By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

OREGON CITY, Ore.–  They’re allowed three scrimmages a year, but for the Clackamas Men’s Basketball Team, their last one is against former Cougars in the CCC Alumni Game

“We have enough good alumni out there playing that they can give us a really good game,” said Clackamas Head Coach Clif Wegner.  “It’s a good experience for our guys and it’s a good way for our alumni to come back and remind them that they’re always a part of the program.

“We enjoy staying in touch with the alumni and making them know that they’re always welcomed back.”

For the current Cougs, they enjoy it as well.

“I’m really excited to be playing against former players of the program,” said sophomore Center Vince Bouman.  “I really want to see how this team matches-up against the alumni.”

Uncertain of who will appear come Saturday afternoon, Wegner mentions that some players went to four-year schools and some who went on to the professional-level would come back and present a challenge for the current bunch of Clackamas players.

“We’re going to take it easy on them, and they aren’t going to take it easy on us,” said Wegner.  “In fact, they beat us last year on a last second shot-in, so that was one of our losses last year was to our alumni.”

Whoa what?  A loss to the alumni?  Yeah, it happened, but Wegner said it was a blessing in disguise.

“We talked after that game and we told them that we were beaten by a team with no offense, no practice, no preparation,” he started.  “(But) they played more intelligent basketball.

“They passed it better, they took better shots and they made better decisions with the ball and that should’ve happen with a team that hasn’t had a chance to get organized.”

The loss taught the team last year how to be more organized and play smarter basketball said Wegner.

This year again, Wegner scheduled a scrimmage and an actual game with the alumni, for two reasons:

To have fun and not have a long layover between games.

“We can add them as a game, as a alumni team without getting charged a extra game as getting a extra game for the kids,” Wegner said.  “Extra fun time for the guys and we put it in place of the schedule without taking a long break because once you start playing games, you don’t want to take any time off.

“It gets tough when you take 12, 13 days off and you don’t get to play.  You get stagnant, you lose some steam.”

As for Bouman and the rest of the Clackamas team, they’re seeking revenge and a season sweep this year.

“I’m confident that we can win both times,” he said.  “We have the size and the depth.”

The scrimmage will be this Saturday at 4pm and the regular season match-up is slated for December 3 at 7:30pm.

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013).  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81!

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