Highs and Lows for Clipper MBB in Week 6 as They Win Game Against Highline, Drop a Heartbreaker to Lower Columbia

It has been a rollercoaster of a week for the Clipper Men's Basketball team as they went 1-1 in Week 5 with a strong win against the Highline Thunderbirds on Wednesday and a tough loss to the #5 ranked Lower Columbia Red Devils on Valentine's Day.

The Clips came into the week with a 6-3 region record (17-5 overall) after two fantastic results last week against Tacoma and Grays Harbor and hoped to make up ground as they make a push for better seeding in the last couple of weeks before the start of the NWAC Basketball Championships.

Their first task was a home game on Wednesday against Highline as the Clips looked to avenge a loss earlier in the season to the T-Birds. The men's team has been on a groove as of late and they hoped that those good vibes could manifest into a victory for the day.

From the get-go, it was all Clippers as they came out on a mission to get this game out of reach early on. The Clips were firing on all cylinders early on both sides of the ball as they held the T-Birds to only 27% FG percentage in the first half as compared to their 44% in the opening 20 minutes. Most notably, they kept the pressure on defense and disrupted the tempo that Highline was trying to set. The Clippers went into halftime with a 38-21 lead and went into the second half with the same energy as in the first.

Highline got better settled and started to sink shots in the subsequent half, but the Clippers proved too much for the T-Birds as they continued on an offensive tear. In the second half, the Clippers shot 54% from the field, putting up 50 points in the latter half alone. Four out of the five starters for the game ended the match in double-digit points with Caleb Bowden leading the team with 16 points. Jeremiah Lewis finished with 12 boards, in a game where SPSCC outrebounded their opponent 51-39, and Jack Mack had a fantastic night with a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double.

"We've been focusing on making easy reads, limiting turnovers, and defending," said Sophomore Point Guard Alex Tichenor about what has led to this three-game win streak. "We're stacking wins right now and trying to get better seeding and we know that this next one is a big one against LCC."

There is no love lost between the SPSCC Clippers and LCC Red Devils and their matchup on Valentine's Day had the energy of an epic in the making. The Red Devils came into Olympia as the #5 team in the NWAC and looked to lock up an NWAC Basketball Championship spot with a win.

The first half was back and forth as the Clips got off to an early lead, but Lower Columbia answered back with a run to reduce the Clips' advantage. Both teams had nearly identical shooting percentages (LCC's 40.6% to SPSCC's 40.7%), but it was the Clippers who went into the half with a 33-28 lead. In the second half, the Clippers managed to go on a run where they went up 12 points with 12 minutes left in the game. Caleb Bowden was an engine for the Clips, leading the team in scoring with 26 points for the night as most of the offensive production came from him and Jeremiah Lewis, who finished with 16 points of his own.

However, the Red Devils went on a run in the late stages of the game and the Clippers' offense went cold at the worst possible moment, all of which allowed LCC to tie the game at 62 with 2:23 left on the clock. An inopportune foul by the Clippers on a three-point shot helped the Red Devils take a three-point lead with 1:34 left in the game. The final stages of the game came down to the Red Devils needing to make their free throws and, unfortunately for the Clips, they made good on their chances and escaped Olympia with a 70-66 win.

"It was a pretty crushing loss, but we're still in the fight and that's the biggest thing; we still have a chance to make the postseason," said Men's Basketball Head Coach Zach Smith about the loss on Valentine's Day. "There's a lot of people that aren't in that position so we got to keep fighting and we're going to have to earn it from here on out."

Now, the Clippers have Staff & Faculty Appreciation Night Presented by ACU on Wednesday, February 18 against the Pierce Raiders at 3:30 p.m., followed by a trip down to Centralia to take on the Trailblazers on Saturday, February 21 at 2 p.m.