‘We wanted to change the history of our program.’ Mission accomplished for Roosevelt Roughriders, who beat North Medford for long-awaited trip to 6A state tournament

By René Ferrán | Photos by Leon Neuschwander 

When Yusef Leary moved up from freshman coach to head coach at Roosevelt High School following the 2016-17 season, he knew the challenge facing him.

The Roughriders were often an afterthought in the PIL race. They’d had a brief ascendance when they dropped classifications — first to Class 5A, where they finished second at the state tournament in 2007, then 4A, where they twice made the tournament.

But for Roosevelt to truly make a name for itself in the PIL world, it needed to taste success at the 6A ranks, and that hadn’t happened for quite a while.

“This is something that we’ve known, just in terms of the highest classification, that it’s been a long, long time,” Leary said. “And we made this goal about two years ago. We said we wanted to change the history and change the trajectory of our program, from the kids to the coaches. Just changing everything that we do.” 

And Friday night, the Roughriders celebrated the culmination of that pledge with a boisterous crowd in their North Portland gym. They raced to a 10-0 lead after three minutes against North Medford and never looked back in a 61-49 second-round playoff victory that secured their first trip to the big-school state tournament since 1958. 

“We have young men who decided that instead of following the wave, they wanted to create a wave, and I really think that goes a long way,” Leary said. “These boys are inspired. They believe. They bought into being here at Roosevelt, loving Roosevelt, and the sky’s the limit for the things they can do.”

Roosevelt (21-6), the No. 7 seed in the bracket, will face Mountain Valley champion and No. 2 Summit (25-0) in the final quarterfinal at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, the opening day of the four-day tournament at the Chiles Center, just a few miles from the Roughriders campus.

“They’re a good team, undefeated, but we’re coming to win,” said sophomore guard Terrence Hill, who scored nine of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter. “We’re not going to lose.”

With Cleveland winning its first PIL championship since 1962 and joining Roosevelt as the only PIL teams headed to the Chiles Center, the league’s center of gravity shifted quite a bit this winter.

For the Roughriders, it came down to keeping their top players from transferring to fellow North Portland schools Jefferson and Grant, schools with rich basketball pedigrees. For Leary, that meant getting buy-in from a couple of youngsters — Raysean Seamster and Donatello Tupper — who as seniors now form the nucleus around which this team revolves. 

“I met Raysean when he was a sixth-grader and met Donatello when he was an eighth-grader,” Leary said. “And they’ve been with us basically since that time, and they’re two guys who also know what has happened here and know the history that we have had.

“To now see them lead these young guys on a new trajectory, it’s just amazing, and it speaks to their maturity, their fortitude and resilience, because I’m sure people told them, ‘Roosevelt is probably not where you want to go,’ and now look at how they’ve changed things. They changed history.”

Seamster missed the first two months of the season recovering from a tibial plateau fracture before returning in early February. He wasn’t about to miss this chance at making history.

“It’s been a lot of hard work this year, battling through an injury, but me and my guys, we stuck together, and now we’re proving that we’re the best team in the state,” said Seamster, who had eight points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

“We play together through thick and blood,” Tupper added. “We play hard. That’s what we do. And we’re talented. Put those two together, and nobody can stop us.” 

The Black Tornado (21-4) certainly made the Roughriders work to end that 64-year big-school tournament drought. They rebounded from that early storm, eventually whittling a 17-point first-half deficit to five at 43-38 toward the end of the third quarter. 

Hill then took over for Roosevelt. He scored the Roughriders’ first nine points of the fourth quarter, driving through traffic for two layups, hitting a pullup three-pointer off a steal, and making two free throws to push the lead back to double digits for good at 54-43 with 3:46 to play.

“He’s our star,” Seamster said. “If we need a bucket, we’re going to him.”

“I feel like the fourth quarter is my time to take over,” Hill added. “Our coaches tell us to be aggressive in the fourth quarter, and I don’t want to lose. I’ve got to do anything I can for my team to win, and that’s what I did.”

For North Medford, it was a third empty trip up Interstate 5 in the past four state playoffs after losing to Jesuit in the second round in 2018 and 2019.

“We knew it would be a long bus ride, and most of the time, we’re ready for this kind of stuff,” said senior Trey Neff, a first-team all-Southwest pick who averaged 18.5 points per game during the season but was held Friday to 10 points on 5-of-12 shooting.

“They just had the momentum from the tip, and it kind of avalanched on us. They just pushed the ball, drove down and got easy buckets. We’re not used to that fast pace down in Southern Oregon, and it just kind of caught us off-guard.”

Neff and his twin brother, Ty — who led the Black Tornado with 14 points and three assists — are among eight seniors who will graduate from the team.

“All these guys are my friends, and I love all these guys,” Trey said. “I’ve enjoyed every second playing basketball with them together. I’m going to miss it.”

Meanwhile, Seamster, Tupper and the three other seniors on Roosevelt’s roster will get to savor a few more days on this magical ride that they hope doesn’t end until Saturday afternoon with them cutting the nets at the Chiles Center.

It starts with a Summit team that looks to become the first undefeated big-school champion since Jefferson won the 4A crown in 2000. The Storm are led by point guard Julian Mora, the Mountain Valley player of the year and a Seattle Pacific commit, fellow first-team all-MVC guard Caden Harris (a Chico State signee) and MVC defensive player of the year Carson Cox.

“We’ve been talking about this for four years now,” Tupper said. “We have the team to do this. We know Caden and Julian — Caden is one of the top in the state, and Julian is one of the top. It’s going to be a battle. We’ve just got to shut them down, and we’ll win the game.”

—

Roosevelt 61, North Medford 49

North Medford — Ty Neff 14, Trey Neff 10, Dyer 9, Miller 7, McLean 2, Plankenhorn 2, Orozco 4, Klug 1,, O’Neill, Carr, Young, Goodrich, Dominguez. Totals 21-54 3-8 49.

Roosevelt — Terrence Hill 17, Donatello Tupper 10, Seamster 8, Morris 9, Kim 8, White 6, Jimenez-Garcia 3, Salcido-Rosas, Causey, Frish, White. Totals 19-46 21-33 61.

North Medford - 10 - 11 - 17 - 11 — 49

Roosevelt - 16 - 17 - 12 - 16 — 61

Three-point goals—North Medford 4-21 (Ty Neff 3, Dyer), Roosevelt 2-13 (Jimenez-Garcia, Hill). Rebounds—North Medford 30 (Bryce Dyer 12), Roosevelt 28 (Hill, Raysean Seamster 7). Assists—North Medford 10 (Ty Neff 3), Roosevelt 9 (Hill 4). Turnovers—North Medford 15, Roosevelt 9.