Mt. Hood basketball can’t weather the Storm

Men’s Team:

It was yet another loss for the Mt. Hood Saints men’s basketball team, who dropped a 71-66 contest Wednesday in the Mt. Hood gymnasium to its South Region foe, the Chemeketa Storm.

With the defeat, the Saints (1-10 in the South Region, 4-18 overall) extended their losing streak to 10 games. They’re tied with Grays Harbor for the longest active losing streak in the entire NWAC. The Saints last won a game back on Jan. 2 when they beat the Umpqua Riverhawks, 80-75.

“Obviously when you’re losing, you’re dealing with extra emotions. Mentally it drains on you,” said Saints head coach John Hawley. “You can’t live in the past and as coaches we aren’t adding any extra pressure. You have to accept what it is… Let go of what was… And have faith in what will be.”

During their game with the Storm, the Saints came out flat. Thankfully, their counterpart came out just as slow. Eventually the Saints would take their first lead 19-17 with 6:40 left in the first half. They would quickly see that lead vanish, though, and headed into the locker room down 33-25. With less 45 seconds left in the first half, Storm freshman guard Tregg Peterson showed off his hops with a fast-break slam dunk that drew the crowd to its feet. Even Saints fans were cheering and in awe after Peterson’s pretty flush.

Hawley said his team’s slow starts have long been a problem. “Its been hurting us all year long,” said Hawley, with the Saints trailing early in games and then trying to dig their way out of a hole. “We just aren’t consistent on the offensive end and we had good looks all game long, but couldn’t finish.”

Why?

“I don’t know,” said Hawley who paused for a little while to think about that simple, yet open-ended, question. “We shoot a lot in practice and we’re moving well without the ball and being less selfish these past five or six games.”

If one positive came out of this game, Hawley pointed towards Mt. Hood’s free-throw shooting. The team finished 20-of-24 from the charity stripe.

“Best we have shot from the line in a very long time. That’s a big plus for us, since we haven’t shot so well from there throughout the year,” he said.

Prior to the game, Storm head coach David Abderhalden said he planned to hone in on Saints sophomore guard Jamal Muhammad, who has been struggling from the field, of late.

“Jamal is a very explosive offensive player and even though he has struggled this year it certainly wasn’t against us the first time,” said Abderhalden, referring to Muhammad’s 32 points when the two teams played on Jan. 13. “We have always had a different approach to big-time scorers like him, and that will continue. Our goal is to make him earn everything he gets and limit the easy baskets such as uncontested lay-ins and free throws. He is a great competitor and very good player and definitely an impact player in our conference.”

It looked as if that philosophy worked out in favor of the Storm.

Again, Muhammad struggled from the floor and looked to be in quite a bit of pain, as he nursed a right shoulder injury that has plagued him all season long. He finished with 11 points on 4-for-14 shooting from the field, while he pulled down six rebounds.

Saints freshman forward Cody Thompson, finished with 20 points – his second-best scoring affair of the season. His season high is 23 points. Freshman Otis Duncan had a solid night, finishing just one point shy of a double-double, with nine points and 13 rebounds.

Though the Saints aren’t playing up to their standards, Hawley is impressed with his team’s fight to go out there every night and to give it their all, win or lose.

“The big thing is the kids have made a conscious effort to stick together,” said Hawley.

Saturday the Saints take on the Linn-Benton Roadrunners, in Albany. First tip-off is expected at 2 p.m.

Women’s Team:

Once again the “Fab Five” made a serious push at beating the Chemeketa Storm Wednesday night in the Mt. Hood gymnasium, but fell just short in the final minute, losing 61-56.

“We were down by one point with a minute to go and we missed two easy shots in the paint, but both were good looks from about five and seven feet out,” said Saints women’s head coach John Hawley.

“And then when we were down by three points, we missed a three-point attempt by Madison Weaver with less than 10 seconds left. We just couldn’t hit that big shot down the stretch,” he said.

With less than 20 seconds remaining, sophomore Lacey Weddle fouled out and the Saints – playing with only five players due to roster issues for the past two months – were left with four players on the floor, which made assignments more difficult.

Mt. Hood had trailed for much of the second half.

“We just didn’t shoot the ball as well as we normally do,” said Hawley. “We got good looks in clutch situations, but couldn’t finish.”

The Saints only shot 24 percent from behind the arc (4-for-17), which proved to hurt them in the losing effort.

Sophomore Alexis Imbler finished the contest with a double-double (13 points and 12 rebounds), while sophomore teammate Weaver finished with 16 points, along with eight rebounds. Sophomores Weddle and Delanee Martin both chipped in with 10 points.

The Saints women fell to 2-9 in the South Region, and 7-15 overall.