League play is coming to an end this Friday, putting the basketball playoffs right around the corner.
The boy’s basketball team clinched their third league title last Friday with a win against crosstown rivals North Bend. Although the team would still be league champions with a loss to Douglas, last Friday, senior guard Jacob Dub says that it is very important that they win the game for ranking purposes.
“We need to beat Douglas so that our seeding is better, but I think we are set to do really good in the playoffs,” Dub said.
Dub said he expects the Pirates to do very well in the playoffs, mostly because the first game will be at home.
“I think we are set to do really well especially because we will be at home and we will have a great crowd along with the energy of being home we should be able to get a win,” Dub said.
Barring an upset on Friday, the Pirates should remain third in the OSAA 4A rankings, which would mean after the play-in games they will play the 14th ranked team.
The Pirates have only lost one game in Oregon this year and it was to the team that is currently ranked first in 4A: the Philomath Warriors. The only other team ranked ahead of the pirates is the Seaside Seagulls who have yet to play the Pirates and are ranked 2nd in 4A. However, Marshfield has beat both Cottage Grove and Scappoose, both are teams that Philomath has lost to. The Pirates beat Valley Catholic 42-26 early in the season and the Valliants were able to give Seaside one of their three loses.
According to Dub, the state tournament which will be held at both Liberty High School and Forest Grove High School, is a completely different game.
“The state tournament has a very different atmosphere. There is a lot more energy and the referees don’t call as much because they want to let you play so the games are much more physical,” Dub said.
The tournament and the journey there will not be easy, but Dub said he feels that other teams are the least of their worries.
“Our goal is a state championship, our biggest obstacle is ourselves we need to make sure we stay focused and are practicing hard every day and play as hard as we can and if we can do that we can achieve anything,” Dub said.
