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STAFF WRITER
Before Mike Friday took the helm ahead o f the 2014- silver and th ird gets bronze. There is a challenge tro
2015 season, the USA rugby team had played just one phy for the w inner o f the bottom -eight com petition.
The group stage consists o f round-robin play
tournam ent final; U nder him they’ve reached seven,
3Y JA C O B T H O M P S O N
including all four this season. Unfortunately,, the Ea am ongst four-team pools. After pool play, the 16
SPORTS EDITOR @SPORTSEDTHOMPS .
gles have come up short in each o f those cham pion team field was, and still is, split into the top eight and
Head Coach Clif Wegner knew going
ship matches. That changed the weekend o f M arch 1 bottom eight.
into Thursday’s matchup with North
The top eight play for first place, while the bottom
in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Eagles, Ted by Folau Niua,
Idaho College (27-2,16-.O) that it would
eight
play for ninth. W ith four pools of four, the top
captured
th
eir
second
straight
cup
on
Am
erican
be a big test for Clackamas Community
College. The Cougars came into the soil. N iua is the m ost im portant cog in the best re two team s in each pool advance to the top eight. Pools
NWAC Playoffs as a No. 4 seed and start-w inning team in the world. N iua also directsithe are decided by a points system. W ins are w orth 3, ties
team s who finish 2-1 or
drew the strongest No. 1 seed in the attack w ith ball in hand. The tw o-tim e W orld Rug 2 ,and_lfl£S£jiJ. ,
tournament in the Cardinals.
by 7s Playèr o f the Year, Perry Baker, was out w ith better will get into the top eight, but not always. Oc-
“It’s always a challenge when you get a broken jaw he suffered in the H am ilton, New Zea casionally, three-way ties are created in particularly
picked to play the top-ranked team in land tournam ent. Replacing Baker was Carlin Isles, com petitive pools, leaving a 2- I. team out of the mix
the NWAC,” Wegner said three days
w ho led th e world in triés last season, banking most Or including a 1-2 or a 1-T-l side. If there’s a tie in
before the game. “They are obviously,
of Them w hen Baker was out w ith in ju ry Isles is two p o in ts’ seedingis based 8 poin t differential*
the best, they’ve been the best from
start to finish. I’ve never seen a team tries short o f w orld-leader Alasio Naduva this season, ‘ USA to thein valiant effort w ent 2-1 on the first two
but has set the m ark for clean breaks w ith 1 Ê.
d a y s o f pool p la y losing to A rgentina a n d b e a tin g
have so many ^O-plus point w ins.”
H istorically ihe top eig h t played fo r the cup (1st out France and Kenya! They th en had a tough road
Wegner said to upset North Idaho,
Clackamas would have to play a near Place), and the bottom eight, or bottom four for the to the Cup final by beating to p team South Africa the
perfect game.
women, vied for the bowl (9th). The consolation tro second day with their quarter-final win. The last day
The Cougars came out firing early, phy in the cug{bracket was thé Plate (5th), a n a the they had the toughest challenge facing New Zealand
and behind strong shooting beyond consolation trophy for th etiq w l bracket (only for the in^em i-final action,* beating them 24-19 in the final
the three-point line, Clackamas had men) was the shield (12th). Now th e re a re no more J ||® |w itf r a g ||jf o e le f e to
fiW was;
an eight-point lead five minutes into
against 10th place Samoa, who the A m ericans han
the contest, 16-8.
lion in rugby as it whole, the top trophy will still be a dled easily 27 -0 on their way to their second home.
North Idaho was able to get on a
cup,
accompanied by gold
place geté
run to even things at 17-17 with 12:17
left and for the rest of the half the
Cardinals outscored Clackamas 34-14.
D esp ite the Cougars hot start
shooting, Clackamas fin ish ed the .BY JACOB THOMPSON
half shooting just 28.9 percent from SPORTS EDITOR @SPORTSEDTHOMPS
the field while North Idaho shot 48.8 Clackamas Community College’s defensive team in the 'NWAC, offen quarter to end Clackamas’ offensive
percent.
I women’s basketball team’s season sively they’re decent, but they really skid at 10-22 b u t Wenatchee Valley
The Cougars started clawing back
came to an end on Saturday, March 9, defend well, so we have to make sure answered and despite the two teams
into the game with less than 14 minutes
left in the second half and a layup by after a 71-46 loss to Wenatchee Valley we can score 75,77 points like we have trading buckets, took an 11 -point lead
into halftime, 30-19.
freshman post Matt O’Brien with 13:12 College in the first round of NWAC all year long”
The Knights outscored the Cougars
Unfortunately for Clackamas, the
left in the game brought Clackamas playoffs.
The Cougars came into the tourna shooting just wasn’t on and they fin 24-10 to the third to widen their lead
within 14, 50-64, but the No. 1 ranked
Cardinals turned it on and outscored ment on a bit of a hot streak winning ished the night shooting 27 percent to 54-29. Clackamas and Wenatchee
the Cougars 41-18, clinching a 105-68 seven of their last eight league games from the field on 17-63 shooting and Valley tied in fourth quarter scoring
first round victory.
with 17 a piece, but with Knights hav
led by sophomore guard CJ Buckley went 0-15 from beyond the arc.
Freshm an sw ingm an Clay Sullivan who averaged 23.1 points per game in
Clackamas opened the scoring with ing a 25-point lead going into the final
led Clackamas in scoring with 19 points
a layup from Buckley and with 5:26 quarter of the game it was too late for
league play.
on 7-14 shooting from th e field and
left
in the first quarter was tied at 8-8, Clackamas who fell 71-46.
The
Cougars
shot
41.1
percent
from
5-12 from beyond the arc.
The Cougars finish the season with
S ophom ore w ing Adam G ehrig the field during the regular season and but the Cougars , went scoreless for the
an
overall record of 15-15 and will
rest
of
the
quarter
and
Wenatchee
Val
30
percent
from
the
three-point
line
fin ish e d w ith 17 p o in ts and e ig h t
reb o u n d s in h is fin a l gam e w ith and Head Coach Jim Martineau felt ley was able to jump out to a 17-8 lead. graduate sophomore guards Miranda,
Clackamas. Gehrig scored 733 points like his team needed to have another
Clackamas’ offense continued to stall Jensen, Elliot, Buckley and sophomore ‘
and. grabbed 319 rebounds during his strong shooting performance to upset for the opening of the second quarter post Audrey Barden. Buckley finished
career at Clackamas.
as Wenatchee widened the scoring the season with 543 points, and 748 in
Wenatchee Valley.
Clackamas finishes the season w ith
“We have to be able to score,” Mar gap 22-8. Peyton Elliott scored a layup her career.
an overall record of 20-9.
tineau said. “They re probably the best With 7:03 remaining in the second
Clackamas Print
theclackam asprint.com
______________
March 13, 2019