Big Bend stays alive

KENNEWICK — Big Bend Community College Vikings’ basketball team survived to play another day with a 62-54 consolation quarterfinal win over Peninsula Community College in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) Championship Tournament Sunday morning at the Toyota Center.

The Vikings (17-7) were to play the College of Spokane (22-6) in the consolation semifinals at 10 a.m. today.

Big Bend defeated Spokane twice this season during NWAACC East Division play.

To set up the contest the Vikings overcame a 37-32 first half deficit against Peninsula (13-14) with a strong second half defensive performance.

However, Big Bend’s struggles on the offensive end continued, having led to their 83-75 opening round loss to Mt. Hood Community College on Saturday.

“We haven’t shot well all tournament,” Big Bend head coach Mark Poth said. “The big difference was Mt. Hood shot 50 percent but Peninsula shot 30.5 percent and we shot the same from the day before, which is 37 percent. Mt. Hood was fortunate we didn’t shoot well and we were fortunate against Peninsula.”

Jeff Ranstrom and Michael Hattar each had 15 points for Big Bend while Dominick Brumfield added 14 points.

Ranstrom led the Vikings with 12 rebounds despite his team being pounded 59-42 in that category.

The win was aided by a defensive effort that held Peninsula to 19 percent shooting in the second half.

Against Mt. Hood, Big Bend lost despite what many may call a statistical anomaly or two.

They definitely were to Poth.

“What really hurt us was that we had 22 offensive rebounds, 51 total rebounds, and about 70 percent of the total rebounds and still lost,” Poth said. “At the free throw line we were 10-for-30, and how is that possible? Big Bend has never shot that badly at the line. We shot the ball 74 times and Mt. Hood shot it 50 times, but they had one more basket than we did. That 10-for-28 is an aberration and those stats are just…”

Big Bend trailed by three with less than a minute to go before Mt. Hood (19-7) put the game away from the free throw line. The Vikings took two less free throws in the game but were outscored by 12 points at the line.

“You can look at rebounds, assists, and turnovers, but when you get into the tournament you have got to shoot the ball well,” Poth said.

If Big Bend were to advance past Spokane today they would the winner of Bellevue Community College (19-8) and top-ranked Chemeketa CC or Pierce CC tomorrow at 10 a.m. for fifth place.

“I think our guys want to go out and compete,” Poth said. “We are disappointed with being in the consolation bracket but we’re going to go out and put our best effort in every game.”