SPSCC men’s and women’s basketball headed east for NWAC regionals

Both the South Puget Sound Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams are bound for the Northwest Athletic Conference regionals.

And both will head east to try to qualify for next week’s championship tournament in Everett.

A trip Aaron Landon, who coaches the men’s team, is totally comfortable with.

“The way we scheduled this year, most of our games were on the road,” he said. “We wanted to finish as high as we could, but we also wanted to get ready to play on the road, because in the end you’ve got to do that anyway. Nobody gets a home game in the championship.”

SPSCC (22-6) is the No. 3 seed out of the West division, and will play sharp-shooting Spokane (22-5), the No. 2 seed out of the East at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The Clippers will have to contain the explosive Sasquatch to avoid elimination. Spokane leads the NWAC in scoring average at 98 points per game. SPSCC isn’t far off, averaging 86.

“We watched film on them, and they were pulling from (3-point range) six to seven seconds into the shot clock,” sophomore Tyler Watts said. “Just shooting wild shots, and they were hitting some of them. It’s just going to come down to defense.”

The women’s team travels to Wenatchee Valley to try to advance.

The Clippers (16-12) nabbed the No. 4 seed out of the West division. Wenatchee Valley (24-5) is No. 1 in the East.

The two tip off at 3 p.m.

“If we play all four quarters and play to our potential — we’ve worked really hard in practice all week, and I feel like we’re ready to make it happen,” coach Mike Morris said.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 7:59 PM with the headline "SPSCC men’s and women’s basketball headed east for NWAC regionals."