PREVIEW: CCC Men’s Basketball Tournament Semifinals, Presented By U.S. Bank
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The 2019-20 Cascade Collegiate Conference Men’s Basketball Championship, presented by U.S. Bank, continues today as the semifinal matches tip off tonight.
Top-seeded College of Idaho and second-seeded Southern Oregon University remain as hosts after winning their quarterfinal rounds.
No. 1-ranked College of Idaho – the regular-season winner – received one of the Cascade Conference's two automatic qualifying bids to the NAIA Men's Division II National Championship, March 11-17, in Sioux Falls, S.D. The CCC tournament champion will receive the other automatic bid. If the tournament champion is also the regular-season champion the second AQ shall go to the team that is seeded second in the CCC tournament.
A preview of each dual can be seen below. All games will be streamed on the CCC Portal and will have live stats, which can be found on the
Tournament Central page.
#5 Eastern Oregon University (17-13) at #1 College of Idaho (28-3)
The Coyotes opened up defense of their Cascade Conference Tournament title with a dominating performance, rolling past Corban University, 85-67. With the win, C of I extended its impressive win streak to 22-straight games. Junior guard Ricardo Time led the Yotes with 15 points, with junior guard Ivory Miles-Williams scoring 11 points with nine rebounds. Junior forward Connor Desaulniers had 10 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots, with senior guard Talon Pinckney scoring nine points, adding five assists and five steals.
Eastern Oregon University grabbed an upset victory over fourth-seeded Northwest University, beating the Eagles 60-56. The Mountaineers moved past the quarterfinals for the first time since the 2016-17 season. Senior center Jarek Schetzle led EOU with 18 points, six rebounds and two blocks.
The Yotes took both of the regular-season games on scores of 67-58 (Jan. 15) and 89-79 (Feb. 5) en route to their perfect 20-0 CCC season. C of I has won the last seven matchups and tonight’s could be a defensive battle. Defensively, C of I is the best team in the conference, holding opponents to 66.23 points per game – which also ranks third in the NAIA Division II. The Yotes sit ranked first in the NAIA in field goal percentage defense, keeping teams to a 39.4 percent. The Mounties are one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the NAIA, boasting a 31.3 defensive boards per game average, which ranks fourth in DII. EOU also averages 88.97 points per game offensively, which sits sixth in the NAIA.
#3 Oregon Tech (25-6) at #2 Southern Oregon (23-6)
Four days after defeating Warner Pacific University in the regular-season finale, the Raiders ended the seventh-seeded Knights' season Wednesday with an 82-65 quarterfinal victory. Senior forward Tate Hoffman scored 26 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Senior forward Jordan Hunt added 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while sophomore guard Teron Bradford logged 11 points, six assists and six boards.
Senior guard Mitchell Fink scored 22 points in the second half and junior forward Garret Albrecht earned a career high 24 points on Wednesday night at Danny Miles Court to lead No. 8 ranked Oregon Tech to an 87-83 victory over Northwest Christian University. Albrecht also grabbed six rebounds, while Fink also had eight assists. Junior guard Harrison Steiger scored 15 points, three steals, and one of the Owl's two blocks.
Southern Oregon hasn't hosted Oregon Tech in postseason play since 1999, and the teams haven't matched up while both adorned with top-10 rankings since 2005. The two squads split the regular-season series, with their third matchup laying it all on the line. SOU came back from 17 points down to claim the first meeting by one point in Ashland, Ore., leading only for the final five seconds of the night, and OIT evened the series with a four-point win in Klamath Falls, Ore., as Fink scored 28 to keep the Owls ahead for the duration of the second half.
Due to their respective positions in the national coaches' poll, both SOU and OIT are assured at-large bids at worst when the 32-team NAIA Division II National Tournament bracket is announced Wednesday. Top-ranked College of Idaho earned the CCC's first automatic bid – becoming the only team in conference history to get through the regular season unbeaten – and the second will go to the tournament champion, unless C of I repeats, in which case it will be awarded to SOU for finishing second in the regular season standings.