Nick Moore and the Evergreen Geoducks host Northwest in a first-round CCC men's basketball tournament game Wednesday night in Olympia.
CCC Men's Postseason Hoop Tourney Gets Underway Wednesday
PORTLAND, Ore. – Eastern Oregon has one of the Cascade Collegiate Conference’s two automatic bids to the NAIA tournament safely tucked away, but seven other CCC programs will begin their quest for the other when the league’s postseason men’s basketball tournament tips off Wednesday night.
To get it, one of the seven teams must win the CCC tournament, or advance to the championship game vs. EOU. Should the Mountaineers win the postseason tourney, the second automatic bid is awarded to the tournament runner-up.
First-round games tip off at 7:30 p.m. in La Grande (No. 1 seed Eastern Oregon vs. No. 8 seed Northwest Christian), Klamath Falls (No. 2 seed Oregon Tech vs. No. 7 seed College of Idaho), Olympia (No. 3 seed Evergreen vs. No. 6 seed Northwest) and Portland (No. 4 seed Warner Pacific vs. No. 5 seed Concordia).
Live stats for four of the games can be found by following this link.
In every case but the Concordia-Warner matchup, the higher seed won both regular season league matchups this season. Eastern Oregon swept Northwest Christian 75-68 and 81-65; Oregon Tech swept College of Idaho 73-68 and 56-47; and Evergreen swept Northwest 89-71 and 92-64. Concordia and Warner split their two-game series, the Knights winning the first meeting 101-83 and the Cavaliers winning the second meeting 94-75.
Wednesday night’s winners will advance to the tournament semifinals at campus sites Saturday night. The two higher seeds will host. The championship game is set for Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the site of the highest remaining seed.
The NAIA Division II tournament is scheduled for March 12-18 in Point Lookout, Mo.
Last season, the Cascade Conference sent four teams to the national tournament – Warner Pacific, Oregon Tech, College of Idaho and Northwest. Northwest advanced to the semifinals before falling.