Final Score: Santiam Christian 55 Monroe 46
Santiam Christian is a better, more complete team…but man is Monroe scrappy. Even when the Eagles were getting easy buckets down low or from the arc, Monroe kept fighting and kept finding ways to pull back into it. Perpetually it felt like Santiam Christian was pulling away yet only held a 10 or 12 point lead.
SC has the talent to go on the road and win a first round playoff game should it come to that (highly possible even if they finish second in the PacWest they may still get a home game), and shouldn’t be a surprise team should they make Coos Bay; There is real talent here.
Benjamin Bourne is going to be a problem for a lot of teams. The skilled big man might only have two people in the state that can guard him in the post when isolated—Jonah Jones of Westside and Austin Maurer of Cascade Christian—making him a unique asset to have in the modern game. That rare resource, a center that can pass well and is agile enough to work through traffic, can win the Eagles a lot of games simply based off the matchup issues he can create.
Leading scorers: Nate Young (Monroe) 24, Benjamin Bourne (SC) 19, Caden Trimmer (SC) 16, Luke Crowson (Monroe) 15
