There was no shortage of excitement during Wednesday night’s Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Men’s Basketball Quarterfinals, presented by U.S. Bank.
PREVIEW: CCC Men’s Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals, Presented by U.S. Bank
LA GRANDE, Ore. – There was no shortage of excitement during Wednesday night’s Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Men’s Basketball Quarterfinals, presented by U.S. Bank. Upsets were aplenty in the first round of the postseason tournament, leaving four squads—College of Idaho, Corban, Southern Oregon, and Northwest—to duke it out tomorrow night for a spot in the CCC Tournament Championship.
Tournament Central
After No. 8-seeded Northwest shocked No. 1-seeded Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls, and No. 6-seeded Southern Oregon downed No. 3 Northwest Christian, the locations and pairings of tomorrow’s semifinals will look a little different than many expected—a testament to the depth and talent of the conference’s numerous talented programs.
Below is a preview of each of tomorrow night’s contests.
#8 Northwest at #2 College of Idaho – Caldwell, Idaho
Northwest (15-16) shocked the conference on Wednesday, taking down the No. 6-ranked team in the NAIA (and No. 1 seed in the CCC Tournament) at one of the toughest places in the country to play, Danny Miles Court. No one was surprised, however, by just how dominant Eagle big man Hussayn Ford was. One of the CCC’s top talents, Ford led all scorers with 25 points, while also tallying 11 boards to earn the double-double. Josh Meyer (19 points, six rebounds) and Alex Smith (10 points, four rebounds) also finished in double figures for Northwest, and Eagle head coach Jeff Drinkwine will assuredly look to utilize as many weapons as he can in the team’s upcoming matchup with yet another NAIA top-10 opponent.
College of Idaho (26-5) produced the type of performance followers of the CCC have come to expect from the perennial basketball powerhouse, with the Yotes flexing their muscle in a record-setting win over No. 7-seeded Warner Pacific, 96-61. The 35-point victory is the largest postseason margin in College of Idaho men’s basketball history. Four Yotes finished in double-figures in the win (Nate Bruneel, Keun Palu-Thompson, Gibson Berryhill, and Talon Pinckney), with Bruneel’s 22-point, seven-board performance leading the way.
College of Idaho swept the season series between the two teams, taking game one by a final score of 81-74, and game two by a 92-66 margin.
#6 Southern Oregon at #4 Corban – Salem, Ore.
Southern Oregon (20-10) held on for a nail-biting one-point win on the road at No. 3 Northwest Christian to advance to the CCC semifinals, and will look to produce a similar result on Saturday against yet another Willamette Valley rival. The Raiders’ leading scorer during the regular season, Tristen Holmes, was at it again in Wednesday’s victory, finishing with a team-best 19 points to go alongside nine rebounds. Teron Bradford finished with a double-double, notching 12 points and 10 boards to lead the Raiders in the paint. Rounding out Southern Oregon’s four double-figure scorers were Tate Hoffman and Tez Allen, who ended the triumph with 13 points and 10 points, respectively.
Corban (21-8) came out on the positive side of an exciting back-and-forth affair with No. 5-seeded Eastern Oregon, earning the right to host the squad’s upcoming semifinal matchup against SOU after the losses from Oregon Tech and Northwest Christian. AJ Hodges would finish with a game-high 19 points in Wednesday night’s win, one of four Warriors (Hodges, Beau Tilleman, Joel Johnson, and Tyler Wadleigh) to finish in double digits. Johnson finished with a double-double down low, collecting 15 points and 10 boards in the triumph, while Wadleigh (11 points, eight assists) finished just two assists short of a double-double off the bench.
Corban swept the season series between the two squads, with the most recent matchup being a thrilling double-overtime contest (94-92) on February 8.
The complete schedule for the upcoming tournament is as follows, all start times will be at 7 p.m. local time:
Quarterfinals - Wednesday, February 20
#8 Northwest (Wash.) (14-16) at #1 Oregon Tech (24-6) à Winner: Northwest
#7 Warner Pacific (Ore.) (16-13) at #2 College of Idaho (25-5) à Winner: College of Idaho
#6 Southern Oregon at #3 Northwest Christian (Ore.) (19-9) à Winner: Southern Oregon
#5 Eastern Oregon (15-14) at #4 Corban (Ore.) (20-8) à Winner: Corban
Semifinals - Saturday, February 23
Semifinal 1 – #8 Northwest (Wash.) (15-16) at #2 College of Idaho (26-5)
Semifinal 2 – #6 Southern Oregon (20-10) at #4 Corban (Ore.) (21-8)
Finals - Tuesday, February 26
Championship (Broadcasted live on ROOT Sports)
The winner of the 2018-19 CCC Tournament will earn the conference’s second automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament. If the winner of the tournament happens to also be regular-season champion Oregon Tech, then No. 2-seeded College of Idaho will earn the berth.
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