Danny Miles Court figures to be packed for tonight's tournament semifinal between Oregon Tech and Evergreen.
CCC Men's Tourney: Semifinals on Tap Tonight
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PORTLAND, Ore. – With a berth to the NAIA Division II national championships still on the line, two huge matchups take place in the Cascade Collegiate Conference men’s basketball tournament semifinals tonight.
In Klamath Falls, CCC upstart Evergreen – a program picked to finish eighth in the league’s preseason poll – invades Danny Miles Court to take on eighth-ranked Oregon Tech. The third-seeded Geoducks, 20-7 overall under first-year head coach Jeff Drinkwine, are 1-1 this season vs. the Owls, winning 75-69 in Olympia Jan. 25 in the teams’ last meeting. OIT prevailed 90-80 back on Dec. 19 in Klamath Falls. OIT is 26-5 overall and has won nine of its last 10 games.
About 430 miles away, in the northeast corner of the state of Oregon, another key semifinal awaits, as Warner Pacific visits Eastern Oregon University in La Grande in an effort to keep its hopes alive for a third straight trip to the national tournament. EOU, the top seed in the CCC tournament, already punched its ticket to Point Lookout, Mo., for the NAIA championships by virtue of winning the regular season title outright. The fifth-ranked Mountaineers, who fell to Warner Pacific in last year’s league tournament title game, swept the two-game series with the Knights this season, winning 89-64 in Portland on Dec. 19 and 102-91 in La Grande Jan. 25.
Many of the league’s top individuals will be in the spotlight tonight. In fact, the CCC’s four most prolific scorers – one from each of the semifinal participants – are still active in the league’s postseason tourney: Warner Pacific’s Scott O’Gallagher (23.6 ppg), Evergreen’s Nathan Menefee (22.4), EOU’s Mark Carollo (19.7) and OIT’s Ryan Fiegi (19.6).
Tonight’s winners advance to Tuesday night’s championship game, to be held at the site of the higher seed.
Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament -- Results and Schedule
Wednesday, Feb. 27 (Quarterfinals)
at #1 seed Eastern Oregon 81, #8 seed Northwest Christian 58
at #2 seed Oregon Tech, 74, #7 seed College of Idaho 68
at #3 seed Evergreen 93, #6 seed Northwest 78
at #4 seed Warner Pacific 80, #5 seed Concordia 71
Saturday, March 1 (Semifinals)
#4 seed Warner Pacific at #1 seed Eastern Oregon, 7:30 p.m.
#3 seed Evergreen at #2 seed Oregon Tech, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 4 (Championship)
Lowest seed at highest seed, 7:30 p.m.