CBC men ousted in NWAC 1st round. Women’s team plays tonight in Tri-Cities

Columbia Basin College men’s basketball coach Anthony Owens had a plan for his team facing Skagit Valley in Thursday’s first game at the Northwest Athletic Conference men’s basketball championships.

But it never came to fruition.

Skagit Valley came out with guns blazing, jumping out to a 23-0 lead en route to beating CBC 91-58 in a loser-out game on the Pasco campus.

“We didn’t execute what we talked about before the game,” said Owens, whose team finished the season with a 14-15 record. “We looked out of sync.”

The Hawks couldn’t have started out the game worse.

CBC went 0-for-12 from the floor and had five turnovers in that 23-0 start by Skagit.

It wasn’t until Neil McCarthy sank a 3-point shot with 11:11 to play in the first half that the Hawks stopped the bleeding.

But by then, it was too late. The Cardinals had the contest well in hand.

“We worked on our transition defense this week,” Owens said. “We talked about not taking quick shots on offense. It’s just a matter of doing what we were supposed to do. We did not show up today.”

The Hawks did play much better in the second half, scoring 43 points.

Zander Kamai finished the game with 15 points to lead CBC, while Levi Pepper had 11.

Treyshawn Weatherspoon led the Cardinals with 27 points.

Skagit Valley plays Centralia at 2 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals.

Women’s tourney begins

The women’s tournament begins at CBC today with four contests.

That includes the Columbia Basin College women’s team taking on, ironically, Skagit Valley.

That game tips off at 8 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4

Men’s NWAC scores

LOWER COLUMBIA 57, CLARK 54: James Grose sank a 3-point shot with 9:17 to play to give Lower Columbia (21-6) the lead for good.

Grose finished with 13 points, while K Jackman-Thomas had 15 points and 11 rebounds.

BELLEVUE 90, YAKIMA VALLEY 70: Isaiah White scored 20 points, and Sawyer Cottrell added 14 points and 11 rebounds as the Bulldogs (28-2) advanced to the quarterfinals.

Prosser High grad Koby McClure had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Yaks, who finished their season at 11-14.

TREASURE VALLEY 81, PENINSULA 61: Jeremiah Williams scored 19 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and had 3 assists to lead the Chukars into the quarterfinals. Teammate Alain Nziza added 17 points and 9 boards for TVCC (17-9).

SWOCC 82, SPSCC 76 (OT): The Lakers outscored the Clippers 18-12 in the overtime to advance to the quarterfinals. MJ Tia lead Southwestern Oregon (24-6) with 22 points and 6 rebounds; while Connor Wilson added 18 points and 4 assists.

THURSDAY, MARCH 5

BELLEVUE 78, SWOCC 59: Bellevue punched its ticket to the Final Four by dominating in the second half, and 29 points from Josiah Johnson coming off of the bench in the second half.

Will Woodward added 15 points and 8 rebounds.

LOWER COLUMBIA 96, TREASURE VALLEY 74: Shane Douma-Sanchez scored 24 points and Skyler Schmidt added 23 as the Red Devils won their quarterfinal game to advance to the semifinals.

LANE 82, GREEN RIVER 71: Amaziah Austin scored 30 points and had 12 rebounds as Lane upset Green River in the first round.

CENTRALIA 74, UMPQUA 72: Luke Brewer scored 32 points as the Blazers upset Umpqua in the first round.

EDMONDS 77, BLUE MOUNTAIN 74: Avidan West scored 22 points as Edmonds held off Blue Mountain in a first-round game. Southridge High grad Jessie Tijerina had 9 points for Blue Mountain.

NWAC men

Friday, March 6

Game 11, Skagit Valley vs. Centralia, 2 p.m.

Game 12, Lane vs. Edmonds, 4 p.m.

Friday, March 13

Semifinals

Game 13, Lower Columbia vs. Bellevue, Noon

Game 14, winner 11 vs. winner 12, 2 p.m.

Sunday, March 15

Championship

Game 15, winner 13 vs. winner 14, Noon

NWAC women

Friday, March 6

Game 1, Bellevue vs. Big Bend, 10 a.m. Game 2, Highline vs. Clackamas, Noon

Game 3, Chemeketa vs. Lower Columbia, 6 p.m.

Game 4, Columbia Basin vs. Skagit Valley, 8 p.m.

-Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.