Barlow pulls away for first title

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PORTLAND - It finally happened for the Barlow basketball program Saturday night - a state title.

Five decades and ultimately 711 victories into his coaching career, Tom Johnson led the Bruins to a 61-55 victory over Jesuit in the Class 6A boys championship game at the University of Portland's Chiles Center.

A raucous, packed gym watched top-ranked Barlow break free from a three-point halftime lead to as much as a 12-point edge, and then coast across the free-throw line to a celebration worth waiting for.

Barlow got double-figure points from four different players, and finished the season at 27-3, avenging one of its losses from December in the process.

"This is a great feeling, winning and winning for coach TJ," said senior Brayden Barron, who had a team-high 17 points and nine rebounds. "People criticize him as being a bad coach, but I don't see that. We all see him as being a great coach, and we're all happy we can win this for him."

"The guys all wanted this real bad so I'm very happy they achieved it," said Johnson, who started in as coach in the '80s. "There were so many former players here today, it was great that so much of the community came out for the game. We all won this together."

Jalen Atkins added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Bruins, who got 12 points from Blake Hills and 10 points from Maddyn Cummings.

Jesuit, which was seeded 11th in the 32-team playoff bracket, got 24 points from senior Patrick Kilfoil in the loss. The Crusaders have won seven titles - all since 1999, and appeared in four other finals at the large-school classification.

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