OREGON CITY, Ore. — Walla Walla got 20-plus points from four different players here Thursday but pressure little else from the rest of the roster as host Clackamas edged the Warriors 93-90 in overtime in the first round of the Clackamas Holiday men’s community college basketball tournament.
Starters Brandon Porter, Damen Thacker, Landon Radliff and Marcus McKone combined for 84 points, with Porter leading the way with 23. Thacker finished with 21 and Radliff and McKone tallied 20 points each.
But starting post Gary Engstrom contributed just a single point. And WWCC’s bench was outscored to the tune of 35-5.
“Absolutely that makes a difference,” Warriors coach Jeff Reinland said of the disparity of bench production. “We don’t have a ton of scorers on our bench and that is a problem right now.”
Reinland pointed out that his team was without starting forward Kendall Watson who came down with stomach flu prior to the game. McKone, who started in Watson’s place, is usually a top scorer off the bench for the Walla Wallans.
“Kendall is 6-foot-4, big and athletic, and he does a lot of good stuff for us,” Reinland said. “He is our best defender and Clackamas is a very quick and athletic team.”
The Warriors never led in the first half and trailed 42-39 at the intermission. The lead changed hands numerous times in the second half and the Warriors held an 88-86 lead near the end of regulation play.
“All we needed was one more stop and we couldn’t get it,” Reinland said. “But we still should have won the game. We had four wide-open looks in the final minute and missed them all.”
Nygil Carr paced the Cougars with 18 points. Noah Callier came off the Clackamas bench to score 15 points, Isaiah Gentry added 14 and Briggs Young and Shawn Carson tallied 10 points each.
Clackamas held a 50-33 rebounding advantage. Gentry corralled 11 rebounds and reserve Adam Gehrig 10 for the Cougars while Porter had six rebounds to lead the Warriors.
WWCC was credited with 16 assists in the game, with Radliff and Engtrom collected four assists each.
Walla Walla is now 9-2 on the season and faces Centralia today at 5 p.m. in the second round of the three-day tournament. Centralia lost to Edmonds 112-88 Thursday.
In the other tournament games Thursday, Yakima topped Peninsula 93-88 and Linn-Benton defeated South Puget Sound 91-81. Yakima is matched against Linn-Benton today at 1 p.m., South Puget Sound faces Peninsula at 3 p.m. and Edmonds takes on Clackamas in the second-day finale at 7 p.m.
Cougars 93, Warriors 90
WALLA WALLA (90) — Porter 8-19 4-4 23, Thacker 7-14 4-7 21, Radliff 6-22 6-9 20, Engstrom 0-2 1-2 1, McKone 7-16 2-2 20, Tiller 0-1 0-0 0, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Anderson 1-3 0-0 2, Albright 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 29-77 18-26 90.
CLACKAMAS (93) — Carr 6-19 4-7 18, Young 4-9 0-0 10, Gentry 5-10 3-3 14, Rose 3-4 0-1 6, Carson 4-9 2-4 10, Callier 5-6 5-5 25, Vera 0-0 1-2 1, Crawford 0-0 2-2 2, Tafua 4-6 0-1 9, Gehrig 2-5 4-6 8. Totals 33-68 21-31 93.
Halftime — Clackamas 42, WWCC 39. Regulation — 88-88. 3-point goals — WWCC 12-42 (Porter 3-11, Thacker 3-5, Radliff 2-11, McKone 4-12, Albright 0-1), Clackamas 6-17 (Carr 2-5, Young 2-5, Gentry 1-4, Tafua 1-2, Gehrig 0-1). Total fouls — WWCC 23, Clackamas 22. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none. Rebounds — Clackamas 50 (Gentry 11), WWCC 33 (Porter 6). Turnovers — Clackamas 17, WWCC 8. Assists — WWCC 16 (Radliff 4, Engstrom 4), Clackamas 16 (Gentry 5).
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