Basketball season comes to an end at NWACs

The Mt. Hood men’s basketball season came to a close on Monday as it finished 1-2 in the NWAC championship tournament in Kennewick, Wash.

The Saints opened up tournament play against Number One-seeded Edmonds CC. Mt. Hood fell short in the close battle, losing 86-78. The Saints found themselves down 34-26 at half, and were unable to take advantage of the comeback chances the Tritons offered late.

Up four points with six minutes to play, Edmonds made plays down the stretch to take the game and to advance in the tourney.

Saints coach Geoff Gibor spoke on the close loss.

“They did to us what we expected them to do: Rebound,” he said. “The game plan was good – first-shot defense and rebound. We did a decent job with our defense; our rebounding wasn’t great.

“They gave us every chance to win the game,” Gibor continued. “We just didn’t take advantage…the one thing they did better was rebound, but there’s a lot of things we did pretty well. Had we taken advantage of their mistakes we could have easily put them away.”

Saints freshman Jamal Muhammad and Darrell Henry each contributed 19 points in the loss.

On Sunday, Mt. Hood bounced back with a 95-81 win over Columbia Basin CC in the consolation bracket.

The Saints played well on both ends of the court. They shot 63 percent from the field, connecting on 38 of 60 shots.

On the defensive end, the Saints shut down top NWAC scorer James Lopez. Lopez, averaging nearly 25 points per game heading in, scored the first nine points for Columbia Basin, in the first four minutes. But Mt. Hood would hold him to only three more points for the rest of the game.

Individually, Mt. Hood found solid production from Muhammad, who finished with 28 points and five assists. Oleg Marandyuk added 20 points, six rebounds, and three steals for the Saints.

The win advanced the Saints into another (consolation) matchup with arch-rival Clackamas CC, a team they defeated, 85-76, back on Feb. 25.

Monday’s contest went another direction. The Saints’ 87-62 loss eliminated them from the tourney, and ended their season.

“…Obviously a rivalry game,” said Gibor. “We just couldn’t score. To their credit they hit some pretty amazing shots. Of their 10 threes that they made, only two of those threes were within a foot of the three-point line. The rest were four or five feet behind the line. They just made some really tough shots.”

Muhammad finished with 19 points for Mt. Hood, and Henry with 12.

Ultimately, Clark College went on to win the NWAC title with a 78-59 win over Edmonds CC, to claim its first basketball title in 20 years.

Despite the tough ending, Gibor was pleased with the team’s efforts this season. A ragged start to begin the year produced some doubters, but the Saints “stayed the course” and exceeded the expectations of many, he said.

“I thought we matured a lot as a group and it was a really fun year. Probably one of my more challenging years, in terms of having a lot of new guys and coaches, but everyone bought in and over the course of the year it was a lot of fun. The relationships we’ve forged over the year will be forever,” Gibor said.

“I’ve had more fun joking around with and developing relationships with these guys than I have most teams I’ve coached,” he said. “While it’s been the most challenging (year), (it’s been) very rewarding off the court.”

Sophomore point guard and leader Kylelle Brown spoke on Saints veterans handing the torch to next year’s leaders.

“I feel like our freshman stepped up huge and will be ready to lead next year,” said Brown. “It was a year I will never forget.”