Tigers advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2010.

La Grande, which averaged a tournament-best 66.5 points a game entering the quarterfinals, shot 52.5 percent from the field with nine 3-pointers, while Madras shot 40.4 percent with four treys. Free throw shooting was nearly even, so the gap in 3-point makes decided the contest.

Madras never quit. La Grande's Aaden Bonanno made one of two free throws to push the lead to 44-34 with 4:29 to play in the third quarter, but Madras answered with an 8-0 run, cutting the deficit to two points on a pair of Matthew Suppah-Scott free throws with 1:42 left in the third. There were four separate moments in the fourth quarter when Madras trimmed the margin to three points, the last on an Angelo Perez-Perez layup that made it 59-56 with 30 seconds left. But the Tigers made three free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Madras coach Nick Brown credited La Grande's shooting: "They were 50 percent from 3-point range, so they shot really, really well from distance and they did a good job taking away our 3s. That was a big difference for us. And then we just couldn't get enough stops when we needed them the most."

La Grande coach Shawn Brooks was measured in his celebration. "This is a dream come true, but we're still hungry," Brooks said. "We've got one more game. We told these kids at the beginning of the season that we're a championship-caliber team. I don't think everyone believed it. I know some of us did. The coaching staff did. I don't know if our community fully did, but they're watching us now and I know they believe in us now."

Hildebrandt, speaking after the win, captured the mood in the locker room: "We have an opportunity to win the first championship for La Grande and I think we can put it together. It's just another important game and we've already been through a lot of that important stuff, so we're ready."

To reach Forest Grove, the Tigers had already beaten regular-season Greater Oregon Conference champion and defending state champion Baker in the league playoffs, then held off Marshfield 51-44 before downing top-ranked Scappoose 61-50 in the quarterfinals. The semifinal win over Madras set up a title game against No. 6 Marist Catholic of Eugene, which ultimately downed La Grande 57-55 to clinch the 4A boys basketball state championship — a two-point margin that underscored just how far the Tigers had traveled to reach that stage.