Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 1995)
The Clackamas Print Page 5 Wednesday, Jan. 18,1995 SPORTS Cougars win with Williams MVP performance by Jesse Sowa Sports Writer The Clackamas Community College Men’s Basketball Team held off a late run by Lower Co lumbia College to win the cham pionship game of the Cougar In vitational 85-77. The Cougars also defeated Blue Mountain and Green River on their way to taking first place in the tournament that they hosted December 27-29 at Randall Hall. Clackamas sophomore Nate Williams was named Most Valu able Player of the tournament. Players receiving all-tournament status were Marc Nipp (South western Oregon CC), Todd Kennedy (Green River CC), Jus tin Henry (Big Bend), Gabe Matthews (Lower Columbia Col lege) and Jay Moore (Clackamas). Clackamas began tourna ment play with a 111-76 victory over the Blue Mountain Timberwolves on Dec. 27. Both teams struggled with their shooting in the first half, but the Cougars overcame their op ponents trapping defense in the second stanza to out score their opponents 69-36 for the win. Clackamas led 17-8 over Blue Mountain when Moore hit Williams for a 12-foot jumper at the 14:25 mark in the first half. The Timberwolves got back in the game and kept the score close by causing many Cougar turnovers with their half-court trap. Blue Mountain took their first lead at 25-23 when Jay Wolcott nailed a three-pointer at the 9:05 mark. The Cougars led by six with a minute to go in the half, but they let their opponents get two quick baskets to put the score at 42-40 at the break. Clackamas came out firing in the second half. Matt Stahl hit Jay Moore for a lay-up, to give the Cougars a 62-47 lead with just under 15 minutes to go in the game. Blue Mountain never chal lenged after that point, as the Cougars rolled to the easy home victory. “We didn’t dribble to the right side into the trap,” said Clackamas Head Coach Royce Kiser of his team’s play in the sec ond half. “We rotated the ball and we had patience enough to rotate it and we shot a good shot.” 8 pm&SaJem 1/21 : : .• . Linn-Benton • < 8 pm ® AÍteny 1/25 Portland CC6pm a s ' Chemeketa CC pw # Salem Uon^Bentd» ' CC 6 pm @ Albany Away '&0Big Bena CC 6 pm ' - 1/21 Home • 1/18 >''v" ' . i/21Northwest Community Colleg&^Dueis All Day ■.^Í’<mgVÍeWt Kiser pointed to the fact that Clackamas gained the victory by playing better defense in the sec ond half and not committing many turnovers. “The bright spot is that I can think we’re not playing very good, and I can look up and we have 110 points, so we must be doing something right. I think we’re getting better all the time.” Kiser Quote: when the Gators started getting some fast breaks off of steals. Green River scored seven con secutive points to close within one at 60-59 before Williams canned a three to put Clackamas up by four with 9:55 remaining. The Gators would get no closer than that down the stretch. Photo by Chad Patteson "The bright spot Is that I can think we're not playing very good and I can look up and we have 110 points." Kiser believes that his players do make some bad decisions some times, but if they correct those decisions and play better defense, they could be a very tough team. Although the Cougars out rebounded the Timberwolves 59- 40, Kiser sees this as an area that his team must still focus on. Nate Williams led Clacka mas with 34 points, including 5 of 7 on three-point shots and 9 of 9 free throws. Williams added seven rebounds and seven assists. Stahl added 20 points and eight rebounds. Moore dished out nine assists. Clackamas held off Green River Community College in a second-round match-up of two high-quality teams. Timely free throws by Williams and postman Ryan Valley at the end of the game allowed the Cougars to slip away with the 89-82 win. Clackamas led by as many as eighteen points in the first half, but they were unable to hold that lofty cushion as the Gators found themselves down by only 10 at halftime. The Cougars turn the ball over 25 times, compared to nine turnovers for the Gators. This al lowed Green River to stay in the game which Clackamas should have actually won easily. Stahl drove to the hoop on a slicing drive that gave the Cou gars a 17-7 lead early in the game. Freshman Aaron Pierson hit a three-pointer from the comer to put Clackamas up 28-15 with eight minutes remaining in the half. Williams drove the lane for two easy baskets for a 37-19 Cou gars lead. Green River then went on a 10-0 run and held Clackamas scoreless before Pierson hit a long jumper to put the Cougars on top at halftime, 39-29. Stahl found Moore for a lay in that gave Clackamas a 42-32 lead early in the second half.-The Cougars held that margin until nearly midway through the half With under four minutes to go, Green River began fouling in or der to get the ball back. Moore hit two free throws, giving the Cou gars a 75-68 lead. Pierson sank both of his free throws with un der two minutes left, leaving Clackamas ahead 79-72. Valley hit three of his four shots from the line in the final minute, to put the Cougars out of reach. Brian Brutke came in for Clackamas and played some qual ity minutes when some of his teammates were struggling. Brutke finished with five points, including a three-pointer late that helped the Cougars maintain their slim lead. “They pressed us, and it showed we need to work against the press,” Kiser said of his team’s struggle against Green River’s press. “I was real happy that we held on and we played OK.” Kiser also heaped some praise on Moore. “Jay Moore is a big play maker. He’s going to make the shots. Jay Moore played really well.” Although he was happy with the way Moore played, Kiser believes Moore will have to handle the ball better. Lower Columbia reached the championship game to face Clackamas after the Red Devils pounded Southwestern Oregon 104-84 in the semifinals. Lower Columbia was led by Jeremy Wood who shot for 20 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. The Red Devils also had five other players score in double figures. In what seemed to be normal for the Cougars during the first half of each tournament game, their match-up with Lower Co lumbia was nip and tuck through out the first twenty minutes. Moore completed a three- point play after a drive to the hoop, to give the Cougars an early 10-6 lead. The Red Devils then went on a 12-4 run over a two- minute period, to take the lead at 18-14 in what turned out to be Clackamas’ largest deficit in the tournament. Pierson hit center Jay Lassen in the key to put the Cougars back on top at 28-26 with four minutes left in the half. Stahl found Will iams in the comer for three to give Clackamas a 38-36 advantage at the break. Lower Columbia came out strong in the second half and pulled within two at 42-40 after just three minutes had run off the clock. Clackamas broke away from the Red Devils with an 11-4 scoring run which included Moore and Pierson hitting Valley for easy baskets under the hoop. Moore added two jumpers of his own, and Stahl sank a foul shot to give the Cougars a 53-44 lead with 13 minutes to play. Clackamas held a command ing lead until the six-minute mark, at which point Lower Co lumbia worked their press to per fection and got some quick bas kets off of steals. The Red Devils closed to within four at 69-65, after a steal and a lay-in by Michael Quinney with 4:49 re maining. Following trips to the free throw line by Stahl and Moore, the Cougars held the lead at 72- 65. But the visitors wasted no time getting back in it, scoring five consecutive points ending with a drive and a bucket by former Or egon City High School star and Milwaukee native Jeff Mellema. Clackamas was only up by two with under a minute to go before Williams saved the day with a long three-pointer to put the Cougars ahead 80-75. Will iams also added two free throws, and Valley put in three of four foul shots for the final margin, 85-77. Williams finished with 29 points and six assists. He also hit six of seven shots from behind the three-point line. Jay Moore added 18 points and eight rebounds. Ryan Valley contributed 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Despite what Kiser describes as a lack of focus and intensity by his team earlier in the year, he sees his players progressing in the direction that he wants them to. When asked about the im portance of his team’s win in the championship game, Kiser re sponded, “It really, really helps because that (Lower Columbia) is a good ball club and it shows that we can play. Anytime you win, it’s better than a loss going into league play. We’re starting to play to win, instead of play to play.” Kiser had a lot of positive things to say about his point guard, Williams. “ He (Williams) was definitely the most valuable player in the tournament. His clutch performance down the stretch was good.” After a fine performance at the Cougar Invitational, Kiser sees a lot of promise in the rest of the season. After beating Lower Columbia, a team that he consid ers one of the top two in the Northwest, Kiser has all the rea sons to expect a lot from his team when conference play begins.
