Portland Christian, Mannahouse Christian boys basketball heads to 2A state quarterfinals

Two local schools will be heading out east to Pendleton next week to continue their path in the Oregon 2A high school boys basketball state tournament.

No. 3 seed Portland Christian stayed unbeaten on the year with a 58-38 win over No. 14 Illinois Valley on Feb. 23, and No. 7 Mannahouse Christian took down No. 10 Lowell with a 57-37 victory.

With the win, the Royals moved to 26-0 on the season, the only boys team in the state, regardless of classification, that is still unbeaten this season. Two girls remain undefeated with Corbett in 3A and Crane in 1A.

Meanwhile the Lions are heading to Pendleton for a second consecutive year. MCA was the No. 1 overall seed last season, but fell in the quarterfinals to No. 9 Heppner. The Lions responded with two wins however to bring home the fourth place trophy.

Portland Christian’s next opponent will be No. 6 Willamina (22-6), a team who battled through one of the toughest leagues in the state in the Tri-River Conference. The game is scheduled to tip at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29 from Pendleton High School.

Mannahouse will also take on a Tri-River Conference opponent in No. 2 Regis. The Rams only have three losses this season, two to No. 1 seed Western Christian and one to Willamina.

The Lions and Rams are set to tip at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 29 at Pendleton High.

The other two quarterfinals matchups include No. 8 Stanfield taking on No. 1 Western Christian while No. 5 East Linn Christian will play No. 4 Oakland.

If Portland Christian and MCA both win, the two league foes would play each other in the semifinals at 3:15 p.m. Friday, March 1 at the Pendleton Convention Center. The Royals won both regular season matchups and won 45-44 in the league tournament title game.