Men’s Basketball Tournament Presented by U.S. Bank Begins Tonight
LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Cascade Collegiate Conference will begin the 2017-18 Men’s Basketball Championship presented by U.S. Bank later today with four quarterfinal games at various campus sites throughout the conference. Fans can follow the action on the CCC webpage tournament site-
Click Here or at
CCCWEBTV for live webcast.
The teams will be playing for the “Danny Miles Tournament Trophy” in recognition of the Hall of Fame coach from Oregon Tech who’s career spanned 45 years coaching the Hustlin’ Owls and earning three NAIA Men’s Basketball national championships. Miles retired and the end of the 2015-16 season.
No. 8 Northwest (13-17, 7-13 CCC) at No. 1 College of Idaho (24-6, 18-2 CCC)
7 p.m. MST – Caldwell, Idaho- J.A. Albertson Event Center
Earning their third regular season title in the last five seasons, top seed and No. 4 ranked College of Idaho will prepare to host eighth-seeded Northwest in the quarterfinals. With the regular season title CI secured an automatic bid to the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship.
The Yotes finished with the sixth highest scoring offense (79.5) the first ranked defense (63.6) with best scoring margin at + 15.9.CI also ranks tops in the CCC in rebounding margin at + 8.6 per game. Stifling defense and offense by committee have the No. 6 ranked team in the country tough to match up with.
The Eagles of Northwest needed a win on the final night of the regular season to snag the final seed. Tre Benton and Justice Martion lead NU with 17.0 and 15.0 points per game respectively.
No. 7 Northwest Christian (13-14, 9-11 CCC) at No. 2 Warner Pacific (21-8, 15-5 CCC)
7 p.m. PST – Portland, Ore.- Bart Valentine Court
The two time defending regular season champion Beacons travel north to the always tough Bart Valentine Court to take on an extremely talented Warner Pacific squad.
The Knights ranked No. 13 in the country might have the most firepower of any team this year. Scoring at a pace of 87.5 points per night WPU ranks second to only NCU. They also have the second best scoring margin at + 9.2. Xavier Cannefax and Collin Malcom provide the offensive punch scoring 18.9 and 15.5 point per game while teammate De’Jon Bowman ranks first in rebounds at 10.9 per game. It seems as if any lineup for the Knights can attack on both ends of the court.
Even though NCU fell all the way to the No. 7 seed this season they have a legitimate contender for Player of the Year in Michael Loomis. The senior leads the conference in scoring at a clip of 23.0 per game and is second in rebounding cleaning the glass at a rate of 10.1 per outing. Teams cannot “hack a Loomis” as a strategy as he is highly proficient from the free throw line leading the CCC with a 92.4 average.
No. 6 Corban (17-12, 10-10 CCC) at No. 3 Oregon Tech (21-9, 14-6 CCC)
7 p.m. PST – Klamath Falls, Ore.- Danny Miles Court
No. 21 ranked Oregon Tech secured the No. 3 with an upset win over No. 4 ranked CI on the road last Saturday. They welcome a Warrior squad that has defeated them both meeting this year and come into the tournament as the No. 6 seed.
The Hustlin’ Owls are solid across the board statistically in the CCC and lead in scoring proficiency knocking down 49.3 percent of their attempts. Distributing the rock is also a calling card for OIT as they are second in assists at 17.6 per game. Michael Fink, a Player of the Year contender leads the team averaging 18.1 points and 7.1 assists per game.
Joel Johnson leads a Corban team that no one in the league can sleep on after they got all the way to the championship game last year as the No. 8 seed. Johnson averages 14.8 points and 8.7 boards per game.
No. 5 Eastern Oregon (22-8, 12-8 CCC) at No. 4 Southern Oregon (17-12, 12-8 CCC)
7 p.m. PST – Ashland, Ore.- Ashland High School
Southern Oregon Tech landed in the fourth seed position after winning a tiebreaker over Eastern Oregon. As a result, rival and fifth seed EOU will make the long journey to Ashland for what could be the most intriguing matchup of the quarterfinals.
The Raiders have played the last three seasons at Ashland High School while their new campus facility is being built. Loaded with talent, SOU can turn to a number of players on a given night for offensive production and defensive stops. Ben DeSaulnier, Tate Hoffman and Kenny Meyer create headaches for opponents. DeSaulnier is averaging a team best 15.6 points per game while Hoffman averages a team best 6.9 boards.
Eastern Oregon has made a habit out of digging out of huge deficits this year to win games. Max McCullough, also a strong Player of the Year candidate is second in the league in scoring at 22.3 per game. The Mountaineers
Wednesday's winners advance to the conference tournament semifinals on Saturday night at the campus sites of the top two remaining seeds.
The Tournament Champion will automatically receive a berth in the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship representing the Cascade Conference. In the event that the tournament is won by regular season champion, College of Idaho, then the second seeded team in the CCC tournament will earn the second automatic bid to the national tournament. The NAIA men’s tournament is being held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota March 7-13.
The 2018 CCC Championship game will be broadcast live on ROOT SPORTS Tuesday Feb. 27
th at 7 p.m. PST. The network reaches approximately 3.2 million households across five states (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska), and delivers more than 350 live events each year – all of which are available in high definition. Fans can use the Channel Finder at
rootsports.com to find the channel in their area on cable or satellite television. The game will also be available on all digital platforms for ROOT SPORTS subscribers.