BC MEN TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS
February 21, 2011

The Bellevue College men's basketball team had a busy week with three games in six days. The Bulldogs entered the week with a chance to qualify for the NWAACC tournament and the opportunity to take over first place with three straight wins. Could they pull it off?

Bellevue traveled to Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon on Wednesday, Feb. 16. Going into the game the SVC Cardinals held a half game lead over the Bulldogs in the North Division standings. Bellevue turned a three-point half time deficit into an eight-point road victory. The Bulldogs got a huge contribution off the bench from Jon Humphrie and Malcholm Love. Both players hit game-changing three point shots and scored 13 and 14 points, respectively, on the night. BC sophomore Cedric Clarington led the Bulldogs with 15 points, and Antonio Gonzalez scored eight points, grabbing nine rebounds.

Bellevue took to the road again on Saturday, Feb. 19, heading up I-5 to play the Storm of North Seattle CC. The Bulldogs relied on a second-half run to turn a close game into a double-digit lead. Bellevue outscored the Storm 39-28 in the second half and came away with a 74-62 road victory. The Bulldogs held Seattle to 33% shooting from the field and forced 26 turnovers. Sophomore Daniel Simon scored a game-high 21 points to lead the Bulldogs, while freshman Rex Nelson scored 10 points to go with eight rebounds.

Monday, Feb., 21, was no holiday on the courts as the Bulldogs hosted Whatcom CC for another battle between NWAACC qualifying teams. The winner of this game would control their own destiny going into the final week of North Division play and have the inside track towards the number one seed at the NWAACC tournament coming up in the Tri-Cities March 5-8.

Whatcom came out ready to play and dominated the early part of the first half. At one point, Bellevue was down 22-6, before making a small run to end the half down by 12 at 34-22. The Bulldogs converted only eight field goals in the first half and shot 29% from the field. In an emotional second half the Bulldogs came roaring back to take a lead at 46-44. Whatcom would not give up and went on its own 10-0 run for a 54-46 lead. However, Bellevue turned up its defensive effort again, holding Whatcom to just three more points in the final minutes as Bellevue pulled out a squeaker 60-57 victory, the third in six days.

Please visit the BC Athletics website http://bellevuecollege.edu/athletics/ for additional team information. For complete standings, coaches’ polls and up-to-the-minute results go to http://nwaacc.org

Admission to all Bellevue College men’s and women’s home games is FREE to students, staff and faculty. Please come and support our outstanding student-athletes.