MBB Reverses Fortunes, Win Two Straight in Week 3 Following Tough Week 2 of Conference Play

The Clipper Men's Basketball team were able to right the ship following a week with two consecutive losses with a week where they got two straight wins against quality opponents in Pierce and Centralia.

The week started off with a trip to Lakewood as they Clips looked to end their three-game road stint with a victory against the Pierce Raiders. On paper, this matchup seemed like it should've been a layup for the Clippers, but the Pierce team is pluckier than their record suggests.

Admittedly, it was not a great game shooting-wise for either team as both teams shot below 35% from the field for the game. For the Clippers, it was rough sailing in the first half as only 17% of shots went in and the team found themselves down 21-17 going into halftime.

However, the Clippers fought back in the second half as they tried to get back into the game. Slowly, but surely, more shots went in and their confidence grew with each bucket made. Around the midpoint of the second half, the Clippers took the lead — courtesy of a Caleb Bowden jump shot — and they never let that lead slip again.

The Raiders fought back and made it a close game, but in the end the Clippers came away with a 55-49 win. Three Clips were in double-digit points as Jeremiah Lewis (11), Nakalayah Fabello (12), and Jamaal Elliott (13) led the team in points and Lewis managed a double-double for the game as he recorded 11 boards for the game.

"When your back is against the wall, you got to fight. And our guys are fighting," said Men's Basketball Head Coach Zach Smith. "When you lose two, it forces you to look at some of the things that you need to work on and so we got back to work, we've been in practice, and we're trying to get better of the things that have lost us some games."

The Clips' second game of the week was a tougher matchup as they went up against a scrappy Centralia team that came into Olympia with every intention of getting a win away.

Right out of the gate, the game was a barnburner. The Clippers and Trailblazers went shot for shot with each other as one tried to get an edge over the other. Despite the Clippers shooting better in the first half, percentage wise, they found themselves down 2 points going into the half. Much like they did in the game against Pierce, the Clips knew they had to dig deep and play to their strengths if they wished to come away with the win.

The second half of this game was a tug of war as both teams refused to give up any ground to their opponent. At one point, Centralia held a nine-point lead over the Clippers, but Jalen Hyppa came alive at the right time and managed to sink clutch shots to wrestle the lead away from the Blazers. In the end, the Clippers did what they do best and hunkered down defensively to lockdown a close 74-70 win against the Centralia.

Hyppa and Jamaal Elliott led the team in points with 15 and two other Clipper athletes also finished the game in double-digits — Jeremiah Lewis (11) and Caleb Bowden (14). The Clippers managed to sink 49% of their shots and finished with a 32% efficacy from beyond the three-point arc.

"As captains, Jeremiah [Lewis], Jamaal [Elliott], and I have to keep our team's head level," said Sophomore Guard/Forward Caleb Bowden. "We can't let the team get too high after a big moment, but we can't let them get too low after a bad moment. The other team were letting themselves get too high and too low, and we took advantage of that and came out on top to get the win."

Now, the Clippers look to score an upset against the top team in the West Region, the #3 ranked Green River Gators on Wednesday, January 28. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. from The Swamp at Green River College's campus.