Down by as many at 17 points in the second half, the Clark College men’s basketball team rallied over the final 15 minutes to scratch out an 87-85 NWAC South region victory at Southwestern Oregon in Coos Bay on Saturday.
It was Clark’s first South region victory of the season and ended a five-game losing streak.
SWOCC (8-8, 2-2) went three minutes without scoring as Clark (5-10, 1-3) whittled down the Lakers lead to 65-63 with 6:30 to play.
Clark’s Kaden Ogles made a 3-pointer with 5:37 to play to tie the game at 68-68 and from there the lead see-sawed back and forth.
SWOCC’s final lead of 84-83 came with 10 second to play on a pair of free throws.
Ogles’ layup put the Penguins ahead 85-84, and a free-throw by Tyler Fernstrom pushed the Clark lead to 86-84 with 5 seconds remaining.
SWOCC missed an off-balanced 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
Clark’s Courtney Anderson led all scorers with 26 points to go with five rebounds, three assists and four steals. Ogles had 12 points and six assists, Cameron Godney also had 12 points and Fernstrom had 10.
The scheduled women’s game between Clark and SWOCC was postponed and rescheduled for Feb. 19. No reason was provided for the postponement.
The Clark teams are next at Mt. Hood in Gresham, Ore., on Wednesday.
