BBCC finishes fourth at Holiday Classic

MOSES LAKE - Poor shooting mired Big Bend Community College (BBCC) once again and the team was denied its third straight Holiday Classic title.

The team finished 2-1 with an opening round loss to Capilano and two blowout wins against Camosun and Peninsula. Big Bend remains in first place in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges EAst region with a record of 11-3 on the brink of regional play.

In the opening round, the Runnin' Vikes faced a Capilano squad that only traveled seven players and arrived to the tournament late due to delays at the Canada-United States border.

Despite being undermanned, the Blues hung with Big Bend for the majority of the game and eked out an 84-78 win.

"They just packed it in a zone and said, 'hey, beat us from the outside,'" head coach Mark Poth said. "And we couldn't do it."

The team shot a dismal 15.2 percent from downtown and 38.4 percent from the field. The Vikes have been hard to gauge so far this season winning their first tournament in Skagit Valley, but placing fourth in the next three tournaments.

"The games that we lost we just were horrendous shooting the ball and that might kind of be our achilles tendon this year," Poth said. "When we don't shoot well we've got to get better in some other areas to make up for that."

Sophomore guard Brendan Westendorf rebounded from a poor shooting night against the Blues with 41 points and nine assists in a 113-91 win against Camosun. Freshman forward Sean McDonnell added 22 points and seven rebounds against the Chargers.

Westendorf once again led the team in scoring against Peninsula filling the state sheet with 26 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. Freshman center Shawn Spencer recorded a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds and Big Bend cruised to a 106-67 win over the Pirates on the final day of the tournament.

The Runnin' Vikes begin regional play Jan. 8 against Yakima Valley at the DeVries Activity Center. Tip off is scheduled for 8 p.m.

"There's a lot of little areas we need to improve that can make a big difference in our performance," Poth said. "League's going to be really, really strong from top to bottom."

Sophomore guard Victor Aguero scored 20 points against Peninsula.