By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

OREGON CITY, Ore.— Returning home to host a big tournament like the Clackamas Community College Hoilday Invitational is a big deal for the CCC Men’s Basketball team.

For South Medford graduate, Brayden Massey, he knows how the feeling is as his alma mater hosted a big tournament in Medford on a frequent basis with the Abby’s Holiday Classic.

“I love it,” said Massey.  “In High School we hosted the Abby’s Tournament and this is like the same thing.  I love hosting tournaments, you have to respect everyone and show everyone what your team is about.”

With Monday marking the start of their tourney, the Cougars weren’t going down without a fight when they had their first game in the tournament they were hosting.

Behind a big three-pointer by Massey and two free-throws by Raven Fraizer helped propel the Clackamas Community College Cougars to the second round of Invitational with a 102-92 victory Monday Night over Tacoma Community College.

“I give props to my teammates for finding me for the open shot, I know what we needed to do,” said Massey.  “It was a huge effort for us in this game.

“Last tournament we had, we struggled a little bit and this game we came into it saying we’ll all try and play hard together and get the win and that’s what we did.”

For Titans Head Coach TJ Caughell, he knows mistakes cost them late.

“I thought we fought no matter what the situation was, we didn’t execute,” he said.  “We couldn’t keep them off the glass, missed a lot of open shots.  We didn’t move the ball as well I want to but (the) guys fought the whole time, I appreciated the effort for sure.”

TCC won the rebounding game and taking advantage of the Cougars from the perimeter with six three-point shots in the first half.

After starting with a man defense, the Titans then switched to a zone press as they kept close with Clackamas to go with their high pace offense.

Despite committing 11 personal fouls however, it was the host Cougs to take the lead into halftime up 51-49 with the help of Fraizer

“It was just playing hard,” said Fraizer.  “It’s infectious, one player plays hard, everyone else around them sees that and plays hard.  They just want to rally.”

Fraizer had six of his 12 assist and both of his steals in the first half.

Shayne Rixie scored the first three hoops of the half as Clackamas CC built a two-possession lead as they were ready for the Tacoma press.

Playing some aggressive ball, the Cougars responded and were ready for the runs when they built an 85-78 lead.

“I think we figured it out and started playing as a team,” said Fraizer on the press.  “We just started communicating as a team and listening to one another.”

That pace helped keep that responsiveness alive as their rebounding improved in the second half as they slowly pulled away

Clackamas Community College Head Coach Clif Wegner was impressed how his team made the halftime adjustments as the team came together as they now turn their focus to Everett Tuesday night at 7pm.

“I thought the kids came together, we were down three players tonight.  Raven Fraizer did a fantasic job of pushing the tempo, creating and distributing stuff for us.  Vince (Boumann) had a really good ball game.

“I thought we all stepped up well and rebounded well.”

As for TCC, Caughell knows where they can improve on before their 3pm game versus Yakima Valley Tuesday.

“We look too much at the scoreboard,” he said.  “We put too much pressure on ourselves depending on the score instead of playing every possession like it was 0-0 and playing with our fundamentals.

“That’s what I think we need to do is slow down and focus on each possession and do our job.”

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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