NWAC men’s basketball tournament: Everett beats Chemeketa to advance

Published 1:30 am Saturday, March 10, 2018

EVERETT — The Everett Community College men’s basketball team defeated Chemeketa Community College 97-93 on Saturday in a Northwest Athletic Conference tournament first-round game at Walt Price Student Fitness Center.

The Trojans (25-4), who won the NWAC North Region regular-season title, will play Lower Columbia or North Idaho at 8 p.m. Sunday in a quarterfinal contest, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s semifinal round.

EvCC was down by two at halftime but outscored the Storm 57-51 in the second half.

“Defensively we started to rush (in the first half),” EvCC’s Conner Moffatt said on the NWAC website’s post-game telecast. “We weren’t making the right switches, and we got quiet. We figured it out in the second half and made some adjustments hat helped us out.”

The game was close throughout, with six ties and seven lead changes. Neither squad built a double-digit advantage at any point.

Moffatt led the Trojans with 31 points and eight rebounds.

Gio Jackson registered 21 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and Markieth Brown Jr. recorded 23 points for EvCC.

Linn-Benton 81, Edmonds 72

Edmonds Community College’s season ended with a first-round NWAC tournament loss to Linn-Benton Community College.

The Roadrunners shot 61.3 percent from the field in the second half, outscoring EdCC 45-32 in the final 20 minutes.

The contest featured 12 ties and 13 lead changes.

The Tritons (18-12) shot 37.5 percent from the field and committed 18 turnovers, which led to 23 Linn-Benton points.

For EdCC, Zach Walton recorded 24 points and 13 rebounds, Loren LaCasse had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Trent Van Cleave led the Roadrunners with 17 points.