PORTLAND — In recent years, Ethan Harris and Jace VanVoorhis watched the Northwest’s premier high school boys basketball holiday showcase as spectators from the grandstands of Hillsboro’s Liberty High School.
Like the rest of their teammates Thursday at Portland State University’s Viking Pavilion, the two Camas High standouts soaked in the atmosphere and experience of the annual Les Schwab Invitational. This time, it was on the floor at the invite-only event featuring some of the nation’s elite teams and the region’s top teams.
For the first time in the event’s 28 years, Camas received an invitation to the 16-team field.
Despite a 64-58 loss to Westview (Ore.) in the event’s opening game Thursday, the Papermakers are grateful to be part of an elite field.
VanVoorhis called it an ultimate experience.
“You see the big names,” VanVoorhis said, “and go, ‘Oh, wow. I want to play there one day.’ And now Les Schwab invited us out and it’s a great experience.”
While the event is in its 28th year, it’s back in Portland for the first time since 2003 after a long-standing run in Hillsboro. This year’s field at Portland State features two nationally ranked teams — La Lumiere (Indiana) and Gonzaga College (Washington, D.C.) — plus defending Oregon 6A state champion Central Catholic.
The tournament features 16 teams and 32 games over five days. Harris and VanVoorhis said the setup and top-end talent mirrors the Pro16 League on the NETPRO circuit, a nationally competitive AAU both players compete in on separate teams during the summers.
“These games are nothing new to us,” Harris said. “Playing against those high-level kids (on the AAU circuit) prepares you for these games. When you come back to high school, you feel more prepared.”
Camas now joins Evergreen (1997, 2005, 2021), Prairie (2006, 2009), Mark Morris (2007), Columbia River (2008, 2012), Skyview (2018) and Battle Ground (2019) as Southwest Washington’s all-time invitees. Class 1A Annie Wright of Tacoma is the other Washington school in the 16-team field.
Camas plays again at noon Saturday against the loser of Friday’s Annie Wright/Adrienne Nelson (Ore.) game. The tournament concludes Monday.
The Camas-Westview game was the first of four on Thursday’s opening day. Hot outside shooting paved the way early and is what gave Camas (4-2) its largest lead at 40-31 to open the third quarter. At one point, the Papermakers were shooting 56 percent on 3s (9 of 16) for the game before Westview ended the quarter on a 12-3 run. The two teams were tied at 43 entering the final 8 minutes.
From there, it was a see-saw opening 2 minutes of the fourth: five lead changes and no team led by more than 2 until Westview grabbed a 57-53 lead inside 3 minutes to play.
By that point, Camas committed three consecutive turnovers, and over the final 6:10 of the game, hit just two field goals.
Harris noted a number of similarities between Thursday’s loss and the team’s season-opening defeat to Lake City of Idaho. More notably, how Westview’s pressure on defense impacted Camas’ passing, Harris said.
Said VanVoorhis: “Our execution down the stretch was more poor than it was in the first three quarters and that has to change.”
Harris, Camas’ 6-foot-8 junior, had a team-high 17 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. VanVoorhis, its senior point guard, had 14 points and five assists. Sophomore Landon Frost came off the bench for 11 points on 4 of 4 shooting.
Jason Grady and James Kefgen each had 16 points to lead Westview.
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WESTVIEW (Ore.) 64, CAMAS 58
WESTVIEW — Kai Russell 13, Jason Grady 16, Peyton Read 10, James Kefgen 16, Lucas D’Haem 8, Dayton Jenkins 0, Ian Bautista 0, Jacob Epstein 1. Totals 23 (7) 11-18 64.
CAMAS — Cade Washington 6, Nyima Namru 6, Jace VanVoorhis 14, Channing Nesland 5, Ethan Harris 17, Carter Morgan 0, Landon Frost 11. Totals 20 (11) 7-10 58.
Westview 11 13 19 21 – 64
Camas 18 10 15 15 – 58
