io______
Sports
Men’s basketball scores perfect week
WEdNEsdAy, FEÒRUARy 27, 2002
Tir e CI ac I< amas P rint
NICK BARRON
Business Manager
SALENA DE LA CRUZ / Clackamas Print
Clackamas' Russ "Air" Schnieder flies to the basket in the
Cougars' Feb. 20 romp over the Panthers of Portland Community
College. Schnieder ended the night with 19 points, three rebounds
and five steals.
Clackamas’ men’s basketball
team will take a two-game win
ning streak to Mount Hood
Community College on Feb. 27,
after feasting on Portland Com
munity College and Linn-
Benton.
The Cougar men beat PCC in
their first meeting of the sea
son and had no problem in
dealing with the Panthers the
second time around on Feb. 20,
defeating the Southern Divi
sion foes 109-89. The first 20
minutes of the game featured a
fired-up Panther squad, with
Portland tying the Cougars at
36-36. Clackamas’ Lawson
Struve put the Cougars ahead
for good with a three-point
shot that boosted the home
team to a 39-36 lead, which they
would not surrender for the re
mainder of the match.
Cougar sophomore, Struve,
took over the game, dropping
in 20 points and grabbing 12
rebounds. Matt Tabisz and
Russ Schneider were major
contributors as well, finishing
with 19 points each. Mat
Tondreau struggled to score,
but captured 10 rebounds in
the game.
Linn-Benton hosted the Cou
gars on Feb. 23, who promptly
beat the Roadrunners by a
score of 102-92. Michael
Kuebler finished the night with
27 points, seven rebounds and
five assists. It was Struve, once
again, who put on a stellar per
formance, scoring 25 points on
73 percent field goal shooting.
Conference assist leader
Marvin Noble fed the Cougar
offense with 10 assists in the
rout. Clackamas was nearly
perfect from the charity stripe,
knocking down 14 of 15 free
throws.
Both victories, combined
with Lane’s loss to Chemeketa
bn Feb. 23, place the Cougars
in sole possession of second
place in the Southern Division. better now. We’ve got the
Southwestern Oregon contin lineup a little more set. We’ve
ues to hold onto first place, got the rotations a little more
down. We went through some
despite a loss on Feb. 20.
The Lakers of Southwestern kind of changes the last few
and the Cougars both have one weeks, but things are back to
regular-season game left before normal. And I think we’re fo
the Championships (Mar. 8-11). cused, and I thought we played
The only scenario that would pretty well the last couple of
see Clackamas winning their games.”
Clackamas is 23-5 on the sea
league is a Southwestern loss
to Linn-Benton on Feb. 27, and son, which has to make Cougar
a Cougar victory on the same opponents squeamish if the
night at Mount Hood. In that team believes it is just now
event, both teams would play coming together. Within the
on Mar. 2 for a tiebreaker, since next two weeks, Clackamas’
both teams would have split season will either become one
their season series at one game for the scrapbook, or the trash
can.
apiece.
Although the Northwest
To reach Nick Barron e-mail
Athletic Association of Com barronoru@hotmad.com or drop by
munity Colleges Championship B-104.
Tournament looms in the near
future, the Clackamas coach is
not allowing his team to drift
too far into the future.
“We’re just trying to focus
on the game Wednesday. It’s
important that we win, to pro
tect our number-two seed,”
Wegner said.
Currently, the Cougars hold
a one-game margin the South
ern Division over Lane for the
second seed, which will prob
ably face Lower Columbia in the
tournament’s opening round.
Wegner’s team has beaten the
Red Devils twice this year.
“We’re focused on Mount
Hood right now. We know that
we’re in the NWAACCs, (and)
our long-range goal is to go
there and play as well as we
can. But the step-by-step pro
cess is to make sure, right now,
today, we have a good prac
tice. And tomorrow we have a
good practice. And Wednesday
we play well (against Mount
Hood),” explains Wegner.
“We’re starting to jell a lot
better as a team,” Tabisz de
clared, almost as a warning to
the rest of the NWAACC.
Coach Wegner reiterated
Cougar guard Marvin Noble
that thought by saying this: “I sets up for a three-pointer in
Clackamas' 109-89 victory.
feel like we’re playing a little
Pitchers, catchers hope to carry baseball team
_______ ELENA BORYSKA
*
Sports Editor
The Cougar baseball team
will open up its 2002 season on
the road at Pendleton to take
on Blue Mountain Community
College this Saturday, March 2.
Although they couldn’t prac
tice outside as much as Blue
Mountain, Head Coach Robin
Robinson is still hopeful about
his team’s chances.
“This Saturday will be our
challenge to see what we’re re
ally like, and we’re playing a
tdam...(which has been) out
side practicing for the last five
weeks, and we’ve been outside
about four days total,” said
Robinson. “We have a little
disadvantage, but I feel like
we’ve got better talent than
they do, so we ought to be able
to go over there and be suc-
cessful anyway.”
Last season, the Cougars fin
ished with an overall record of
10-27, and a league record of 5-
20. The 2001 team was competi
tive and had
many close
games,
but
also had a lot
of
average
players.
“We had no
depth catch
ing and no
depth on the
mound, “ said
Robinson.
“This year we
feel
very
solid.”
For catchers, the Cougars
have two who .they feel are
good in freshmen Nik Mason
and Beau Holstad, along with
two others who could do the
job.
The team looks good poten
tially in pitching, beginning
the season with more depth
than CCC has had in three or
four years. But
still, the pitch
ing is young
and unproven.
The tentative
starters are the
freshmen: Ty
Combs, from
Redmond High
School, Josh
Gaylord from
Wilson, Jordan
Denny from The
Dalles, Chris
Runyon from Parkrose; and
sophomore Brandon Gleich,
who will fit into the picture as
a starter or reliever. Freshman
Chris Hess is a good Cougar
pitcher and will start in the out
field and also come in to re-
lieve/close.
Some of the returning sopho
mores will be making some ad
justments in fielding positions
this year. Sophomore Matt
Paulsen, one of Clackamas’
best pitchers, will start at third
base and come in to relieve/
close. Tom Henderson will
move over from third base to
first base. Colin Griffin will shift
over from second base to short
stop, and Scott Hunter will
make the move from right field
to center field.
With all of these adjustments,
the Cougars will hopefully be
able to do a good job of repre
senting Clackamas while play
ing in the tough Southern Re
gion.
To reach Elena Boryska e-mail
MightyMouse030@hotmad.com or
drop by B-104.
Cougar
Baseball
March 2
@ Blue Mountain
C.C.
1:00 p.m.
March 9
@ Lower
Columbia
12:00 p.m.
Support your
local Cougar