Men stay focused during break

By R. C. HALSEY

Southwestern Oregon Community College fell to the men’s basketball team, 89-72, Saturday, failing to avenge the 87-80 loss they suffered earlier in the season in front of their home crowd.  

The Saints came out strong on the defensive side of the ball.

“We worked on not giving them good shots and we made sure we got out on the three-point shooters,” said head coach Rob Nielson.  

In the first meeting, SWOOC connected on more than 50 percent of their three-point shots. The Saints held them to under 40 percent in the rematch.

Mt. Hood played strong on offense as well, connecting on 52 percent of their shots from the field. All of the Saints scored during the course of the game.  
“Offensively, we were able to pass the ball really well and share it. The players were unselfish and got good shots,” said Nielson.

The Saints went in at the half with a 21-point lead after out scoring SWOCC 46-25.
During the second half, the Saints let up defensively, allowing SWOCC to score 47 points, but they scored 43 points themselves and maintained their strong lead.  

Jake Glisson and Nick Klinger’s combined effort put up 36 points for the Saints. Adonal Arrington contributed 10 points and three blocked shots. Kaylone Riley scored eight points and snagged 11 rebounds. Corey Nielson put up eight points, 13 assists and five steals.

Mt. Hood’s win over SWOCC brings them to 8-0 in league games, in first place atop the Southern Region. With six remaining league games, Coach Nielson feels the next two games against Lane and Chemeketa will decide the teams fate.

“Those two games will pretty much decide where we sit. If we win those two games, that’ll give us a two game lead over Chemeketa, which would be huge going into the last four games. This next week will tell us alot about whether we’ll be first or second.”

The Saints will face off against Lane, 4-4 and 10-12 overall, tomorrow in Eugene.
The team had a bye this week. Nielson had his players shoot around on Monday and gave them Tuesday off to rest up.

“Some of them are hurt a little bit, banged up. This will really give them a chance to rest and get ready to practice hard Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We’ll be ready for the game on Saturday. It [the bye] comes at a good time, we need the rest,” said Nielson.

The players do more than just play basketball with each other. They spend a good deal amount of time on the court, but also spend time together off the court.

“I know a bunch of them were together watching the football game [Super Bowl]. They get along well together both on and off the court,” said Nielson.