MCMINNVILLE — With a win over the Highlanders Thursday morning in a consolation round, the Redmond High Panthers are guaranteed to bring home a trophy for the third straight season.

Junior Jack Snyder turned in one of the tournament’s top performances with 31 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals to send the Panthers to the 4th/6th place game Saturday morning against No. 5 West Albany.

“It was a battle all game,” said Snyder, who was named Redmond’s Player of the Game. “Whoever loses is going home. No one wants to lose, no one wants to go home, everyone wants to play another game and place as high as they can.”

The consolation games are a crapshoot. Both teams had their state title dreams dashed in the quarterfinals and had to bounce back and try to fend off elimination in less than 20 hours.

Redmond (19-9 overall) was up for the task against the senior-heavy North Eugene squad (22-6).

The Panthers never trailed during the game. And when North Eugene narrowed the lead to 60-58 in the final minutes of the game, Redmond made all eight of its free throw attempts to close out the contest.

“None of us were ready for the season to be over,” said junior Ian Pearson, who finished with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists. “We knew if we lost, we were done. We weren’t ready to go home.”

Junior Wyatt Horner finished with 11 points in the game to reach double figures for the Panthers, while Caiden Gould scored a team-high 20 points for the Highlanders.

Redmond will take on West Albany at 8 a.m. Saturday morning.

The night before, the Panthers nearly took down the two-time defending champions.

Having already pulled off one miracle in the playoffs, the Redmond High boys basketball team nearly found a second one Wednesday night in the Class 5A quarterfinals.

The seventh-seeded Panthers gave No. 2 Wilsonville — the two time defending state champs — all they could handle and then some, but came up just short of the upset, falling 56-51 at Linfield University.

“That’s basketball,” said Redmond junior Jack Snyder, who was named Redmond’s Player of the Game after finishing with 14 points, eight rebounds and four steals. “You go out there and give it your best and there are a couple little things that went their way and didn’t go ours. We played as a team, we left it all out there and I’m proud of our guys.”

Despite being the underdogs, Redmond (18-9 overall) showed no fear from the opening jump against the defending champs.

“We were ready to go,” said Redmond coach Reagan Gilbertson. “We expected to win this game. I know a lot of people didn’t expect us to win, but we did.”

Playoff path

Redmond boys rally from 19 points down to advance to 5A state tournament

Even though Wilsonville (24-3) had opened the season with a 62-37 win over Redmond in the first week of December, the Wildcats were not taking the Panthers lightly. The Panthers had advanced to the semifinal round the previous two seasons.

“We tried to talk about the respect we had for them before the game because they’ve been in this quarterfinal game the last two years and won both times,” said Wilsonville coach Chris Roche. “So even though they lost some to graduation, these kids have been here, they’re tough, they’re very well-coached and we definitely had all we could handle today.”

The Panthers survived a fast start from the Wildcats, who built a lead as large as 13 points midway through the second quarter. But then the Panthers began chipping away to make it a 30-29 game at halftime.

“They just battled,” Gilbertson said. “They are just full of fight and heart. Our goal is to win a state championship. We can’t do that now, but we can go 1-0 tomorrow and end on a win. Not many playoff teams get to end on a win. They take it hard because they are so competitive. You’ve seen us all year, they fight to the end. And we just didn’t come out on top tonight.”

Sophomore Wyatt Horner was the high scorer for the Panthers, finishing with 19 points. Junior Ian Pearson pitched in eight points while dishing out seven assists.

Redmond was the first team in seven playoff games to score more than 41 points against Wilsonville. The Panthers broke that streak in the third quarter. The game went into the final quarter tied at 43.

Wyatt Horner’s 3 pointer with 3:18 in the fourth left gave the Panthers a 51-50 lead. It was, unfortunately for Redmond, its last bucket of the game.

Wilsonville’s Kallen Gutridge closed out the game with four points and an assist in the final couple of minutes to help the Wildcats pull away. The Oregon State football signee scored a game-high 27 points with 19 of them coming in the second half on 10 of 13 shots.

Consolation rounds

No. 5 West Albany 51, No. 9 Mountain View 48

In the consolation round, Mountain View High had its season come to an end with a three-point loss to West Albany Thursday morning.

For the second game in a row, the Cougars erased a double-digit deficit going into the fourth quarter, but came up just short of pulling off the upset.

With 15 seconds remaining, senior Quincy Townsend tied the game at 48 with a pair of free throws. But West Albany’s Gavin Aguilar knocked down a three pointer with 4 seconds left, which would prove to be the game winner.

“I think that is the thing you are proud of,” said Mountain View coach Bob Townsend. “This senior group is resilient, they are tough and they are going to fight until the end whether things are going their way or not. And that showed in the last two games.”

Mountain View (16-12 overall) held a 15-8 lead after the first quarter. But over the next two quarters, West Albany (23-5) outscored the Cougars 34-14 to take a 42-32 lead into the final quarter. And the comeback came up a shot short.

Quincy Townsend led the Cougars with 17 points while grabbing eight rebounds, senior Ian Prictor, who was named Mountain View’s Player of the Game, finished with the tournament’s first double-double scoring 10 points and grabbing 14 rebounds. Junior Mason Chambers knocked down three 3-pointers to finish with nine points.