Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2002)
10 Sports WedNEsdAy, M arc I h 15, 2002 TM e CL ac I camàs P rìnt The tears, triumphs at NWAACC • Clackamas' men's and women's basketball teams journey to Kennewick, Wash, to compete in the NWAACC Championships, March 8-11, for the opportunity to call themselves the best in the Northwest. A day-to-day journal-of the basketball championships NICK BARRON Business Manager Thursday, March 7 2:10 p.m. Two white rental vans, filled to the brim with the men’s basketball team and its cargo, leave the Clackamas campus for Kennewick, Wash. The at mosphere is jovial. The players crack jokes and laugh at their teammates. Hip-hop music blares from the speak ers as Matt Tabisz raps along, his face contorting into expressions that even Eminem would envy. 9:30p.m Lights out and tv.s off as the Cou gars await their 8a.m. match. Friday. March8 7am. The team gathers in the locker room of the Tri-Cities Coliseum. For one las time, the Cougars go over, the Cou gars go over the scouting reports of Clark College, their first round oppo nent. Mat Tondreau stares into no where, focusing his concentration on the approaching game. 7:30am. Clackamas’ players begin to pump themselves up fortheir duel with Clark. Some athletes listen to music, others yell words that a sailor would love, and jump up and down as their head coach, Clif Wegner, speaks to his team one last time before their match. Wegner asks his team to consider all the sacri fices they have made over the last two years, and to visualize what each one must do against Clark in order for their team to be successful. 7:45 a.m. The team hits the Coliseum floor and begins their warm-up routine, which includes passing and lay-up drills, while music blares throughout the arena. Marvin Noble goes through the prepping motions, handling the ball and practicing his jump shot, all the while listening to music through his head phones. 8 a.m. Clackamas' game against Clark takes off. The game ends with a76-73 Cougar win. The team sits in the lockpr room. Wegner calls his team’s performance “jittery,” and pushes them to stay fo cused and intense. Clackamas knows they dodged a bullet this morning. The coaches scout out their next opponent for the tired players. Saturday, March 9 10a.m. The team loads up into the two white vans and takes off for ColumbiaBasin’s campus for their light practice. The Cougars are at the gym, prac- ticingfora4p.m. game. When the team fails to execute a drill to the pleasing of the coaches, assistant coach Jim Worden fills the gym with a booming yell and clap of his hands. The players freeze, some daring to not even breathe, and when Worden’s outburst is through, the team steps up its work ethic. 11:20am. 1005 am. The men show up at the Coliseum to watch the Cougar women’s team in their game against Skagit Valley. 1058 am. “Don’t let up on any play, not any play,” Wegner tells his team at prac tice. The Cougars spend time perfect ing their defensive schemes, as well as beatingBigBend on the offensive end of the court Preparation for the game begins one last time, as Wegner goes over spe cific offensive sets that he feels will work against Big Bend. “I gotta’ think we’re fresher, and I gotta’ think we’re After the team practices free throw shooting, Wegner wraps up practice. “I think we’ll be ready,” he says. Once the South western Oregon and Bellevue game ends, the floor is swept and Clackamas steps out to shoot bas kets and begin warm-ups. 4:01 p.m. The player^ are introduced, with badly pronounced names, and the game begins. The game flies to a dramatic ending. With one second remaining, Clacka mas emerges the victor. Players Lawson Struve and Noble sing a home made song with just one line, “We’re going to the ’ship,”’ a reference to the Cougars being just one game away from the championship game of the tournament Wegner walks into the room, shaking some athletes’ hands, hugging others. “AAAHHH...that was a great win!” Wegner says. 10p.m. Back at their hotel,excited after their thrilling defeat of Shoreline just hours earl ier, the squad pours over stat sheets for what turns out to be a bonding moment in Wegner's room. Sunday, March 10 them. Wegner says, ‘Let’s not let our selves get caught thinking past to night” a reference to Monday’s cham pionship game. 6:02 pm. With the blow of a whistle and the toss of a ball, the match begins. 7:40pm TheCougars’ shot at first place van ished in the wake of their loss to Big Bend. Emotions are displayed ina va riety of ways in the locker room, with Noble and Kuebler covering their faces, and their eyes, with shirts over their heads. Other members of the team hold their heads in their hands, while still others just stare off into the dis tance. Wegner enters the room and takes a seat, most players avoid eye contact with jhe him. As Big Bend’s cheers seep through the white brick walls, the coach, sits and waits, finally speaking to his team. “I’m proud how we played,” he says. Tm sorry for ev erybody in the room who’s worked so hard who doesn’t get to play for a champion ship,” Coach Wegner Continues. He said that their loss was not for lack of effort He believes that perhaps a rebound or two, er a well-executed player two, would have made the difference in the game. But he feels that his team left every thing that they had on the court After Wegner is Clackamas' Evan Kieling fights for the ball at done speaking to his the beginning of the game against Shoreline. player, he gives the as- SALENA DE LA CRUZ I Clackamas Print In the match, Klellng scored 17 points on siaantsanoppoBunity five-of-eight shooting from the field. for their taghts. But better tonight,” Wegner says. Assis tant coach Ty Rothenberger gives his analysis on the Vikings individual start ers and how the Cougars can defend both coaches, Rothenberger and Worden, pass, their faces expressing their feelings sufficiently. TheCougars huddle in the middle, where Wegner speaks softly to his team, and the coaches head out to scout their next opponent Monday,March 11 11:05 am The team watches the women’s team take eighth place in the tourna ment; in which they showed their dis pleasure at the calls the officials made by singing “A rope, a tree, hang the referee.” 155pm With their stomachs full, the Cou gar men watch a portion of the game that must end in order for theirs to be gin. The coaches don’t mention the previous night’s loss, and they keep the game plan simple for their players. “There’sahuge difference between sixth and third,” Wegner says to his athletes. 3 p.m. The Cougars' last match of the sea son kicks off. With thegameover, Clackamas com ingout on top, Wegner and his squad take holdofthe third-place trophy. The players’ parents come onto the court out of the stands and hug their sons, who pose for a team photo with the trophy. Once the improv photo shoot is finished, the team goes into the locker room for one last time. Their faces seem more relaxed than they have been in months, their eyes glow with pride of their accomplish ment. Wegner speaks of team effort in the last game against Walla Walla, and made plans for end of the year ban quets and meeting^. Kuebler approaches his coach in the hall outside of the locker room, shakes Wegner’s hand and the player thanks the coach for his efforts in the sophomore’s two years under Wegner. The coach then congratulates the player on two great seasons, telling Kuebler that he is welcome to play for Wegner any time. Clackamas’ season was over, and the team was heading towards the west, off into the sunset To reach Nick Barron, e-mail barronoru@hotmaiLcom or drop by B-104. Win or lose, respect remains ... I had been given the pri velege of joining the men's basketball team to the NWAACC tournament from the / van ride to Kennewick, to the locker room before, during and after their games. It is what I have witnessed in those locker rooms that has made some of the biggest impacts on my life. Before their games, the team was relaxed, yet serious, knowing the battle they were about to be thrown into. After their first two games, I saw joy and pleasure on their faces, as they had emerged from the battlefield vic torious. Yet it was after their most re cent match that I saw the true charac- ter of the team. For two years, Coach Clif Wegner has worked with some of the Cougar pl ay ers on obtaining a championship trophy. The athletes themselves have logged countless hours in gyms, work ing on their post moves, jump shots and footwork. They pushed their bod ies in the hope, the belief, that they were capable of accomplishing some thing that most players only dream of. In one game their dreams came to a tragic and obscene ending. For forty minutes, the Cougar player^ poured every ounce of their beings into win ning a basketball game, and as they filed into the locker room, they felt that as if their efforts had fallen to the way side. So they sat on the benches of the white brick room, some with heads in their hands, others staring into the unknown. Tears began to come, flow ing from broken djeams. - By Nick Barron Grown, proud men, disappointed in their demise, oblivious to a reporter who could shred the stereotypical im age of cocky, egotistical jocks. But just as they were able to show their emotions freely after a victory, so did they illustrate them after perhaps the worse defeat they had ever encoun tered. Wegner sat in silence for what seemed an eternity, finally speaking as a father does to his brokenhearted chil dren. He asks for their eyes, some filled with tears, and tells them it will be ok. Yes, he says, it was a loss, and it seems the worse thing to have ever happen to them, but tomorrow is a new day, a new game, and they will be ready for it The coach gives them time to sulk, to reflect and to grieve. Hie rises and prepares for his next game, a task that must have seemed the last thing the man wanted to do at that time. How easy it would have been for him to slide back to his hotel room, chain the door, and lie there, hoping the night’s events were just a bad dream. Basketball is just a sport, a mere game that little boys play, and con tinue to do so into manhood. But those little boys have dreams, and as their bodies grow larger, so do those aspi rations, and it seems unfair that one moment can dash those hopes. I came out here for this tournament, thinking that Clackamas had a shot at claiming the championship, but not believing it would happen. Jt. was March, and the Cougars had fallen on hard times recently, and I knew that in _ tournaments, all bets are off. While their game against Big Bend proved my theory true, I walked out of that depressing locker room believing in something besides wins and losses. My faith in a team was renewed, and that is far more important than a vic tory. After Coach Wegner had finished consoling his team, I quitely stood, shut my notebook, and walked out of the locker room. As I made my way out of the arena, I was grateful for the opportunity to join Wegner and his players during this tourna ment I-strolled out into the cool March air, a believer in the power of a team, and I could have never be prouder of the Cougars.
