Men’s basketball’s big three moving on
B Y iA C O B THOMPSON
- ,
\
SPORTS EDITOR
If y o u c a u g h t a C la ck a m a s C o m m u n ity C o lle g e m e n ’ s
said. “ He h ad a sensational fresh m a n season b u t struggled
about student ath letes,” Y oun g said. “ No m atter h o w m uch
b a sk e tb a ll g a m e th is la st season , y o u ’ re p rob ab ly p retty
to repeat th a t in h is sop hom ore yea r w h e n so m an y tea m s
h e lp a p erso n h as, th e y n eed to w a n t to b e su c c essfu l o n
fam iliar w ith th e n am es Briggs Y oung, Isaiah G en try an d
w ere g ea red up sp ecifically to stop him . ”
th e ir o w n a n d t h a t’ s w h a t it c o m e s d ow n t o .”
Y ou n g said th at his favorite th in g about p laying for th e
N ygil Carr. T he trio com bined to average o f 46.8 poin ts p er
Looking ahead, Cart has already set his goals for the com ing
gam e, 11.2 a ssists p er gam e and averaged 31.8 m inutes p er
years at CW U such as m ain tain in g a h ig h GPA and m ak in g
gam e ; C arr led th e te a m in sco rin g, a v era g in g 20 8 p pg,
th e D -II b a s k e tb a ll to u rn a m en t, ad d in g th a t th e k e y to
“ Y ears dow n th e road I w o n ’t rem em b er e v ery gam e Or
G en try led th e tea m in rebounding, a veraging 6.9 rebounds
th e stats,”- Y oung said, “ b u t I w ill alw ays b e able to ch eck up
p er g am e , and Y ou n g led th e tea m in assists, averaging 4.4
accom plishing h is goals w ill b e hard w ork.
‘T i l go in w ith th e sam e m in dset like I alw ays d o ,” Carr
apg. W ith their tw o years o f eligibility a t CCC, th e trio w ill
said. “ Just w o rk and com p ete.”
w ith th eir life w h ich w ill b e th e greatest th in g for m e .”
split up as th e y m o v e o n to new -u iíiversítiés to continu e
their basketball careers.
C a rr is h e a d in g to C e n tra l W a s h in g to n U n iv e rsity , a
Division-II program in Ellensburg, W ashington. The Wildcats
C ougars is th e bonds h e created w ith team m ates.
o n th e players I played w ith and see w h a t everyone is doing
Y ou n g w ill b e m o v in g o n to M ultnom ah U niversity. The
G en try w ill b e atten d in g V anguard U n iversity in C osta
Lions had a rough 2017-18 season fin ish in g 9 -2 1 overall, b ut
M esa, California, a N ational A ssociation o f Intercollegiate
Y o^ ng h op es h e can help restore th e roar a t M U and p u t th e
A th letics school.
H e fin ish ed 17 -14 overall la st yea r w ith 838 points, 348
Lions b ack in th e postseason.
com p ete in th e Great N orthw est A thletic Conference, w h ich
Y ou n gw as the Southern Region Player o f the Year in 2018,
rebounds,w as elected to th e NW AC first tea m all-lea g u e in
i$ the sam e league W estern Oregon U niversity and Concordia
w as selected to the NWAC A ll-Academ ic team and w as chosen
2018 and finished one v o te Shy o f b eing the Southern Region
U n iversity com p ete in. CW U fin ish ed th e 20 17-18 season
as th e N W AC M ale Scholar, A th le te o f th e yea r th is year.
player o f th ey ea r.
w ith a overall record o f 15-13.
F in ish in g h is career w ith 452 poin ts and 195 assists, Y oung
,
- C arr leaves C lackam as holdin g th e sin gle gam e scoring
led th e te a m in m inutes in 20 17-18 averaging 32.4 m pg.
“ Isaiah w a s a grea t p la yer to co a ch and seld o m m ad e
e x c h ses,” W eg n e r said. “ H e alw ays tried to do w h a t th e
coaches asked h im to do and alw ays tried to p la y a role o n
record w h ic h h e s et o n N ov. 18 w h e n h e scored 51 p oints
Y o u n g ’ s ac a d em ic g o a ls a t M U are to m a in ta in a G PA
ag a in st Faith C h ristian B ask etb all club. C arr fin ish ed his
h ig h e r th a n 3.75, w h ic h h e did a t C la ck a m a s w it h a 3.8
th e tea m a s b est h e could to help us w ith th e b est chan ce o f
career w ith 1,114 p o in ts an d w a s selected fo r N W AC A ll-
GPA.
w inning. I th in k Isaiah w ill go to Vanguard and perhaps have
“ A ll it h a s b e e n fo r m e is m y pure d eterm in a tio n to do
League h onors b o th o f his years at C lackam as.
“ N ygil Carr w a s an electrifying poin t guard w h o is alw ays
m aking exciting place o n th e floor,” Head Coach C lif W egner
a sensational career. Possibly an A ll-A m erican kind ofcareer.
w e ll for m y s e lf a n d to destroy th e stereotyp e th at h a s b e e n
If h e does w h a t h e should do I cou ld see th at happening. ”
c o m m o n ly m isin terp reted b y m a n y p eo p le in th e w orld
- G entry could n ot b e reached for com m ent.
Marine in the outfield
PHOTO AND, ..STORY BY JACOB THOMPSON
SPORTS EDITOR
Sophom ore outfielder Tyler Parker w a s o n e o f the b est high
sch ool baseball p la yers in O regon. Playin g a t Liberty H igh
not serving w h en h e could have, Parker shipped o ff to basic
training in San Diego, California w hich lasted 89 v ery very long
success in th e w in colum n that really got under his skin w hile
School, Parker w a s called up to t h e v a r s i t y team as a
days a s Parker puts it. Boot cam p w a s the hardest thing h e ’s
playing for the Cougars.
freshm an and stayed at that level
or th e re s t
ever done, saying th e m ental and physical toughness it took
“ I can’t even describe to you how frustrating it w as,” Parker
m a in t a in ,
w as no joke; Parker credits the training w ith m aturing him ,
said. “ I’m used tow in n in g and not just w inning, b ut w inning
N o rth w e s t
b ut always had h is m in d o n returning to baseball.
b y 20. For Liberty and th e Portland Barbers (Parker’ s sum m er
o f h is career, b ut he didn’t just
he
t h r iv e d ,
m a k in g
th e
Oregon C onference’ s
A ll- L e a g u e
team three times,
O rego n ’ s
“ I k n ew w ith m y contract, barring a deploym ent, that I’d be
.able to com e b ack and continue playing,” Parker said.
player since at least 2006, and RBIs w ith 31, b ut it’ s th e lack o f
league team,) w e w en t out every day and expected to absolutely
ham m er team s.”
A ll-S tatetea m
tw ic e a n d
Parker isn ’t ignorant to th e p o ssib ilityo fa deploym ent.
in 2015 w a s
n a m ed th e
“ M y attitude towards a deploym ent w as if I had to go, then
“ W e had to play the gam e a different w a y to m anufacture
N W O C an d
O reg o n
I’m ready for it,” Parker said. “ I kn ew if baseball didn’t w ork
runs,” Parker said. “ Unfortunately w e justcouldn’t get it done
year.
out for m e th en I’d figh t and sacrifice for th e m illions o f kids
often enough and it sucks. ”
h is su c c e ss
like m e w ith a dream to play baseball. ”
player o f the
-W ith a ll o f
i n high school, Parker
Parker said h e felt things w ere just different at Clackam as.
Parker w a s h op in g that the team could p ut th e program
w ould have
“ I’m fortunate enough to be b o m in Am erica and have been
b ack into the NW AC playoffs, but even fallin g short, Parker
afterrecruit
provided so m an y opportunities to be successful in baseball
w a s rem inded o f his love for the game;
fo r c o lle g e s , b u t
t h a t c h a n g e d at
and th at’s not th e case everyw here,” Parker said. “ So every
. “ It w a s a grind,” Parker said. “ There w ere a lot o f Ups and
the beginning o f his
sen io r y e a r o f h ig h
day I g e t to play, I treat i f a s a privilege, because I k n ow that I
downs and it’ s frustrating to put in so m uch w orkand not have
school w h en Parker
en liste d in t h e UJS.
could be halfw ay across the world in 48 hours. ”
anything to sh ow for it in the postseason, b ut b eing here for
”
b een a v e ry sought
Parker’ s transition b ack to baseball w en t sm oothly, as the
M arine Corps.
“ I d id n ’t w a n t to
Tyler Parker
serves in the
United States
Marine Corps.
Clackamas Print*
tak e th e n orm al route
rig h t-h a n d e d slugger q uickly fou n d success at C lackam as
H t o f graduating high school
C om m unity College, leading th e team in h om e runs, six, and
®
F
runs batted in, 24, in 2017.
andjustgoingto college,”
P a rk e r said. “ I w a n te d
to b e a p art o f so m eth in g
tw oyearsreally rem inded m e o f m y love for baseball and w h y
I play th e gam e.”
Parker m ade an im pact o n players in the freshm an class,
w h o really to o k a notice to his w o rk ehtic.
“ [Parker] has been a great asset to our team the past two
“ [Parker] w astheb estteam m ate,” freshm an thirdbasem an
years, one o f the b esthitters in the NWAC, w ith a to n o f power,
N ate Loranger said. “ H e w a s alw ays p ushing guys to w o rk
harder.”
b igger. I cou ld p rob ab ly b e
and it showed w ith his nine hom e runs this year,” Head Coach
a senior at a b ig school right
Jim H oppel said. “ H e w a s one o f our captains the past two
Parker is n ow transitioning into w h a t’s next for h im as a
now, b ut th at’s n ot th e plan
years and h is leadership in th e w eigh t room , classroom and
baseball player as h e considers offers from D ivisio n -i and D -2
th e fie ld h a d a n im p a c tw ith th e te a m .”
program s in Oregon, W ashington, California, Arizona, Texas
God had in store for m e.” ;
Inspired b y h is fath er,
This season Parker once again led the team in batting average
w h o Parker said regretted
(.301,) HRs w ith nine, w h ich w a s t h e m o st b y a C lackam as
-----------------------
th e c la c k a m a s p r in t.n e t
---------- —
and North Carolina. A s far as w h ich w a y h e ’s leaning, Parker
just hinted that h e w a n ts to head South.
_ ______________________
June 6, 2018