MBB: Northwest Conference

[David Collinge]

WW leads UPS at the half, 31-26.

[Greek Tragedy]

keep me posted, that's my survivor team! lol 

[David Collinge]

14:38 left, WW lead down to one, 39-38.

UPDATE:  WW lead out to 5, 51-46, 10:35 left.
UPDATE:  WW 53, UPS 51, 9:40 remaining.
UPDATE:  UPS briefly had a 2-point lead, but WW answers and now leads by 2, 62-60, 6:18 left.
UPDATE:  WW 64-60, 5:07.
UPDATE:  During timeouts, KSBN plays a commercial for "Columbia Hearing Centers," enticing me to get hearing aids by forcing me to listen to a woman singing so badly out of tune that I want to claw my own ears off.  What a way to drum up customers!
UPDATE:  DeLong with the old-fashioned three point play gives UPS a 67-66 lead, 3:17 left.
UPDATE:  UPS 70-68, 2:34.  Two points is UPS' largest lead of the game.
UPDATE:  Two free throws tie the game.  UPS answers, 72-70.  Backdoor dunk by Symes, tied again at 72, 1:31.
UPDATE:  UPS hits, then WW misses.  UPS ball 74-72.  They eat the whole shot clock and score, 76-72, :30.
UPDATE:  0:17 left, UPS steals the inbounds pass, foul. 
UPDATE:  Krall (sp?) hits one of two, 77-72. 
UPDATE:  WW gets up several shots but none fall.  FINAL SCORE 77-72 UPS.  Sorry, Old School.

[pineconefan]

Wow, tough loss for the Pirates tonight.  Loggers deserve a lot a credit.  Just wore down Whitworth in the second half and forced the Pirates to play the UPS game.

Didn't know Jones was hurt until game time.  Not having him really hurt, both in ball handling and shooting.  Hope he is back soon.

No break away by the Bucs, we've got a tight race in the NWC.

[D O.C.]

So both the nationally ranked NWC teams lost recently. 

In touch with a colleague this week and we agreed the NWC at one time played 3 games against each other.

Just a bit of trivia since LINFIELD has nothing to do with winning the conference.

[(509)Rat]

Yeah, UPS hit a ton of shots from beyond the arc...in fact they hit 8 and whitworth made a whopping 0 3-pointers.  The Pirates also missed too many short (and I mean short) jumpers and even a few layups.  Having Jones out hurt, and now Young is a little banged up and wont be starting tonight.  But after watching the game last night I still think Whitworth is the better team this year, UPS just made their shots last night.  Well, looks like the NWC race is back on...good luck to the Pirates tonight as they take on PLU.

[Ralph Turner]

So both the nationally ranked NWC teams lost recently. 

In touch with a colleague this week and we agreed the NWC at one time played 3 games against each other.

Just a bit of trivia since LINFIELD has nothing to do with winning the conference.

DOC, that must have been back in the NAIA days when more games were permitted.

[D O.C.]

NAIA, true Ralph.
It seems the coaches wanted out of that schedule to allow for more pre-season/Christmas tournaments.

[UPSoundLogs]

I've been away from the board for a few days but I feel like I should mention, UPS BEAT WW... AT WHITWORTH(just in case nobody noticed)!!!  Even if JJones is out that is a huge win!  I wasn't at the game so I can't comment on details but I'm impressed.  Just when I thought UPS couldn't possibly be any worse (loss to Pac) they go and do something like this....AND TOTALLY REDEEM THEMSELVES!!! 

Rat- it seems as if you have come down with a slight touch of poorloseritis.  Just so you know, UPS averages over 10 made threes a game, 8 is nothing, you should just be happy they were cold on Friday.  I agree with you that not having Jones hurts...but so does blowing a 17-4 lead at home OUCH!!!

Great road trip East of the mountains Loggers.  Keep the W's coming!!!

[bucs77]

First of all having jones out does not kinda hurt, it is huge.  He averaged 25 points per game last year against UPS in just 24 minutes of playing time, he is a ups killer.  But that aside, LOgs you should know that UPS' game is about runs.  they give up 15-0 runs and they go on 15-0 runs.  the 17-4 was with 32 minutes still left in the game.  I wouldn't call getting up by 13 with 12 minutes to go in the first half and the whole second half still to play "blowing a huge lead"  Congrats though on a game well played.  It seemed that UPS was able to substitute much better than WW.  UPS went about 8 deep with solid minutes from the bench and WW tried to have Young, Williams, Symes, and Willemsen play 39,38,39,and 38 minutes.  Seems like a close game with those minutes played would favor UPS considerably.  WW needs to find a better way to get their starters some rest in the next meeting.  Should be a good one in a few weeks and in the meanwhile lets hope for Occidental to keep sweeping through the sciac so that we can both do some damage in the playoffs.

[UPSoundLogs]

BELIEVE ME Bucs, the JJones effect is certainly taken into account as I enjoy Friday's victory.  He does have a way of coming up huge every time he plays UPS I can't disagree with you there.  However, I doubt that someone who has beaten UPS once in his career deserves the nickname "UPS killer". 

I do look forward to the next match up in a few weeks, does it look like JJones will be ready to go by then or will he still be a cheerleader at that time? 

[bucs77]

not sure about jones for next time.  From what I've heard it looks like the soonest he would be back would be the games at Whitman and at home against Willamette which are WW's last 2 regular season games.  But, and I think you would agree with me on this, UPS and WW will play 3 times this year possibly 4 if both go to the national tourny.  I see eith UPS or WW in 1st and the other in 2nd with an unknown 3rd place team (lc or pac) having to play at WW or UPS.

[UPSoundLogs]

Bucs-

In my opinion your vision is correct about a WW vs. UPS conference tourney title game.  However, LC and Pac can't be ignored.  Both have come up with a suprising amount of wins thus far in conference.  I'll be better prepared to judge LC after this Friday because they come to Tacoma and I'm going to the game.  I think both of them are very dangerous teams, especially on the road (as UPS found out the hard way)  

How do you think WW will handle the bulk of the regular season without JJones?  They still have some VERY tough games on the road, including a trip to UPS.  Do you think they will have the fire power to stay in the top two spots for the end of the year?  Symes looks good but after him their scoring seems pretty inconsistent...I would say they are gonna have their work cut out for them until JJ gets back. 

BCats-

What's the status buddy?  Is WU gonna make a run with the return of Stuvland or will their downward spiral continue?  It's wierd talking about the conference leaders without your Cats in the mix! Any thoughts?

Anybody know where Gil went?  I hope P-coleman and the rest of the old timers...I mean... Hall of Famers didn't scare him off!!!

[bucs77]

I think defensively WW will be fine.  since jones has been out they have held UPS to 77, PLU to 56 and Whitman to 59.  However offensively it is a big hit.  They won't beat teams in the second half of the league 90-80, they will have to win with their defense.  Also if Hasenfus keeps boarding like  the last few games they will be a very good rebounding team because of their size.   As far as tough roadtrips, I think the toughest of the year will be next weekend when they go to pacific and LC.  Not downplaying the UPS game in Tacoma, but WW has to play very well two nights in a row to come out of there with what they want.  Those two games I think will be the biggest of the season for the team and the seperation of the leagues 1st and second place teams vs. the others fighting for 3rd.

[bearcatsfan3]

Someone from the WU, somewhere, at sometime, must have done something truly terrible, because the Karma with the BCats right now is ridiculous...

Stuvland regains his eligibility, only to severely sprain his ankle in practice the day before the Fox game...

Erickson gets a medical clear to play, gives them a great 21 minutes and 3 seconds before reinjuring himself for the year taking a charge with 57 seconds to play...

Fife is gone...

Michael Plank is forced to play the first semester (due to all the injuries) and now has exhausted his semesters of eligibility...

Tain Cantrell (fr. post from Westview HS) starts to play well, gets the start at George Fox, but now is out with a medical condition he had to be hospitalized for...the players haven't told me yet when he will be back...


Obviously, every team goes through injuries, but losing that many key players has definately contributed to the Bcats up and down ways...this is a team that lost 140-137 AT UPS, but then got blown out by PLU...this is a team that beat Pacific, only to get romped by George Fox...

I truly have no idea what to expect Friday against the Pirates...only that the 'Cats are more than capable of getting crushed...or getting a huge upset win...

Who knows...