Les Schwab Invitational Overview and Recap
The Jesuit Crusaders Men’s Basketball team took part in another Les Schwab Invitational, along with many other familiar teams in the Metro League. This year’s invitational was held in a different location, moving from Liberty High’s home court to PSU’s Viking Pavilion.
This year’s notable and national teams were the Annie Wright Gators from Tacoma Washington, the Owyhee Storm from Meridian Idaho, the La Lumiere Lakers from La Porte Indiana, and 2024 LSI champions, the Gonzaga High School Purple Eagles.
Last year, Jesuit lost their first game against the Perry Pumas from Arizona, but then fought their way through the consolation bracket after beating both West Linn and Summit. However, they came just short in the consolation championship against Tualatin.
The Crusaders first matchup this year was against the Barlow Bruins on December 26th, which was undoubtedly Jesuit’s best game of the Invitational. Barlow and Jesuit have had many close games in the past, especially their meeting last year where Jesuit won 73-71. With over 1000 people in attendance, Jesuit pulled off a hard fought victory, winning 67-58, to move on. A notable player for Barlow was their senior guard Jalen Atkins who led the team with 25 points. Patrick Kilfoil scored 20 points for Jesuit being their leading scorer.
Jesuit’s next task on the 27th was against local rival Central Catholic, bringing a holy war match into the Invitational. This was a much tougher opponent for the Crusaders, as the Rams did win the state championship last year. Jesuit came just short in the second round, losing to Central by just 9 points. Kilfoil again showed up and performed, leading all scorers with 26 points. Isaac Bongen also followed Kilfoil with 20 points. Isaac Carr for Central Catholic led his team with 20 points, and Duce Paschal followed with 18. Although it was a big challenge for the Crusaders, it was an opportunity for them to play their holy war rival once before their regular season meeting, taking place at Central Catholic’s home court on January 10th.
After losing in the second round, Jesuit was assigned to play against the Owyhee Storm, after their loss to Gonzaga High School. The Storm are known for their incredible playoff runs the last couple of years, winning the Idaho state championship for two years in a row. In this matchup, the Crusaders came out not in their true form scoring a total of 56 points to Owyhee’s 67 points. For Jesuit, both Kilfoil and sophomore Major Williams led the team with 14 points. Bowden Howell for Owyhee led the storm with a total of 24 points.
The Saders 4th and final game was against their Metro League opponent, the Westview Wildcats. Coming off a couple of losses, Jesuit was not at their best, although it was a preview to the upcoming metro league season. Jesuit scored their lowest amount of points in the whole tournament, 47 points. Kilfoil again scored a total of 12 points leading the team. Westview won the game by 7 points, scoring 54 total points with James Kefgen being their leading scorer with 24 points.
The semi-final matchups were filled with vibrancy, as the Central Catholic Rams played the nationally ranked Gonzaga Purple Eagles. Gonzaga, number 5 in the nation, rolled past the Rams winning by 30 points and were set for the LSI championship. On the other side, the Annie Wright Gators faced the La Lumiere Lakers in another exhilarating matchup. The Lakers are known for their best player, Jalen Haralson, being the 9th best player in the entire nation. They also have Darius Adams, who’s committed to play College Basketball at Uconn. La Lumiere ended up winning the game by only 6 points because of a strong and a lock-up Gator defense, who fought hard to the end.
The final between the Lakers and the Purple Eagles, with an attendance of a little less than 2500 people, was a disaster for La Lumiere, as the Eagles defended their rank in the nation winning by 20 points. The Eagles were crowned the 2024 LSI champions, and traveled back to Washington DC on a happy note.
The Crusaders, however, turn their heads towards the rest of the season and use the LSI as a way to improve and get better.
Junior Ryan Fraser gave some input on LSI, and how the team is looking forward to the rest of the season.
“The Les Schwab Invitational was a good experience and I feel like we as a team competed each and every game against top 10 teams in the state, including Idaho’s two time reigning state champs. Playing those type of teams gets us better. What I can take away is we just have to figure out how to win games when shots aren’t falling, and once we do, we’re going to be rolling,” Fraser said.
