The SPSCC Men’s Basketball program has been living large as of late. The Clippers are undefeated in conference play (6-0), have won seven straight games, and recently beat the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Tacoma and Lower Columbia. For their efforts, MBB is now the No. 3 ranked team in the NWAC according to the most recent polls.
The path to perfection is never an easy one. This week tested the Clippers as some slow starts in the first half of both their road games games had them clawing back from some deficits.
“No matter what conference road games are tough,” mentioned Head Coach Zach Smith. “I liked how our guys responded and handled business. We got to keep going on the road, we’ve got a few more on the road and it’s just another step in our journey. I’m proud of them for their effort.”
Continuing on their long stretch away from home, MBB traveled to Lakewood to take on the Pierce Raiders for the first game of the week. After a bit of a sloppy start, the Clips were able to regroup and find their scoring touch, finishing the first half on a 26-4 run in the final 10 minutes. In the second half, the offense just kept on pouring it on with big scoring performances from Nehemiah Pollard (18) and Cameron Lawson (20) leading the Clippers to a 91-46 win.
But there was a player that helped do it all against Pierce. Whether it was cleaning up the boards, setting up teammates to score, and contributing to the point total — it was the Quincy Linton show as he finished the game with a triple-double (11 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists).
“At halftime, I knew that a triple-double was a goal,” said Sophomore Point Guard Quincy Linton. “I have supportive coaches and supportive teammates that give me rock and trust me to either make the play, go to the basket, or get the rebound.”
“I don’t care what level of basketball you’re at — from youth basketball to college — getting a triple-double is really hard to do,” said Coach Smith. “It means you played really hard and you weren’t just focused on scoring. Quincy is so smart and he does so many things to help our team win that don’t always show up on the statbook. For him to now have two triple-doubles in conference says a lot about him as a basketball player. There’s a lot of ways to win games and Quincy helps us do that.”
With one win down, the Clippers set their sights on the Centralia Trailblazers as they continued on their path to stay perfect in conference. Once again, the beginning of the game was a bit of a slog for the Clips as Centralia was going punch for punch for the entirety of the first half. But the coaching staff made some tweaks at the half that really helped facilitate the ball movement and led to an offensive breakthrough as the Clips outscored the Blazers 43-27 in the latter half.
“I reminded the team at halftime that not every game is going to be a blowout and it was good for us to have some adversity to fight through,” said Coach Smith about the Centralia game. “We didn’t shoot well in the first half and I thought we got a little stagnant. We got away from some things that have won us a lot of games. But our guys battled back, we made some substitutions that really changed it for us. [Alex] Tichenor came in and really started moving the ball. I’m proud of the team’s response in the second half.”
Marcus Lawson shot the ball well in SPSCC’s 76-58 win against Centralia, going 10-16 overall and 3-4 from three-point line and finishing the game with 25 points. Nehemiah Pollard was another big contributor in the win, finishing the game with a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. And, as Coach Smith mentioned, Tichenor was instrumental in this game helping get the ball to a teammate with a hot hand all night, netting him seven assists for the game.
“This game was a bit rough in the first half; everyone was trying to find a groove. But once we got into a flow of things, we opened it up to a 20-point lead,” said Freshman Center Jeremiah Lewis. “Each game prepares us a little bit differently. This most recent game prepared us for situations where we feel like we should win but at the end of the day, we can’t get too cocky. Every team has the ability to beat us on any given night. We just have to make sure we compete.”
MBB continues their road trip with a pivotal game against the Green River Gators in Auburn on Wednesday followed by a game in Tacoma on Wednesday, Feb. 5. The Clippers then return home for a game against Grays Harbor on Saturday, Feb. 8. For more information, be sure to visit www.spsccathletics.edu.