The South Puget Sound Community College (SPSCC) Men's Basketball team has advanced to the Final Four of the Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC) Basketball Championship tournament after defeating the Edmonds Tritons in the Sweet 16 matchup and knocking off the Portland Panthers in the Elite Eight matchup. The Clippers will now take on the Southwestern Oregon Community College Lakers on Saturday, March 15 at 7 p.m. at Columbia Basin College's Holden Court to decide who will advance to the championship game on Sunday.
"As the athletic director, it's been a privilege to watch this program compete all year. I am grateful that their hard work and dedication is paying off so far and I hope they can continue to stay locked in," said SPSCC Athletic Director Vernell Willingham about the school's first ever Final Four appearance.
The Clippers came into the NWAC tournament as the #3 ranked team in the entire league and as the #2 seed from the very competitive West Region. The team got into Pasco on Friday to prep for their first match on Saturday, March 8 against the #3 seed from the North Region, the Edmonds Tritons.
SPSCC played well and took an eight-point lead into halftime, but the Tritons took advantage of some miscues from their opponents in the second half to get within one point of tying the game with less than a minute left. However, the Clippers managed to knock down some late key free throws and came out with the 78-73 win to advance to the Elite Eight game.
Freshman Center Jeremiah Lewis and Sophomore Point Guard Quincy Linton lead the team in points against Edmonds, finishing the game with 21 and 15 points respectively. The Clippers' team defense was the star of the show for this game, forcing 22 turnovers and capitalizing on 22 points off those turnovers.
"I was really, really happy with our defensive activity. We spent a lot of time this week working on us and it came down to pace and activity. I think we answered the bell with those two things," said Men's Basketball Head Coach Zach Smith about the team's performance against Edmonds.
Smith also spoke about the two standouts from the game, "Jeremiah was a stud. When he doesn't think and he's aggressive, he's pretty special. Quincy has always been the head of the snake and will continue to be that for us. He's a phenomenal leader and just really proud of his effort down the stretch."
It was right back to the grindstone for the Clippers on Sunday for an Elite Eight matchup against the #1 seed from the South Region, the Portland Panthers. It was a back-and-forth game as both teams played a pressing defense and tried to capitalize off each other's mistakes. The Panthers came away with a slight edge, going into halftime with a four-point lead.
The Clippers came out firing on all cylinders in the latter period with Freshman Guard/Forward Caleb Bowden leading the charge with 20 points for the game. The team shot 45% from the field in the second half and cruised to a 72-59 victory to secure passage into the Final Four for the first time in school history.
"I believe it was just a matter of time before Coach Smith and his staff moved beyond the first round of the championships. You can feel the passion the whole coaching staff has toward a commitment of excellence," said Willingham about Smith and his coaching staff.
"I'm excited for the SPSCC community. We have some amazing people on campus that support our athletes. I'm thrilled for our Athletic Director Vernell Willingham, he's been behind us and supporting us every step of the way. It's a cool moment, but we've been talking about it all year: 'Stay paranoid.' The job isn't finished; we have more work to do," said Smith.
The Final Four and NWAC Championship games will be livestreamed on the NWAC Sports Network website for $16 each. Tickets are on sale for $19 for each game or $35 for both the Final Four and Championship games. For more information about Clipper Athletics, be sure to visit spsccathletics.edu.