Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2018)
SPORTS 10 SURVIVE AND ADVANCE AFTER MISSING THE PLAYOFFS LAST SEASON, CCC’S MEN’S BASKETBALL IS BACK IN THE POSTSEASON Í3TORY AND PHOTO JACOB THOMPSON SPORTS EDITOR . Despite losing six out o f the last 10 games to end the regular season, Clackamas Community College’s m en’s basketball team qualifies for the NWAC playoffs. The C ougars w ere unable to b eat C h em ek e ta Com m unity College in the fin al hom e gam e o f the season Saturday, falling 91-78, but clinched a third place finish in the south region and w illplay Peninsula College (9-5,19-10) in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NWAC playoffs on March 10 in Everett. “ It was a rough finish, but we need to keep our heads h ig h ,” sophomore forward Isaiah Gentry said. “ We need to keep our heads up and keep pushing because a cham pionship is still in sight. ” The Cbugars have been talking about the playoffs all year long and even though at tim es the hope of starting a new playoff appearance streak looked dim , Clackamas won the games they needed most. “ We recovered, came back and won two o f our last three.” head coach C lif Wegner said. “ I feel like the m ost important thing now is to get our guys healthy and be rested and fresh and go to the tournament ready to play our best basketball.” The season started out slow for the Cougars, who were 4-5 through their first nine gam es, but then Clackamas won 10 of 11 games to end Jan. and it looked like the Clackamas m ight herve a shot at winning th e south region championship, but the Cougars struggled to close out games, and dropped four straight games and found themselves in fifth place, which would have left them out of the playoffs for the second straight year, but they kept grinding. “ The most important thing now is to get healthy, be rested and fresh and go to the tournament ready to play our best basketball.” - C lif Wegner “ They practiced hard everyday, and th ey stayed focused,” Wegner said. “ They’ve worked hard to get here. They had a disappointing ending as freshm en going down to the last shot of the; last game and not making the tournam ent. We were determined to get back to the NWAC tournament no matter what it took. ” The Cougars defeated Umpqua Com m unity College on Feb. 24 and it ended up being a very important win because Clackamas, Chem eketa, and Umpqua ehded in a three-way tie for third place. The tie breaker is head -to -head -to-h ead record. Clackamas was 3-1 in games against Chemeketa (2-2) and Umpqua (1-3) and was awarded third place. “ I’ m excited that we made it after not last year,” sophom ore guard Nygil Carr said. “ We just need to shake this loss o ff and get ready for [the p layoffs],” The Cougars finished the regular season 17-12 overall and 9-6 in the south region finishing third. This playoff appearance will be Clackamas’ 18th playoff appearance in 19 years. , The Sweet 16 m atch-up against Peninsula tip s-o ff m 8a.m . graphic provided by NWAC 2018 NWAC MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP EVERETT COMMUNITY COLLEGE, EVERETT, WASHINGTON 1 SWEET 16 Saturday, March 10 ELITE 8 FINAL 4 Sunday, March 11 Saturday, March 17 Sff 3 CLACKAMAS CHAMPIONSHIP î- Sv nday, March 18 FINAL 4 ELITES Saturday, March 17 Sunday, March I t MW AL SWEET 16 Saturday, March 10 TACOMA WW NORTHWEST ATHIETIC CONFERENCE !ft'3 PENINSULA SPOKAME£#2 YAKIMA VALUE V 8, PWGÇTSàWMD PORTLMHJSi*! Nsg EPMOMOS ’w w sww r ......1SSÍ8*W'JÍ'’“:' WriCgVTBAUA WiiîBWæ ' b TW aua W aua T owëïïcôl S mbïâ ^SF ■ NWAC men’s championship bracket Nik Pólynice slams it down against Chemeketa Clackamas Print theclackam asprint.net _______________________________ March 7 ,2 0 1 8 ]
