Logo courtesy of Whatcom Community College
WCC Men Move On To The Elite Eight
March 7, 2019
The Whatcom Community College men's basketball team got defensive to pull off a huge upset in the Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament. The Orcas downed South Puget Sound 64-58 at Everett Community College Thursday night.
Whatcom (14-13), the 4 seed out of the North division, held the top seed out of the West Division to just 18 points and 16% shooting in the second half to get the win. The victory snaps a 9-game win streak for South Puget Sound (25-5) and sends the Orcas into a quarterfinal match-up Friday with the Spokane Sasquatch in the Elite 8.
Center Dominick Oliveri turned in a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds to pace the WCC attack. Grant Balvanz added 12 points, while Marcus Montag totaled 11 points and 7 rebounds.
During the NWAC postgame press conference, Oliveri said the Orcas focused on defense all week preparing for a Clippers squad that averages 36 shots from beyond the arc per game.
"Our goal was to just make them uncomfortable, like run them off the line and a high hand on every catch," said Oliveri. "I'm just really proud of our team. That's probably the best defensive game we've played all year and so it's good to be playing our best basketball coming into the tournament.
Whatcom held South Puget Sound to just 17% (5-of-28) shooting from long range.
The Clippers were led by the game-high 26 points of DeMonte Malloy and the 12 pts/6 rebound performance of Hunter Sipe.
The Orcas play Spokane Friday at 5:00pm back at Everett Community College.
- Doug Lange
