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
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NWAC men’s championship bracket
Nik Pólynice slams it down against Chemeketa
Clackamas Print
theclackam asprint.net
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March 7 ,2 0 1 8
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