The Clackamas print., January 25, 2012, Page 7, Image 7

Sports
The Clackamas P r in t7
Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012
sportsed@clackamas.edu
Mens basketball
struggles over break
By John W illiam Howard
Sports Editor
For the Cougars mens’ bas­
ketball team, last week’s home
loss to region rival Mt. Hood
Com munity College . told the
story o f much of the season thus
far.
After a quick start, Clackamas
found themselves- in a hole that
was seemiugly too deep, to climb
out of. The h o m e te a m then
went on à run, lighting up the
scoreboard, and electrifying the
fans that «.turned out for the
second home game of the young
regular season. W ith less than
two minutes left,; Clackamas
(8-9, 2-T South) found them­
selves within striking distance
of the region-leading Mt. Hood
(14-5,¿5-0 South). The opportu­
nity, however, fell short and the
Cougars .walked off the court
losers of two home games con­
secutively.
The •first '' home , loss to
Chemeketà Co mm unify College
was eerily '-sitnilar. The . game
seemed lost until, it neared the
end of the second half, when
Clackamas made a fantastic run
to tie the game and had posses­
sion with four seconds left. The
play was-broken and the shot at
the buzzer went- off left, send­
ing th e gam e to overtim e, w here
things have looked gloomier.
The low point has to be the back
to back losses to Walla ■ Walla
Community College, and- Clark
College, where Clackamas:, set
consecutive career lows o f'5 3
and 52 points in the tenure of
head coach C lif Wegner. '•
Since that particularly bad
stretch o f games, Clackamas has
had only two bad losses. Those
have been to Bellevue College,
the only undefeated team in the
league, and Peninsula College,
the defending league champs.
O f the other losses, four, have
been by five points of less? and in
all four games, Clackamas found
themselves trailing late iri the
. second half, only to claw ill the
way back to respectability and
lose a close game.
“The team has lack o f focus
at the end of the second half
a n d w e tend to break down
. when we’re down a few trying to
make a comeback,” said Andre
Dickson. “We tend to go out of
our offense and take bad shots,
which- makes bur defense have
to work twice as hard in transi­
tion.”
It seems to be that way in
- several facets of the Cougars’
game. Several times in the Mt.
H ood game alone, Clackamas
would play fantastic defense for
33 seconds but would give up a
shot or a foul an d bail o u t the
C lackam as
Community College Saints'. Ball had 1 2 points and a game high 11 rebounds:
U pcom ing home games:
Today at 7:30 p.m. vs. Portland CC / Feb. 4 at 6 p.m. vs. SW Oregon
'•• Our biggest asset ,is that We* 'offensive side, Clackamas works
are in every game,” said sopho- * hard and gets offensive rebounds
more guard Taylor Dunn, who but often bobbles the ball and
combined for 42 points in th e* ' either misses; the-resulting shot
two losses./‘We are not getting or gives the ball away entirely.
W hile the road ahead for
blown out bysuperior teams; wç
just aren’t-i-dbing the little things i ;the remainder;'■Of the season
necessary to win. We need to ' won’t be easy; Clackamas may
take a lot of confidence in the have a bit of a, «break in, the
fact that .„we can play with ariy- , •storm when Portland (0-15, 0-5
body [andTwe just need toTearri.- South) comes to town. Portland
,yis averaging just over 50 points
how to finish.”5, /
Ever since thé thrilling 79-7(f'- a game ana is the onl$' winless
win over Tacoma Community ’ team in the league?Portfabd and
College, ' a perennial power - ¿ Clackamas will face “b ^ tb riig h t
house from the western region, . at 7:30 p.m. in Randall Hall.
—
Welcome
■
1678 S. Beavercreek Rd.
Oregon City, OR 97045
503-657-5553
other offers.
Cougar guardJake D ewitt shoots fo r the basket during the Clackamas Holiday Invitational on Dec. 28,
2011. The Cougars won the game 85-66 against the Blue Mountain Wolves. Clackamas took second
in the tournament, falling in the championship game to Peninsula College.