The Northwest Athletic Conference Basketball Championships have been canceled as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus.
NWAC sports information director Tracy Swisher said in an email that, “a reschedule is not out of the picture, but it is not looking likely at this point.”
The men’s tournament was scheduled to be played Thursday through Sunday at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, Oregon. The women’s tournament was set to be played Thursday and Friday at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, Oregon, then switch to Clackamas on Saturday and Sunday.
The tournaments had already been postponed and moved from Everett Community College after an Everett student tested positive for COVID-19.
Both Everett’s men’s and women’s teams qualified for the tournaments and were in Oregon when the cancellation happened.
“It’s devastating,” Everett men’s coach Mike Trautman said via cell phone from Oregon City. “We all kind of thought that maybe it would (be canceled). There was a lot of talk about it, and then you see on Twitter and ESPN that everything was being canceled. In the back of my mind I was hoping we would slide under the radar and it would get played out. Once we found out it wasn’t surprising, but it was tough.”
The cancellation came after Oregon Gov. Kate Brown held a press conference Thursday morning that provided further details on the statewide ban on public gatherings of more than 250 people. The ban mirrors the one instituted by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee for Snohomish, King and Pierce counties Wednesday morning.
Two of Thursday’s men’s first-round games had been completed when the cancellation was made: South Puget Sound defeated Shoreline 86-82 and Spokane beat Chemeketa 97-89. No women’s games were played prior to the cancellation.
“We have made many efforts to continue the tournament, but in the interest of public health the tournament has been cancelled,” NWAC said in a statement. Swisher added in his email that the cancellation came after “a meeting of Clackamas administration following the Governor’s announcement.”
Both Everett’s men’s and women’s teams traveled to Oregon on Wednesday evening. The women were scheduled to face Umpqua at 2 p.m. at Linn-Benton, the men were scheduled to face Gray’s Harbor at 6 p.m. at Clackamas.
Two women’s teams — North Idaho and Lane — chose not to attend the tournament. All 16 men’s teams were set to take part.
The cancellation was made shortly after the Everett men’s team arrived at the Clackamas gymnasium at around noon.
“It was awkward,” Trautman said about the atmosphere at the gym. “I went and sat with a bunch of four-year college coaches, there were 12 or 15 in their own section, then there were three teams sitting across the way watching Spokane and Chemeketa, and that was it. It was a very empty gym.”
The cancellation particularly stings for the Everett men’s team. The Trojans won their third-straight North Region championship, and at 25-4 Everett was considered one of the title favorites. Everett has never won an NWAC men’s basketball championship since the league was formed in 1971.
“A lot of people came up to me and said they were looking forward to watching us play because they thought we were one of three or four teams that had a chance to win it,” Trautman said. “For most of the players this was their most legitimate chance to win a ring. It was a lot of work putting together a team that had a chance to win a championship, and you never know if you’re going to have that chance again. I’m personally devastated for the guys, some of them were counting on the weekend for college scholarship offers. And I’m devastated for our coaching staff, they put in a ton of work, and we wanted to play.”
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