Saints clutch victory in season finale

 

The season has officially ended for the MHCC basketball team after a 87-75 win over Linn-Benton Community College.

The Saints led all game, thanks to scoring double figure outputs from starters Mac Johnson, Blake Updike, Landon Rushton and Colby Mitchell. Updike had team-high 19 points going 8-15 from the field and 3-5 from the three-point line.

“I am proud of them for playing hard the last game knowing we weren’t making the playoffs. It was fun to watch to watch and they showed pride,” said head coach Geoff Gibor.

The team ends the season with a 11-15 record and 7-7 in conference.

“We are better than what are record shows, if we didn’t lose that game to Clackamas (Jan.16, 71-69) we would be in NWAACS right now,” said Gibor.

Potentially every player on the roster this year can return next year besides Mitchell, who was the only sophomore on the team.

“It’s been a good experience (playing at MHCC), it was a great stepping stone getting to where I wanted to go and that’s playing at the next level.  I’m going to miss the friends I’ve made along the way and the great coaching staff,” said Mitchell.

As for next year, Gibor says he is already excited for the new season.

“This season was a learning experience for us, going into next season we need to get stronger, more physical, and gain more skill development. But we already have a lot of chemistry going into next year,” said Gibor.

Asked what he felt were this year’s team’s strengths, Gibor said his team had many.

“We lacked experience having a young team, but we played hard all season, and we have good size and everyone had a positive attitude,” said Gibor.

With a successful season last year, and the fact that the team was obviously capable of taking games off the region’s best teams, it was tough not making the playoffs this year said Gibor.

“It’s a bad feeling but we have a lot to gain going into next season and we will continue to grow and get better. Next season, we will be more calm and patient having more experience,” said Gibor.

Despite a disappointing end to a relatively successful season, Gibor said he’s been enjoying his time coaching at MHCC and has been in the system at MHCC for a long time.

“This is home for me, I like working with the people here and I like the tradition of winning of all the sports at MHCC. It breeds success to me, everyone here gives a lot of support and they are competitive,” said Gibor.