Men Split Cascade and Warner Pac

Friday night’s men’s game against Cascade College was filled with dunks and rough play. The debut of Myles Daley’s first dunk of the season, along with a scuffle that ended in a technical foul on the side of the opponents, was the talk of the night. The men make it seem so easy, which is why I can understand why the Cascade men were getting a little frustrated. Granted, the solution to frustration is never to fight someone (especially when you are a role model), but anytime you lose 100-56 there is some definite hard-feelings. Tech had three players score in double figures (Ryan Fiegi had 18 points, Myles Daley 17, and Ryan Beesley 11) while the rest of the stats were relatively even—except rebounds where Josh Wetzler collected 12.

The next night did not come so easy for our men. In fact, it [the win] did not come at all. They faced their second conference defeat against Warner Pacific in a game that was neck-and-neck the entire 40 minutes. The final score was 88-84. The loss put them at a tie for first place in the Cascade College Conference, with them and Eastern Oregon both at a record of 8-2.
I usually do not stay the entire game, because I often get bored when there is a 20-point scoring margin. This was not the case on Saturday night. The entire game was suspenseful! Just one example of this is when we were down by four with seconds left in the first half and Fiegi hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 1. Now that was exciting!
I was hoping at some point that the men would pull away enough to get a comfortable lead, but they never did. Warner Pac had great shooters and rebounders, and it seemed like whenever we made a little a run they had an answer. To tell you the truth, as a spectator I was getting REALLY frustrated at our rebounding effort on the defensive end. It SEEMED like every time I turned around #30 for Warner Pac got another offensive rebound. You can imagine my amazement when I read the stats after the game and learned that we outrebounded them 40-38. It just didn’t seem right. We also had five less turnovers (7 and 12). The part that killed us was the shooting. Warner Pac shot nearly 52 percent from the field and 56 percent from behind the arc. The Owl’s shot 42 percent from the field and just 24 percent from 3-point range. We also had four players score in double figures: Ryan Fiegi 24, Josh Wetzler 15, Jguwon Hogges 14, and Christian Cavanaugh 12.
I have to tell you, this game was a heartbreaker. I kept thinking that Fiegi would “pull another Concordia” where he hit 3 after 3 to help capture the win. There was no such thing. He shot a three in the final minute, but it did not fall. I also did not understand, and I hope others can agree, why the men did not shoot three’s at the end. They were down by six with very little time left on the clock and they took a 15-footer. Does that make sense? They also were driving to the basket. I don’t know why they didn’t pull up for the long shot. Maybe they were trying for the and-1. Who knows? All I have to say is that we have one more go at them before the end of conference and it is going to be a blood bath!