Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2017)
Cougars struggle to find consistency GRAPPLING WITH MEDIOCRE SEASON, COUGARS ATTEMPT TO MOUNT COMEBACK LATE IN YEAR photo b,y Austin Boltz BY TRAVIS DAVID V WHITTAKER S in ce th e 1 9 9 9 -2 0 0 0 se a s o h , th e Clackam as m en ’ s basketball team has found them selves am ong the 16 team s that qualified for the NWAC tournament. But this year, the team is in unfam iliar territory, unsure if th e y ’ll m ake the tournam ent. W ith only seven games left before the postseason, the team is sitting just above .500 and at the middle of the pack in the Southern Region of the NWAC conference. Head coach C lif Wegner has stated that the th is is one of the youngest teams that he has ever coached in his 19-year tenure at the college. W hen Wegner was asked how the season has gone So far this year he described it like this. “ It’ s been ups and downs, peaks and valleys,” Wegner said. Clackamas has lost a total of nine games this season with five of those losses being by five points or less. Three of those have been in the Southern Region games. Wegner mentioned that some poor play has contributed to the team ’ s record. In a game against Clark College, where they lost by three points, the.team had to use five tim eouts in the first h alf just to stay in the game and give themselves a chance to tie with a desperate shot at the buzzer. Clack am as fre sh m an guard, Briggs Y o u n g , added th a t w h en th ey w ere growing up, a lot of them had been playing against each other, and it’ s taking some tim e to adjust to playing together. “ It ’ s been alrigh t. It ’ s been up and down, really rocky and were still trying to find our spot and find a way to play t o g e th e r ,” Y o u n g sa id . “ I t ’ s b een difficult:” I Nygil Carr drives past a Portland Community College defender. The Cougars would eventually win the Jan. 28 home game with a score of 96-85. Wegner brought up that it’ s ä matter of doing everything a bit better and playing harder, with intensity and understanding, su ch as h as b een th e tra d itio n o f Clackäm as m en’ s basketball in the past. Freshman small forward Simon Stringer strictly w an ts th e team to focu s on winning right now. “ U n derstand in g th at w inning is the most important thing right how,” Stringer said. “ At a com m unity college, it can be tough at tim es because people want to get to the next level, and sometimes that goes in front o f w inning. Som e people put their individual goals in front of the team goals.” Stringer said that if he can step into his role that the coaches have given him , it will help lead the team to some wins and help extend the postseason run for another season. Stringer looks at Clackam as’s streak as m otivation to keep it going. “ It definitely would suck to be the team that ended that streak,” Stringer said. “Just understanding that there is more at stake than just individual goals, and we are actually a part o f som ething bigger than ourselves.” Y ou n g lik es the te a m ’s ch an ces o f m aking it into the NW AC tournam ent. “ The leagu e is so w ide o pen th a t a n y th in g can h a p p e n ,” Y o u n g said. There’ s quadruple ties for last in league right now, and it can go an y w ay.” W ith the team on the cusp of ending Clackam as’ s streak or continuing it for an oth er season, it w ill depend on the way that the team plays down the home stretch. The team currently sits in a four-w ay tie for the fourth spot in the Southern Region. A fter a 92-83 w in on Feb. 4 at C h em ek eta C o m m u n ity C o lle g e , the Cougars now have a three-gam e winning streak. Their next game will be at home against Southw est Oregon Com m unity , College on Feb. 11 at 4 p .m ., where they will look to avenge a 4-point loss earlier this season versus the Lakers. REMAINING SCHEDULE Feb. 11 SW Oregon Community College F e b .18 Lane Community College March 1 @Clark College March 9-13 NWAC Tournament Rounds i-2 @ Everett Community College March 4 @ Portland Community College March 19-20 NWAC Championship Final Four @ Everett Community College Feb. 22 Chemeketa Community College Feb. 15 @Mt. Hood Community College 6 Clackamas flint FEBRUARY 8,20174tieclackamäspffht.com Feb. 25 Umpqua Community College
