Oregon signee Pritchard rallies home-state all-star team to comeback win

West Linn High School standout Payton Pritchard didn’t lose many games in his career — and very rarely ones on the big stage.

And the University of Oregon signee wasn’t about to leave high school with a frown on his face.

In one of the best performances you will see in a 40-minute basketball game — 43 points, 15 assists and five steals in 36 exhausting minutes — Pritchard rallied the Oregon all-star boys to a 115-110 victory over the Washington squad in the 22nd Northwest Shootout on Saturday at Liberty High School.

“We try and represent the state well,” said Pritchard, who was also battling knee issues. “We got the (win), and that is all that matters.”

The Washington squad closed the final 10:40 before halftime on a 42-13 run — sparked by all of Malachi Flynn’s 11 first-half points. Isiah Brown also hit a 3-pointer, and converted a three-point play in giving his team a 60-40 halftime lead.

At one point, with Pritchard on the bench, Oregon went scoreless for a 6:17 span in losing its lead.

But as quickly as Pritchard and his team lost it, they cut it in half to start the second half.

They hit five of their first six field goals in cutting it to 62-52 just 1:55 into the half. And Taylor Jensen, who went scoreless for Oregon in the first half, tallied 15 of his 17 points in the first 4:28.

“Surprising, especially since we preached defense the whole time, getting back and making guys work,” said Joe Harris, the Washington coach from Chelan High School.

After that, Pritchard took over. He scored 26 second-half points, and hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Oregon its first lead of the second half, 96-95, with 7:36 remaining.

“We just had to take it one possession at a time,” Pritchard said. “We had to pick it up on defense as well.”

Washington had its scorers, too — led by Brown’s 24 points. Woodinville’s Tony Miller added 20, and Peninsula standout JaQuori McLaughlin chipped in with 18 while Curtis senior Aushanti Potts-Woods had 17.

But the Washington team had two big turnovers in the final 90 seconds — and Ben College’s two free throws for Oregon with 12.7 seconds to go sealed up the improbable comeback.

The Oregon team scored 75 points in the second half.

“It hurts,” Flynn said. “Payton Pritchard killed us, but I am looking forward to playing against him the next four years. It should be fun.”

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Washington 103, Oregon 61: What a way to go out for two-time Gatorade player of the year Mikayla Pivec of Lynnwood, who was voted the game’s most valuable player in her team’s runaway victory.

Pivec, an Oregon State University signee, led all scorers with 19 points. She had 14 rebounds, four assists, two steals — and hit a 25-foot bank shot to end the first half to give her team a 49-28 lead.

Beamer’s Makenna Woodfolk had 18 points as Washington shot 48.8 percent from the floor (42 of 86) to extend its winning streak in the cross-border all-star series to three consecutive games.

This game was quickly determined by the Washington squad’s defense.

Oregon tried its one-on-one game with Cierra Walker and Autumn Baumgartner. It didn’t work — the home team went the first 3:10 without scoring.

And Washington broke out quickly with an opening 9-0 run, behind two baskets from Braydey Hodgins.

“The message … is we are going to run, run and run,” Washington coach Dori Monson said. “So it wasn’t defense at the expense of offense — it was defense and offense.”

Woodfolk’s corner 3-pointer pushed the Washington lead to 33-16 with 9:05 to go in the first half. Oregon never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

“I feel if they played more as a team, it would be a closer game,” Woodfolk said. “But since it was one-and-one, we took advantage of it.”

Pivec saw plenty of Oregon State fans in the crowd. But she also was very much aware of a pro-Oregon Ducks public address announcer — and played to it.

She tallied 15 of her 19 points in the first half as Washington pulled away.

“I really enjoyed my high school experience playing basketball, and I am ready for the next chapter,” Pivec said.

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 9:19 PM with the headline "Oregon signee Pritchard rallies home-state all-star team to comeback win."