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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2012)
í j The Clackamas Print Wednesdays Feb. 2-2, 2012 spçrtsçd@clackamas.ediJ Cougars leave Saints without a prayer Clackamas hands Mt. Hood their worst loss in region play By John William Howard ? Sports Editor in the second half Clackamas Was up B one y 20. Mt. Hood would cut the Cougars For the road team, nothing is sweeter $han the sound of a silent gym. That is unless the silence is interrupted by the bustling of hopeless fans heading for the exits, having given up any sliver of a chance that their team could pull out a miraculous , «viptor.y. ' ■. v" - *Clackamas was greeted with plenty of both last Wednesday night, when they paid a visit to their southern region rivals in Gresham and dealt Mt. Hood Community College one of their most shocking losses of the season, winning 67-46 in a domi nant, crowd-stifling performance. The Saints of Mt. Hood were sitting atop the, southern region standings coming in to the game, and had already delivered a defeat to Clackamas on Jan. 18 , at home. That, loss came in heartbreaking fashion in bohi ot a packed and energetic crowd, adding to the already tense atmosphere as Clackamas and Mt. Hood tipped off. Things were close for the first several minutes. The teams traded buckets, neither ever getting a lead larger than five. After 12 minutes, both teams were knotted at J 8 points each. Then Mt. Hood’s wheels came off. Freshman wing Malcolm Jackson broke the tie with a three pointer and Clackamas never looked back. Behind a pair of steals and a free throw from sophomore Andre Dickson and five quick points from Taylor Dunn, the Cougars found themselves with ii a lead to 14 on one occasion, but eventually fell behind by 22, which was when the fans gave up and went packing. What the fans missed was a classic fin ish to a rivalry game. Leading 64-46 with just 25 seconds remaining, freshman guard Riley Charlish was content to dribble out the clock behind the three-point line and end Mt. Hood s night of misery with a little dignity. With only a few seconds left, the Clackamas bench stood and shouted for Charlish to shoot. Charlish let it fly and nailed a three pointer at the final buzzer, bringing cheers from his teammates and grumbles from the disgruntled Saints. As the team mingled with friends, and fgmily after the game, Cougar assistant coach Paul Fiskum couldn't contain his excitement at rhe dominant victory, smil ing and walking over to get the opinion of press row. “They take a lot of bad shots,” Fiskum said of Mt. Hood. “They’re a momentum driven team.” Momentum was something that Clackamas never surrendered, holding Mt. Hood to an impressive 30.5 percent shoot ing from the field, a stat that Clackamas head coach GlifWegner was quick to point out as a key. ( “This is huge here,” said Wegner, point ing to the box score. “T thought a real key was our defensive activity. They shot 30 percent, and that’s great defensive percent age. 1 They’re goima win the league. They’re ... luad i i. 'Ai.hat...Aea«i»w»ukL»..b<a' pushed to 16 before Mt. Hood would score again, finally hitting a lone free throw to end a seven and a half minute scoring drought. The Saints would tack on another field goal before the end of the half but the home team headed to the locker room with their tails between their legs, trailing 34-21 in a game they thought would come easily. The crowd was given a glimmer of hope as the second half started, with Mt. Hood scoring the first three points and cutting the deficit to just 10. That was the last time that Mt. Hood showed any life. Clackamas reeled off seven quick points to push their lead to 17 and with less than six minutes and that was huge.” By the time the game was over the stands were mostly empty except for a few diehard supporters. Even the Clackamas women’s team had already headed for the ream van. Once the men had gone into the locker room to debrief, all that remained were a few parents, whose conversations were soon drowned out by the rhythmic clapping and banging coming from rhe team room. , “We were pounding on the table,” said Charlish. “We’re just excited we won.” Clackamas sophomore guard Taylor D unn takes a shot against M t. Hood. D unn scored 2 0 points an d fiv e rebounds in 3 4 minutes play, helping Clackamas to move up in the southern region standings. Stubborn style could slash success for women’s basketball By John William Howard Sports Editor Basketball is a simple game, »really. All the dribbling, shooting and tun ning .aside, basketball is about fooling your opponent into going ..one way, when« you’re really sprinting in the opposite direction, it’s about confus ing the defense; chaos and out »of that pandemonium, one team wjfl-yscore and the other will go home empty handed. Basketball is"* also about keeping the defense on their toes. If something works, keep doing it but always, try something new to keep them guessing. Doing the same, thing over and over again, no- matter how high the level o r proficiency, will eventually get you caught. C T he Clackamas Community College women’s-team was caught last Saturday night falling to* Lane in a game that andkick the ball out.to.a shooter wait •Oregon. “We’re not a fan of shooting exposed the weaknesses of a team that ing on the three point line. In‘ gairies 15’foot jump^sJ^tsTTM has been flying high all season. They against weaker opponents, this, usually Them iscpnception'is that the style lead the NWAACC in scoring, assists works. yvorks. Fed by success, the stubborn and steals. They lead the league in Against Yakima Valley, however;'; ness grows so that even when a player three pointers made and attempted. tne opponent snielled the pass coming.. has, an open jumper /from the free They have one of thé highest margins They wouldt give the Clackamas player, throw line, theyTlpassJtup in favor of of victoryin the league and have been the baseline and force the pass, but? an ill-advised three pointer. blowing opponents out since day one. would ju m p in^o the passing lane arid The flashy 'Stats and the 20-4 over- At a glance, it would seçpi that the intercept the ball before‘it ever got to 'all record pauses many, including the magic is working but when you look the hands of the shootéf.^; I coaching staff, to, overlook the gap "closer, therë are a few' teams that have That’s One problem with that play. ing holes in the offensive scheme. obviously figured out how the-trick The second is that it forces Clackamas „Clackamas may., have only been bitten works and plenty of others that have it to win or losé by how well fhey^hoot four times by their mistakes but poor figured, out and how to-counteract it. the three gOirit shot. „When they’re, shoo ting, has been masked, by pure tal The first loss' o f thé season, a 72-33 playing free and loose, threes come ent and plenty of heart for some- close blowout to Yakima .Valley, was one easy. There is a menagerie- of stellar, victories that the Cougars didn’t really of those instances. Yakima Valley had shooters for Clackamas, but they can,. ^deserve becaus’e of ‘how badly they -Been watching Clackântas throughout Bie streaky. played. The preseason, çrpçsoyer tournament, - the. three point shot doesn’t fall-, ' Don’t--get me wrong, Martineau and quickly caught on to one of their as in the home loss' against Lañe, r-uns a great and successful program. biggest ana most stubborn tendencies. all teams have to do is .defend the He’s a good coach and his teams have I’d feçi bad about giving away head low post becáusé Clackamas' refuse’s To always done well, b.ut he’s Just as stub coach Jim Martineau’s secrets but shoot jump,-shots. It’s practically writ born as the rest of'us. The fast paced, they’re already out; so Lthihk it’s. okay. ten, in the-team handbook as one ef- -thr-ees-or-layups-approach works won- Here’s the j basic play: one 6f the Martineau’s hard and Fast”rules. It’s his’ - ders in the regular- Season^ but ruling Clackamas guards drives-in from the personal style, out certain important facets of the right sideline, looking for a layup. If a I ‘O ur philosophy/is tp either, shoot game will always, come „back to. bite Jane opens up they take the shot. If not threes otdayups,’-said Martineau after in the end. It’s just a matter of time they take a flying leap under the basket Clackamas’ 21 point victory over SW before-the system breaks.
