Oregon (OSAA) Class 4A boys basketball state tournament: Rasean Jones, Baker back in semifinals

Bulldogs junior is also top receiver, hurdler; missed final four weeks of football season with separated shoulder

Baker junior Rasean Jones returned from a separated shoulder in time to help his team return to the OSAA Class 4A boys basketball state tournament. / René Ferrán

The Baker boys basketball team kept its defense of its OSAA Class 4A state championship alive Thursday afternoon at Forest Grove High School, rallying past Crook County 54-48 in a quarterfinal matchup.

In the thick of the action was junior Rasean Jones, the Bulldogs’ star three-sport athlete who showed no signs of the separated shoulder that cost him the final four weeks of his football season.

Jones had a limited impact on the offensive end, scoring eight points — older brother Isaiah, a senior who won 4A player of the year honors last season, led the Bulldogs with 24 — but Rasean’s 3-pointer with 3:14 to play gave Baker its first lead.

Rasean also battled tooth-and-nail with Crook County standout post Bryce Lowenbach despite giving up four inches to the 6-foot-7 junior, the Tri-Valley Conference’s player of the year who still had 23 points.

Jones said the shoulder “will never be 100%, but it’s the best I’ll be right now. I tape it every game, and if I get it caught up here and there, it’ll bother me a little bit. But it felt good today.”

Unlike Isaiah, who missed time in December because of an appendectomy, Rasean did not miss any games despite an initial prognosis that he wouldn’t return to the court until January because of his injury.

“It took me about five or six weeks to be able to shoot a ball, and I did PT for 12 weeks,” he said. “I’m just glad everything’s good.”

The Bulldogs survived to advance to Friday’s semifinals against top seed Cascade, and Jones agreed it helped to get such a stern test from the Cowboys to open the tournament.

“We’ve got some younger dudes on the team who haven’t been here before,” he said. “They needed to know what it’s like to play in a highly competitive, close game. So, I think for the younger dudes, and even those of us who have been here before, it’s good to win a game like that, because the rest of the tournament, it’s going to be rough.”

Jones is a four-time state champion on the track, breaking the 4A state record in the 110-meter high hurdles and becoming the third Oregon hurdler to break 14 seconds while repeating in the 110 and 300 hurdles.

Rasean Jones / Photo by Leon Neuschwander

He’s already in preseason mode to go for the threepeats, having competed in a couple of indoor meets at Eastern Oregon University. Once June hits and he begins offseason workouts with a new football coach, he’ll start weighing his options — so far, he’s received offers from Oregon State, Boise State, Colorado State, Idaho and Washington State.

The three-star receiver, who’s ranked No. 6 in the most recent 247Sports state recruiting list, said whether the school has a men’s track program will be a factor but not the deciding one.

“I’m just going to wait until after this basketball and track season, and then I’ll really look into what I can see myself doing in the future,” he said.

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