By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

VANCOUVER, Wash.—The road to their seventh win Saturday ten games into the season has been an intriguing one that is for sure.

With an even balance of sophomores and freshman, the Tacoma Community College Men’s Basketball team are coming together entering Saturday’s match-up with Blue Mountain CC

The six sophomores on roster this year, points out Head Coach TJ Caughell, have been helping the ever growing confidence of this team entering this season as he sees this progression from their freshman year to sophomore years.

“Last year we lost a lot of close  games where we didn’t do what we did today and we would get flustered and not execute down the stretch,” starts Caughell.  “And see them turn into sophomores; like when we’re tied and Kahliel Wyatt hit the big three in the corner to give us a three point lead which was ultimately won the game for us in the end,”

“That was something he wasn’t doing last year and just to see that growth personally, that’s huge for him and the team and me as a coach seeing these young men grow up.”

That three by Wyatt was one of the big shots for the sophomore from Oroville, California in the game as he describes the start of this season as incredible.

“In past years, Tacoma hasn’t been Tacoma,” describes Wyatt.  “But last year we made a little stride, made the playoffs in a while and this year, we have a lot of returners.  I think we know what it is, what to do.  We got the pieces , we got the parts we can do whatever we make it.”

To get to that point, to get to win number seven and get back to their winning ways following a tough last Friday and to make this season their own now; the Titans had to work through a intense rally and back-and-forth that the Timberwolves had offer in the second half as Blue Mountain turned a eight-point halftime deficit into two in a hurry.

Khalil Thompson hit a three to put Tacoma up five, but it wasn’t like in the first half when the Titans were able to string together a run because the pressure the ‘Wolves brought in the second half kept pushing Tacoma to be clutch and play smart in the second 20-minute frame.

Nothing said clutch and playing smart and collective as down four with 5:31 in the game following a Blue Mountain 8-2 run, the Titans rallied to take a one point lead with four minutes to go following Wyatt’s 2-for-2 effort before the Timberwolves tied it at 80 with 1:40 left thanks to BMCC’s Jared Matthews finding the bucket with a deuce.

“It was freaking intense, like bouncing back from yesterday game it’s a big thing for us, so we had to come out with a lot of intensity,” said Wyatt on the game.  “This team is a really good team, they made some shots and stuff, gave us a good run but we stayed in it, stayed in it as a team and got the ‘W’.”

Wyatt’s big three, the one Coach mentioned earlier, gave Tacoma a one-point lead with 26 seconds remaining in part of his 25 points in the game as Trey Fountain and Ravion Bell go two-for-two each from the charity stripe to put the Titans up seven with 14.2 seconds left.

The ‘Wolves Darren Davis nails a three to cut it to two as Thompson was intentionally fouled with 5.4 left in the game, he went 1-2 to keep Tacoma out by three.

Looking for one last shot, BMCC’s Anthony Landeros let off one last shot, only to see it bounce off the rim and Wyatt rebounding it as time expired.

“I thought that was huge for us,” said Caughell.  “You know, we haven’t played particularly well these past couple of games and we were getting frustrated early and we felt like we watched this team play yesterday and they didn’t play very well, our opponent, and we kind of had a slow start and guys started to get frustrated.

“But down the stretch we really stayed together, we actually cued to possession, we got good shots and we played good defense and we took care of business.  So it felt good.  It felt good to get that win.”

Now to continue this trend into the positive even further, it starts all over again tomorrow at noon versus Skagit Valley College at Clark College as they continue to build entering Winter break is to go back to trusting what Coach Caughell and his coaching staff is telling them.

“We just got to stick with the game plan,” said Wyatt.  “Whatever the coaches say, we stick with it and we do it, listen to it and believe in it and it will happen.”

TCC SCORERS-  Thompson-26.  Wyatt- 25.  Pascus-12.  Fountain-12.  Powers-5.  Bell-4.  Carter-2.  Shaw-2.  3-POINT LEADER-  Thompson -6.  ASSIST LEADER- Wyatt-8.  Powers-5.  TOTAL REBOUND LEADERS.  Bell-4.  Powers-4.  Pascua-3..  STEALS LEADER-  Thompson-3.  Wyatt-3.

Photos By Jeremy McDonald