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Payton Pritchard Classic — Vikings hit Gladstone.

Twelve games across two days. Three teams. One program. The Vikings travel to Kraxberger Middle School this Saturday and Sunday for one of the biggest weekends of the summer.

The Payton Pritchard Classic is one of the marquee summer events in the Northwest. Named after the West Linn alum, Oregon Duck great, and current NBA Sixth Man of the Year, it brings in programs from across the state and gives players a real test against unfamiliar competition. This year it's hosted at Kraxberger Middle School in Gladstone — and all three Viking teams are in the field.

Saturday is the full slate. Sunday closes it out. Here's what families and players need to know.

The schedule

Saturday, June 6 · Kraxberger Middle School

17777 Webster Road, Gladstone, OR 97027

JV Boys — Aux Gym

Varsity Boys — Main Gym

JV2 Boys — Aux Gym

Sunday, June 7

JV Boys — Kraxberger Aux Gym

Varsity Boys — Kraxberger Main Gym

JV2 Boys — North Salem High School Aux Gym

Note: JV2 plays its Sunday games back home at North Salem, not at Kraxberger. Families with JV2 players — that's a different drive.

Things to note

Three things will define this weekend for the Vikings, and none of them is the scoreboard.

Summer is about who you become, not what you score. Win or lose, we'll know by the second half whether we showed up to compete.

First: identity. Two weeks into summer, the system should be starting to feel like home — five-out spacing, pack-line defense, decisions in 0.5 seconds. This is the first weekend we get to test it against teams who don't know what we run. If we look organized, we're on schedule. If we look scattered, we have work to do before Big Stage in 10 days.

Second: depth. With back-to-back games on Saturday — Varsity's two games are 70 minutes apart, JV's two games are roughly 3.5 hours apart — every player on the bench is going to play meaningful minutes. The guys at the end of the rotation matter this weekend. So does conditioning, and so does how we respond when shots aren't falling in game two.

Third: brotherhood. We've got three teams in two gyms at the same venue on Saturday. That means JV2 will be watching JV, JV will be watching Varsity, Varsity will be watching everyone. It's one program — and at a tournament like this, the whole program shows up to support each other. Coaches expect to see Vikings in the stands when their team isn't playing.

For families making the drive

Gladstone is about 50 minutes north of Salem on I-5. Plan for traffic both ways, especially Saturday afternoon when other tournaments may be wrapping up at the same time. Kraxberger has parking, but it can fill up fast on big tournament days.

A few practical notes:

And the usual reminder: how we carry ourselves in the bleachers represents the program. Encourage your kid, encourage their teammates, leave the officiating to the officials. We have a lot of basketball to play this summer and we want to be a program other gyms are glad to host.

The road ahead

This is the biggest weekend on the calendar until Big Stage in Beaverton on June 16–17. After that, UW Team Camp June 22–23, UO Team Camp June 27–28. Every game between now and then is a chance to find out who we are.

But before any of that — we play Gladstone. See you at Kraxberger.

Go Vikings.

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