PORTLAND, Oregon – The spell of unfortunate results in road NWAC play continued for the Beaks on Saturday, Jan. 24, losing in an overtime thriller to Clark, 84-78.
Freshman Kaiden Ford led the way for the team with 21 points, albeit on a less-than-stellar eight for 24 shooting, including the most important bucket of the night for LB, a layup with two seconds on the clock to force overtime.
“The play was for me to come off a screen and get the drive as I’m running to the hoop. It was a great pass from Gabe [Townsend],” Ford explained.
Offensively, the Roadrunners were nothing short of sloppy, particularly to start the game – the team finished shooting 33% from the field as a team, a number that makes it incredibly tough to win a basketball game. Down by as much as 18 in the twilight of the first half, the team did storm back.
“The biggest key was just entering the start of the second half knowing we were still in the game,” Ford said.
The team showed improvement defensively, playing solid active defense all night, figuring 12 steals and holding the Penguins under 90 points with an extra five minutes.
“We came into the game knowing we were going to have to be overwhelming with our defensive intensity; they have three guys that average points in the high teens,” Townsend said. “I think we all believe we can still end as a top-four team in (the NWAC South), because of that we had to come into that game with a winning intensity.”
Freshmen Anthony Best and Braxton Long, as well as Townsend, also scored in double figures in the contest. Best added nine rebounds as well in just 23 minutes, making a solid case to return to the starting lineup in his second game back from an illness.
Linn-Benton now sits at 8-12 on the season, losing five of their last six. The Roadrunners need to do more to put themselves in better positions earlier in these games, as playing from behind has proven to be draining and unreliable.
The Beaks will make a trip to Coos Bay on Wednesday, Jan. 28, to try and snap a three-game losing skid against the arguable favorites to win their division, 17-3 Southwestern Oregon.
