With three wins in as many days, the Mountain View boys basketball team claimed the Oregon Holiday Hoopfest title Saturday afternoon, taking down an Intermountain Conference foe to claim the crown.

The Cougars beat Caldera 59-43 to win the annual basketball tournament held at Summit High.

Senior Quincy Townsend led the way with 22 points in the win over the Wolfpack. Three other Cougars scored at least eight points each. Senior Kole Hendricks had 14 points, junior Brady Kennedy had nine and senior Ian Prictor pitched in eight in Saturday afternoon’s win.

“Things came together for us,” said Mountain View coach Bob Townsend. “We were the most balanced that we have been. If we want to beat really good teams, we need to be balanced. Caldera was trying to take (Quincy Townsend) away and others stepped up. It was a great team win.”

Hendricks helped the Cougars build an early seven-point lead by scoring eight of his 14 in the first quarter.

“He’s one of our best defensive players and has been playing at a high level for us,” Bob Townsend said. “Offensively, he started the game with key baskets and cuts in the first quarter to really set the tone.”

Getting to the championship game did not come easy for Mountain View. In Thursday evening’s opening game, the Cougars needed a rally in the closing minute to force overtime against Crook County.

The Cougars scored the first five points of overtime to pull away 76-72.

Quincy Townsend scored 30 points, and Prictor scored 18 to give the Mountain View a 66-60 win over Clackamas in Friday night’s semifinals.

Much like Mountain View, Caldera had to scrap out a win in overtime in its opening round game to advance in the tournament.

Trailing by 19 points early in the second quarter against Forest Grove, and playing a little flat out of halftime, it was the Wolfpack bench that started to chip away at the lead before the starters returned to the floor and finished the job with a 62-58 win in overtime.

“Real gutsy comeback down 19 early in the third quarter,” Caldera coach Ryan Cruz said. “Fortunately we came out on the winning end of that one.”

Junior Miles Macomber scored 20 points and junior Jack Bents added 15 to help the Wolfpack move past McNary 65-58 in the semifinals for a meeting with Mountain View in the championship.

In the championship game, despite 20 points from junior William Jenson, the Wolfpack could not keep pace with the Cougars.

“It was a good three days for us,” Cruz said. “Mountain View is tough. Defensively I thought our effort was good, we just gave up too many second and third chances. And we didn’t shoot the ball as well as we would like.”

The start of IMC play is next for both Mountain View and Caldera. Mountain View is hoping its strong start to the season will carry into IMC play and lead to another trip to the Class 5A state tournament.

“It is a matter of putting pieces together and building,” Bob Townsend said. “Our goal is to get back to a state tournament, and we put ourselves in a good spot so far.”

Caldera, playing in its second varsity season, has already eclipsed last year’s win total (four) with five victories during the nonleague schedule. But this year, the Wolfpack are thinking about getting more.

“Very excited for that accomplishment, but we aren’t satisfied,” Cruz said. “Our goal is March. I believe that we have a good chance at that.”

Summit boys fall at the buzzer … again

Less than 24 hours after losing to Jesuit on a buzzer beater, the Summit boys basketball lost once again in the final seconds in its last game at the Les Schwab Invitational.

With the game tied at 75, Cascade Christian broke the Storm’s full-court press to score just before the buzzer and walk away with a 77-75 victory on the final day of the tournament at Liberty High School in Hillsboro.

The Storm battled back from a five-point halftime deficit behind a pair of 20-point performances from seniors Collin Moore and Pearson Carmichael. Carmichael scored a team-high 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while More scored 20 and also grabbed nine rebounds against the Challengers.