Clark’s ‘Superman’ dunking for the win

LONGVIEW –

With an impressive 33 points coming from the bench combined with a strong defensive effort, the Clark College men's basketball team clinched a playoff berth in the 75-70 win at Lower Columbia College last night.

"It was great to be in Longview again," Clark post and Mark Morris graduate Austin Bragg said. "I got to play in front of some family and friends and it was even better getting the win."

In the first five minutes of the game the Penguins lead 7-0, but after an offensive run by the Red Devils both teams were tied 14-14.

LCC took its first lead of the game after guard Keith Moilanen had a forceful dunk that sent the home fans into an uproar, but Clark had an answer. Seconds after the dunk, Clark guard Daniel Anderson hit a 3-pointer from behind the arc to silence the crowd and gained back the lead, 17-16, with seven minutes left in the first half.

"With Owens and Hamler out there driving as well as they did it was easy for me to get the open shot off," Anderson said.

After battling back and forth for the lead, the Penguins managed to have the one-point upper hand heading into the locker rooms, leading 27-26, at the end of the half.

Anderson led the team with nine points in the first half while Clark guard Jerrid Hamler contributed six points.

"I knew going into this game if we won we would get a spot in the playoffs," Hamler said. "I felt like if I came out scoring that is the way I could help the team out the most."

Both teams finished out the half with 18 rebounds, 15 of which for both teams were defensive rebounds.

"This was a defensive game on both sides," head coach Mike Arnold said. "It was a defensive, smash mouth, grinding it out type of basketball game."

From the start of the second half to the end of the game there were six lead changes and two ties.

Clark took its final lead with 15 minutes left in the game. Clark wing Rashad Rollins finished the game with six points and three rebounds in front of his hometown crowd, fighting for the loose ball to gain possession and passed it to Anderson, who then took a 3-point shot to take the lead 42-39.

With five minutes left on the clock, Bragg smashed back-to-back dunks to give the Penguins a dominating lead of 65-57. Bragg finished the game with a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.

"The first dunk we were in a timeout and Coach wrote up the play perfectly," Bragg said. "Owens was wide open and my defender stepped up to defend him, and that was when (Owens) passed it perfectly. Then the second one Anderson just threw another perfect pass."

According to Anderson, Bragg was in superhero form against LCC. "I just knew Superman was going to be there. Honestly I couldn't see anything, but then I looked up and I saw him flying through the air and I just knew I needed to pass it to him for the dunk."

After some desperate fouling and missed 3-pointers by the Red Devils, Clark defeated LCC 75-70.

Anderson led the team with 18 points, two assists and two steals, while Hamler finished the game with 13 points and three assists.

"Our main thing in practice lately is learning how to stay focused," Anderson said of the young team. "And tonight we had that focus and were able to get the win."

The Penguins made 46 percent of their shots while the Red Devils made 31 percent. Clark also out-assisted LCC 16 to 10.

With all 10 players who played in the game scoring for Clark, Hamler knew the results were going to be good. 

"That is my role on the team," he said. "When I help my teammates get going that is when I can get going, and that's what happened tonight."

The Penguins final two games will be away on Wednesday against Tacoma starting at 8 p.m. and at home on Saturday against Peirce starting at 5 p.m.

"Although we have clinched that doesn't mean we aren't going to play hard," Arnold said. "Now we can just go out and play the way we need to."

Contact Katie Unverzagt at sportseditor@students.clark.edu