Story by Tim Melcher

The Clark College men's basketball team returned home after their experience in Moses Lake, Washington at the Northwest Athletic Conference Crossover Tournament just before Christmas feeling a little disappointed with the overall outcome. The penguins won one out of 3 games at the tournament. All were close, hard fought games, but the penguin men and Head Coach Kevin Johnson have to be disappointed with the 1-2 record, as all the teams the penguins faced in their three games had worse records than Clark coming in to the tournament. 

The fist game matched the penguins against the raiders of Pierce College. The penguins fell 78-81 in a close contest throughout. The penguins were down by 10 at half time 33-43, but came storming back to outscore the raiders 45-38 in the second half. It wasn't enough however as they came up just short. They were led in the game by Dylan Hushaw with 18 points, 3 rebound, 3 assists, and 3 blocks. Sophomore Matt Garrison had a solid game with 16 points and 4 rebounds. Colton Gorski added 13 points and 3 rebounds of his own in the game. 

                

The big game came from Bradley Bickler off the bench, as he had 16 big rebounds and 12 points on the night. 



The raiders were playing without leading scorer DJ Kerson, but got big contributions from Torrey Cady with 16 points and Ja'Darius Williams with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 6 steals. The raiders had a total of 5 players score in double figures. 

The penguins had to try to shake off the first night's loss and get ready for another big game, this time against the Big Bend Community College Vikings. The penguins were led by another solid game from Dylan Hushaw with 16 points and 6 rebounds. Ethan Smith got hot from outside, hitting 5 of 6 three pointers and scoring 17 points in the game. Colton Gorski added 12 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals as well. However, the penguins fell to the vikings 75-82. They were up 36-35 a half time, but the shooting touch left them in the second half and that allowed Big Bend to climb back into the game and capture the lead and never let go. 



The penguins did a solid job of keeping leading viking scorer Javontay Jones to only 6 points, he averages 18.4 points per game on the season. However, Denis Ulyanchuk, had 26 points and 8 rebounds, a huge game for the vikings considering he only averages 11.4 points per game on the season. They also got a huge game from Jaden Brown with 24 points and Payton Nielsen who had 19 rebounds in the game. 

The penguins had to shake off two tough losses with a quick turnaround after the viking game, playing at 7 PM Thursday night and then playing the Orcas from Whatcom College at 11 AM on Friday. The penguins came out and played the orcas tough. They fell behind early in the game, as the orcas build a 9 point lead early in the first half, but by half time the penguins had taken the lead back and went into half with 35-30 lead. They came out of half and continued their hot streak building a 15 point lead early in the second half. The orcas never went away, closing the gap in the second half, by outscoring the penguins 34-32 in the second half. The penguins prevailed in the game, winning 67-64. 

Clark was lead Matt Garrison with 15 points and 7 rebounds and Dylan Hushaw with 13 points and 8 rebounds for the game. 

The orcas star guard Marc Howard, who came into the game averaging 22.7 points per game, scored big against the penguins defense for 31 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. However, the penguins did a solid job of containing everyone else, as no one else on the orca's roster scored in double figures. 

The penguins knew competition was going to get tougher as they got closer to the start of the regional schedule, which begins January 4th against Umpqua Community College. However, looking at the stats for the NWAC crossover compared to their season averages thus far there was a big discrepancy. The penguins came into the tournament averaging 90 points a game, one of the highest scoring teams in the NWAC, they averaged 73.33 points per game over the three games. They came into the tournament only giving up 72.9 points per game on defense and gave up 75.66 points per game in the tournament. 

The penguins will have one more non-conference tune-up game before regional play begins. Clark will take on the Pacific University JV team at O'Connell Sports Center on the campus of Clark College, Monday, December 30th at 2:00 PM. 

Come out and support your penguin men's basketball team as they return home for the first time since November. 

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