Panthers pounce on Saints in waning moments

Coming off a 70-65 win over Lane last Saturday, the MHCC men’s hoops team squared off against Portland Community College on Wednesday night. The game, full of ups and downs, saw the Panthers sneak out of the Mt. Hood gym by the skin of their teeth, beating the Saints, 77-75.

The game started in Portland’s favor, as they led off with a couple-basket lead over the Saints. Mt. Hood quickly answered to take a lead its own, which it held all the way to the half, at 36-33.

In the second half, the Saints would build a near-double-digit lead and were on the verge of pulling away from the Panthers.

But, late in the game, Portland rallied behind a big game from guard Tay Arigbon to take a three-point lead with nearly a minute to play.

With just seconds remaining, Saint freshman forward Kody Kennedy drew a foul, earning him a trip to the free-throw line.

After he nailed the first free throw, the Saints trailed by only two, at 75-73.

Kennedy missed the second, but MHCC forward (and Saints star of the game) Oleg Marandyuk was able to pull down the offensive rebound and put it back to even the score with seven seconds to play.

A Portland timeout advanced the Panthers just past half court. They inbounded to Arigbon who was able to draw a foul with four seconds remaining.

Arigbon missed the first free throw, but was able to sink the crucial second free throw to give the Panthers a one-point advantage.

Saints head coach Geoff Gibor called time, advancing the ball for one last play. Marandyuk, who had 27 points at this point, ran off a screen to catch the pass. He attacked the basket and a crowd of Panthers, yet no foul was called.

The Panthers controlled the wild shot and drew a foul with 0.4 seconds remaining.

A made free throw gave the Panthers a 77-75 lead. The Saints inbounded the ball, but did not have enough time to get a shot off.

The atmosphere in the gym following the heart breaker was depressing, as the loss hit players and fans deeply.

Coach Gibor was speechless moments later. After a pause, he discussed the game’s tough outcome. “Too many turnovers, 14, but they (Portland) capitalized on them,” he said. “They got 20 points off of 14 turnovers. We had an opportunity to come in and play well and I thought we had our spurts.”

Gibor continued, “No. 20 (Arigbon) had a really good game. Scored 26, hasn’t scored that much this year. Got to give him credit, he played well and I mean we had some chances. We just didn’t make some plays down the stretch.”

Close losses are beginning to seem all too familiar for the Saints, as they lost in overtime last week at home against Chemeketa Community College.

Statistically, the Saints shot the ball better than the Panthers from the field. Mt. Hood finished with a field goal percentage of 55 percent, while Portland only shot 43 percent.

The Panthers did make 13 more free throws than the Saints (25-12) and had a greater scoring efficiency, scoring 1.4 points per possession compared to Mt. Hood’s 1.25 points per possession.

Marandyuk led all Saints with his 27 points, and had four rebounds and three assists. Kennedy finished with 8 points, six rebounds, and three assists. Freshman Jamal Muhammad added 12 points.

This Saturday, the Saints, now 4-11 overall (1-3 in league play), will look to get back on track against the Linn-Benton Roadrunners. Tipoff is 4 p.m. in the main MHCC gym.