Pioneers win NCIC tournament championship
Pioneers win NCIC tournament championship
by Steve SchroederTriumph.
That is the only word that does justice to the Lewis & Clark Pioneers victory Feb. 28 over the Pacific Lutheran Lutes to win the NCIC Conference tournament and qualify for the NAIA national tournament.
After very inconsistent conference play the Pioneers took it to another level for the NCIC conference tournament and with two very impressive wins, they earned the right to call themselves the champions of the NCIC for the first time in four years.
The Pioneers needed a victory coming into Saturday night's championship game. The NCIC conference receives two bids for the NAIA tournament and one had already been earned by the regular season conference champion, Whitworth College.
PLU's upset victory over Whitworth, which put a halt to Withworth's 45 game home winning streak, meant that the winner of the championship game would survive.
Winning the championship meant reaping the benefits, being able to board a bus and drive to majestic Nampa, Idaho and lay their hearts on the line for a chance to taste the sweet nectar of an NAIA national championship.
So the stage was set. Everything was on the line, and two teams of inspired young men were ready to give their all to see that they came out victorious.
The game opened slowly, allowing the Lutes to control the pace and take an early advantage. Things got a little anxious as PLU stretched their lead to eight in the early going of the first half.
Whitney Brake turned things around for LC with a couple of three point baskets that got the crowd roaring. The Pioneers answered the crowds roar with a run, ending the first half of play with a five point lead.
This game was not in the Pioneers hands by any stretch of the imagination, because LC lost quite a few leads during the regular season due to poor second half performances.
This time, howevber, the Pioneers came out of the locker room looking like the had something to prove, and they did. They came out firing on the back of Brooks Meek, and stretched out their lead. As the lead stretched to double digits, it looked like they had things in control, but PLU would not give up.
After being down by as many as 16 points, the Lutes battled back and cut it to 5, but the Pioneers would not let this one slip out of their hands. The Pioneers protected the ball in the later minutes, and managed the clock well. When the final buzzer declared the 1997-98 season over the Pioneers had won the NCIC confernce championship, 79-61.
The Pioneers looked impressive protected their basket well by utilizing a pressure zone defense that employed trapping. They were led by Meek, who scored 26 points and earned NCIC player of the week honors. He was also named to the all-NCIC first team.
Brake, a second team all-NCIC selection, added 24 points, and six rebounds. Defensively, Jeff Flowers, who was also named to the all-NCIC second team, stood tall with four blocks and eight rebounds. Flowers also brought the crowd to it's feet on a few occasions with his patented gym-shaking dunks. Kyle Kiang was brilliant off the bench, contributing seven rebounds, and six points in what proved to be a crucial contribution. His play, in the middle portion of the first half, sparked the Pioneers out of the doldrums of the early going and pushed them on the run that led to their first lead of the game.
After the game, the Pioneers brought out the ladders, and commemorated their wonderful victory by cutting down the nets. It was the perfect conclusion to a season, that though shaky at times, ended with quite a victory.
The Pioneers will play against St. Joseph's from Maine in the first round of the NAIA tournament next Thursday, Mar. 12 at 4:30 p.m.
