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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 1999)
______ 9 H h E CkckAMAS P rìnt Wednesday, January 27, 1999 Clackamas rolls, then rolls over JOHN THORBURN Sports Editor In the second half, Clackamas continued its dominance of Umpqua in the run-away victory. The Cougars were led by a Two losses in league play strong group of scorers. make things difficult on a team. Sophomore point guard Jared Three losses makes it tough to Price led Clackamas with 24 qualify for the playoffs. Any more losses makes it fu points. Sophomore Billy Bright had 22 points with seven steals. tile. The Clackamas men's basket Sophomore Cody Eckman added ball squad is going to find out 16 while Freshmen Abe Smith and real quick what Kyle Bracy poured in 15 and 12 points, respectively. Smith also re it's made of. With an elec corded 11 rebounds. "Everybody on our team came trifying 108-69 manhandling to play against Umpqua," noted over the Wegner. "In that game, we we're Umpqua the best team in the NWAACC. "Jared Price has really stepped Timbermen last Wednesday, the up to become probably the best Cougars [3-3, 12-7] looked like player in the league. He's really on a well-oiled machine heading fire right now; "Billy Bright and Tony into Coos Bay on Satur Edgerton have really day. stepped up their perfor After suffering an 85- mance since league play 74 loss to the Lakers, began which has been a however, Clackamas' big boost for this club." strength remains to be Against the Lakers, seen. however, Clackamas "We played real well in wasn't exactly the top Roseburg, then turned team in the Northwest. around and just played "On Saturday," said awful down in Coos a Wegner, "we were a Bay," said Clackamas big, big half-step behind the en Head Coach Clif Wegner. tire game. They In Roseburg last game for outrebounded week, the Cougars en us. ■ ■ outhustled us and us, we tered the match against just weren't the same the Timberwomen com- team as we were against ing off two-straight Clif Wegner Umpqua." losses. The squad didn't Head Clackamas was led by know what to expect Coach Bright who had 18 points from its opponent who and Cohen who recorded had been up and down 16. in recent weeks. The Cougars' team-leader in Shortly after tip-off, however, the Cougars were rolling in the scoring, Jared Price, was held to contest and found themselves seven points on that night—more with a strong hold on the lead at than 15 points below his average. Tonight, Clackamas hosts the the break. JOHN THORBURN / Clackamas Print Sophomore guard Cody Eckman drives towards the basket in Clackamas' 108-69 victory over Umpqua last Wednesday. Eckman finished with 16 points on the night. Chemeketa Storm in a huge game if the Cougars’ have hope of qualifying for the NWAACC tournament in March. With only three teams qualify ing for the championship tourna ment from each region, Clacka mas can’t afford to lose any ground on its Southern Region opponents, according to Coach Wegner. "Right now, we're in a tie with Chemeketa for third place," said Wegner. "Four teams qualify for the playoffs but that fourth-place team will have to go down to Lane and play them oh their court so this is a big, big game for us." According to Wegner, the Cou gars match up well with the Storm. "They're bigger but we're quicker," added Wegner. "We're a better shooting team, too." Tonight's game tips off at 8 p.m. NBA: Players sport new teams for 50-game season Scottie Pippen signs with Houston. The end of the NBA lockout brings with it the start of the off-season. This has brought about a flurry of trades and free agent signings dur ing training camp, as teams have only a little over two weeks to both assemble their roster and get into playing shape. This shortened train ing period seems to have brought about an immediate and fairly large amount of player movement. The strangest move to me this off-season is the Bulls trade of Scottie Pippen to the Houston Rockets. Pippen, who was chosen as one of the top 50 players in NBA history last season, was traded to the Rockets for virtually nothing. The Bulls received 3rd year forward Roy Roger from Houston (who acquired him this year in a trade with Toronto) and a future second round draft pick. Hie reason Pippen was virtually given away was that the Bulls are in a “rebuilding period,” ac cording to team management. They wanted only players who are low salaried and who are in the last year of their contract this season. This way they will have loads of money under the cap to make a big free agent run next off-season. I’m not sure they were thinking too well with this reasoning, how ever. I mean, what kind of player would really want to sign to a team that shows thanks to one of the 50 greatest players ever by alienating him into not wanting to come back, and then trades him away for a no name named Roy Rogers, who averaged a whopping 1.3 points per game and 36% shooting last season. I am sure the Bulls will find free agents next year. The long-term impact of such a pointless trade, however, will affect the franchise for a long time, especially since much better offers for Pippen were on the table (Portland reportedly offered Brain Grant, Jermaine O’Neal, and Isaiah Rider for Pippen, The Lakers reportedly offered Eddie Joni s and Elden Campbell for Pippen). The Minnesota Timberwolves seem to have planned well for this off-season. With the accepted loss of Tom Gugliotta, one of the top free agents available on the market (Gugliotta signed a deal with the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 23), the Timberwolves went out and signed free agent forward Joe Smith to a contract on Friday. Smith was the num ber one overall selection in 1995 out of Maryland. He was drafted by Golden State, and traded to Philadelphia last season along with Brain Shaw for Jim Jackson and Clarence Weatherspoon, amid speculation that he would not re-sign with Golden State. The signing of Smith gives Minnesota a big, athletic player who can both score and rebound (he averaged 16.2 PPG and 6.0 RPG last sea- See Khosravi, page 11
