Les Schwab Invitational 2023: Live high school basketball semifinal updates recap
HILLSBORO, OREGON - The 2023 Les Schwab Invitational finals are set.
Can the lone Oregon team in the field — Central Catholic — prevail against three out-of-state, nationally ranked teams?
Nationally ranked Columbus (Florida) takes on Central Catholic (Oregon) at 7:15 p.m. and Perry (Arizona) faces Harvard-Westlake (California) at 8:45 p.m. (Pacific time).
Columbus checked in at No. 9, Harvard-Westlake No. 15 and Perry is on the bubble of SBLive/Sports Illustrated national Power 25 rankings, updated Tuesday.
Scroll down and refresh this post for the latest score and game updates from Liberty High School.
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SEMIFINALS
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FINAL: HARVARD-WESTLAKE 78, PERRY 56
-- Harvard-Westlake rolls past Perry in the semifinals for a 78-56 victory. The Wolverines will take on Columbus (Florida) in tomorrow's championship game, a battle of nationally ranked squads.
-- Not a lot of offense from either team in the fourth quarter with the game practically decided on the scoreboard. Backups getting some playing time here in the final minutes.
-- A three pointer by Barron Silsby is the final bucket of the third quarter. Perry manages to get the lead back down to 18 points heading into the fourth quarter.
-- Harvard-Westlake was approaching a 30 point lead, but a tough finish by D'Andre Harrison and a three pointer by Barron Silsby have the lead back inside 20 points.
-- Harvard-Westlake's lead grows to 24 points early in the second half after a three by Christian Horry and fastbreak score by Trent Perry. The Wolverines are up 56-32 on the Pumas with five minutes left in the third quarter.
-- Trent Perry and Harvard-Westlake picking up right where they left off to start the second half. The future USC Trojan shows off his range with another three.
-- Harvard-Westlake leads 44-27 at halftime. That was an impressive performance all-around by the Wolverines in the first half as they look to punch their ticket to the finals.
-- Robert Hinton gets in on the three-point fun with a long ball to make it a 15 point game for Harvard-Westlake.
-- It's a three-point shootout here in the second quarter. Koa Peat drains a three for the Pumas after Trent Perry nails a three with a defender in his face for the Wolverines.
-- Nikolas Khamenia hits from three again to push Harvard-Westlake's lead back to double digits.
-- D'Andre Harrison goes 2-for-2 from the free throw line to continue a small run for Perry. The lead is back down to eight points for Harvard-Westlake with 5:30 left in the first half.
-- Koa Peat hits a three pointer for Perry after its timeout, and those are the final points of the first quarter. Harvard-Westlake leads 23-9 going into the second quarter.
-- USC commit Trent Perry finishes a drive to the basket with a nifty spin, and Christian Horry knocks down a three on the next possession for Harvard-Westlake. The Wolverines lead is up to 21-6, and Perry wants a timeout.
-- Koa Peat scores coming out a timeout for Perry. The five-star forward gets his first bucket of the night, and it's a much-needed one for the Pumas.
-- Both teams are struggling to find a groove offensively. The score is 2-2 after three minutes, but Nikolas Khamenia and Trent Perry hit threes for Harvard-Westlake on consecutive possessions to get the scoring going.
-- Dominique Bentho cleans up a miss for the first points of the night, as Harvard-Westlake grabs a 2-0 lead.
-- Time for tipoff in the second semifinal game of the night.
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FINAL: COLUMBUS (FLORIDA) 92, CENTRAL CATHOLIC (OREGON) 73
-- Columbus wins 92-73 to advance to the finals of the Les Schwab Invitational. The Explorers will take on the winner of Harvard-Westlake (California) vs. Perry (Arizona), which will tip off in less than 10 minutes.
-- Backups for both teams are getting some run here in the final minutes with the game out of reach on the scoreboard.
-- Randy Smith throws down a vicious slam dunk, and the Columbus bench loves it.
-- Isaac Carr and Central Catholic are still attacking despite the big difference on the scoreboard. The Oregon commit scores on consecutive possessions.
-- It's been all Columbus through three quarters. The Explorers lead the Rams by a score of 68-40 entering the final quarter.
-- Malik Abdullahi runs in transition and Cayden Boozer hits him for the alley-oop. Columbus' lead is up to 33 points as the third quarter winds down.
-- Isaac Carr stops the bleeding momentarily for Central Catholic with a cut to the basket for an open layup, also the Rams' first basket of the third quarter.
-- Central Catholic still looking for its first points of the second half. The Rams call a timeout after a Jase Richardson fastbreak dunk makes it a 10-0 run for Columbus to open the third quarter.
-- Malik Abdullahi going to work here early in the second half. The Princeton gets a putback to extend the Columbus lead back to 20 points, 47-27.
-- Duce Paschal drains a three from the corner in the final seconds of the first half to cap off a strong run for Central Catholic and make it 43-27. The Rams trail Columbus by 16 at halftime.
-- Zamir Paschal with back-to-back buckets for Central Catholic to get the Rams back within 20 points.
-- Carr sinks a three for Central Catholic, but the Rams still trail 41-19 late in the second quarter.
-- Isaac Carr makes Cameron Boozer drop to the floor with a crossover but can't finish at the basket. Duce Paschal is there to clean up the miss, however.
-- Malik Abdullahi floats through the air to finish an alley-oop from Cameron Boozer. This Columbus team is full of leapers.
-- Duce Paschal scores in the final seconds of the first quarter to get Central Catholic to double digits. Columbus leads big after one quarter, 29-10.
-- Michigan State commit Jase Richardson goes two of two from the free throw line, and the Explorers now lead by 21 late in the first quarter.
-- Benny Fraglea knocks down a three pointer to put Columbus ahead by 11 points. The Explorers are jumping on the Rams early in the semifinals.
-- Game has tipped
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THIRD PLACE CHASE
SOUTHRIDGE PULLS AWAY FROM MT. SPOKANE
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BEAVERTON EDGES OUT BARLOW
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CONSOLATION GAMES
JESUIT STUNS SUMMIT AT BUZZER IN OT
Patrick Kilfoil watched his deep 3 clank off the rim, backboard, then rim again before dropping, lifting Jesuit to a thrilling overtime win over Summit.
"To be honest, I just wanted the ball," Kilfoil, who finished with a game-high 30, said. "And I trust my teammates to hit that shot, but I'd been feeling it all game and I knew I was going to make it."
Jesuit plays Tualatin for the consolation championship at 3:30 p.m. Summit faces Cascade Christian Saturday at noon.
More on the Crusaders' stunning win:
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TUALATIN VS. CASCADE CHRISTIAN
Jemai Lake went for 41 points to lead two-time defending OSAA champ Tualatin past 7-footer Austin Maurer and Cascade Christian.
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LIBERTY TAKES DOWN WEST LINN
Donovan Crowder went off for 28 points on 10 of 15 shooting and added five assists as Liberty edged defending LSI champ West Linn.
Freshman Pat Viavla had 24 points to lead West Linn.
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MOUNTAINSIDE BEATS LAKE OSWEGO
Peyton Reyes scored 16 points and doles out five assists to lead Mountainside past Lake Oswego.
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-- Andy Buhler | andy@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveor
