CBC men knock off No. 1 seed NWAC team to reach semifinals

As a No. 4 seed out of the East, the Columbia Basin College men’s basketball team wasn’t given much of a chance to beat North No. 1 seed Peninsula on Saturday.

CBC head coach Anthony Owens knew better.

“They’re a pretty good team,” said Owens. “But we’re a pretty good team too. We have just six losses this season. This was two good defensive teams playing.”

In the end, the Hawks made a few more defensive plays to outlast the Pirates 77-73 in a first-round game at the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) championships at Holden Court at the CBC Student Recreation Center.

With the win, the Hawks advance to the NWAC Championship semifinals. They will play Southwestern Oregon at 2 p.m., Sunday, March 12, at the CBC Recreation Center for a chance to get into the Final Four — which will be held next Saturday, March 18, at CBC.

It turned out to be a contest between two evenly matched teams.

There were 16 lead changes, and 13 ties.

But it came down to one big key play in the final minute, with the score tied at 73-73.

Peninsula had the ball and actually had three chances to score a 3-point field goal, all by Pirates sharpshooter Mikey Medlock, Jr.

But Medlock failed on all three tries.

And on the second one, CBC’s Latrell Barker snared the defensive rebound. He fired a crisp outlet pass to Ta’Veus Randle, who was already at half court.

Randle was assuming the Hawks would call a timeout and try to take the last shot.

But then he heard a voice.

“I heard Coach’s voice saying ‘Go, go, go!’” said the Columbia Basin College freshman.

With that, Randle took off for the basket from half court, took a Euro-step, and put in a reverse lay-in that turned out to be the game-winner with 25.9 seconds remaining.

Owens was quick to downplay the timeout situation.

“We don’t call timeout in those situations,” said Owens.

Peninsula tried one last time for a 3-pointer, but again the Pirates missed, and this time Randle got the rebound himself.

Owens’ CBC team seems to find a way for someone different to step up each game.

This time it was Randle and Teagen Hoard.

In the final 10 minutes, it was Randle who scored 8 of his 13 points, almost all of them with isolation situations where he drove by his opponent for an acrobatic layup.

“We’re trying to space out anyway during those situations,” said Owens. “And he did a great job.”

The situation played into Randle’s game.

“I’m just trying to attack, get open, or find guys who are open,” said Randle, a freshman who comes from Belgrade, Mont.

Meanwhile Hoard, a sophomore from Spokane who came to CBC via a stop at Lewis-Clark State College, scored 6 points in the final 4 minutes — including a game-tying 3 with 1:41 left that made the score 71-71.

Neither Randle nor Hoard are starters, but that doesn’t mean much in Owens’ system. If you’re playing well, you’ll get minutes.

“Hoard has been playing outstanding the second half of conference play,” said Owens. “Randle has been playing well too. I was trying to find them more minutes.”

Randle got 21 minutes of playing time, Hoard got 19.

It was another balanced-scoring attack for CBC, now 21-6.

Jayden Martinez added 12 points, while Christian Cross had 11, and Barker added 10 points to go along with 10 rebounds.

Owens’ bench outscored Peninsula’s 35-13, and the Hawks dominated the boards, 35-23.

Peninsula, which finished 25-4, was led by Medlock’s 17 points.

Scores and highlights

SOUTHWESTERN OREGON 73, GREEN RIVER 70: Onwaja Thomas had a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Lakers (19-11) into the quarterfinals.

Merrill Sherwood added 18 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

Peyton Nordland had 18 points for the Gators, who end their season at 23-6.

CLACKAMAS 89, EDMONDS 73: TJ Doman scored 24 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and blocked four shots, as Clackamas — the South’s No. 1 seed — advanced into the semifinals.

Teammate Braden Hodgins added 17 points, 5 rebounds and three blocked shots for the Cougars (23-8).

Squeaky Johnson and Caleb Anglin each scored 15 points for the Tritons, who saw their season end at 20-8.

EVERETT 69, LOWER COLUMBIA 49: Tyriq Lake and Colton Spencer each scored 18 points as Everett (24-7) routed Lower Columbia (24-6) in the quarterfinals.

Luke added 7 rebounds, while Spencer had 6.

Emanuel Steward had 17 points for the Red Devils, who saw their season end.

TACOMA 76, LINN-BENTON 69: Jake TenBerge scored 30 points and grabbed 5 rebounds to lead upstart Tacoma (12-14) to the win.

Roman Lewis added 18 points and 7 rebounds.

TJ Zimmerman had 16 points and 8 rebounds for Linn-Benton, which finishes the season at 15-15.

BELLEVUE 63, NORTH IDAHO 60: Sayerr Senghore’s driving layup with 32 seconds left gave Bellevue (20-9) the lead for good in a first-round game and handed North Idaho (28-1) its only loss of the season.

Senghore — who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds — gave the Bulldogs a 61-60 lead.

Owen Moriarity — who had 21 points and 3 steals — sank two free throws with 13 seconds left for the final score.

Cobb Campbell led North Idaho with 16 points and 6 rebounds.

NWAC Men’s tournament

Saturday, March 11

Game 5 — Southwestern Oregon 73, Green River 70

Game 6 — Columbia Basin 77, Peninsula 73

Game 7 — Tacoma 76, Linn-Benton 69

Game 8 — Bellevue 63, North Idaho 60

Game 9 — Clackamas 89, Edmonds 73

Game 10 — Everett 69, Lower Columbia 49

Sunday, March 12

Game 11 — Southwestern Oregon vs. Columbia Basin, 2 p.m.

Game 12 — Tacoma vs. Bellevue, 4 p.m.

Saturday, March 18

Game 13 — Clackamas vs. Everett, 5 p.m.

Game 14 — Winner 11 vs. winner 12, 7 p.m.

Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.