MT. HOOD BASKETBALL SWEEPS PORTLAND CC PANTHERS

The Mt. Hood men’s and women’s basketball teams took care of business Wednesday night, as they both beat the Panthers of Portland Community College, in Portland.

The Lady Saints took full advantage of a weak Portland side that has struggled all season long. The Panthers put up 49 points total, while the Saints had already scored 48 points by halftime.

With the postseason approaching quickly there is little margin for error as the top three spots in the South Region of the NWAC are still up for grabs. The Titans of Lane Community College currently hold the No. 1 spot with a conference record of 12-1, while the Umpqua Riverhawks are second at 11-2, followed by the Saints with a record of 11-3, after Wednesday’s games.

With three regular season contests remaining (just two for the Saints), all three teams have clinched playoff slots, but their seed (placement) in the 16-team NWAC championship tournament is still undecided. So the Saints didn’t hold back Wednesday as their onslaught against PCC ended at 98-49.

Mt. Hood was led by freshman guard Hunter Boske racking up 25 points off the bench, 15 of them coming from behind the arc. Other notable performances were from sophomores Madison Allen and Rachel Watson. ‘Maddy’ was perfect from the 3-point line, going 4-for-4, also adding five assists and finishing with 16 points. Watson dominated at center, ending with six points, eight rebounds and five blocks.

It was a comfortable win that demonstrates Mt. Hood has players that can shoot behind the arc, defend under the rim, and be relied upon for consistent bench minutes. Most importantly, it builds great momentum for Saturday’s home game against No. 1-ranked Lane.

The Titans beat the Saints, 77-60, on Jan. 19 and head Coach Jeremy Vandenboer told the Advocate in a later interview that “the girls were fired up and wanted to play them again back at home”.

Saturday’s game in the Yoshida Event Center is set for 2 p.m. Keep in mind, the Saints haven’t lost a single home game this season, going 6-0 so far.

On the men’s side on Wednesday, the Saints took the lead after 5 minutes of play and kept it through the first half. Sophomore post Vlad Katin gave a beautiful alley-oop pass to freshman wing Carter Arrasmith to hush the PCC home crowd with a dunk as they stretched their lead to 11 in the first half.

Mt. Hood maintained the lead in the second half, until 9:56 was left on the clock as the Panthers took their first lead since the first minutes of the game, 68-65. The battle became more interesting as the lead went back and forth for the remainder of the game, with the Saints finishing on top, winning 86-83.

The team was led by sophomores Kyler Haynes and Kahlon Whitley with 19 points, five rebounds and two blocks, and 17 points with six assists, respectively. Freshman guard Taylor Howard also had a great night coming off the bench with 19 points, three rebounds and going 3-for-3 from the 3-point line.

The men will match up against Lane at home at 4 p.m. Saturday.

At 3-11 in South Region play, the Saints are out of the playoff hunt, but hope to finish the season strong against Lane and then their final game Wednesday, against Clackamas at home.