I’m back from Hawaii and I only missed the end of the high school basketball season and the college basketball season during my vacation, that’s all. Now that we have a bit of a lull until spring sports start next week, let’s take a quick look back at the college basketball season here in Olympia. We’ll start today with the men.

 
The Evergreen State College

Record: 1-26 overall, 0-18 Cascade Collegiate Conference
Best Win: 79-72 – Pacific Lutheran – November 26th
Worst Loss: 64-109 – Eastern Oregon – January 28th

Players graduating (3): Patrick Lewis – 12.3 ppg (2nd on team) and 7.6 rpg (1st), Larry Green – 11.4 ppg (3rd), Marcus Buren – 2.2 ppg
Key returners: Mike Derosier – 9.4 ppg (4th), Elzie Dickens – 8.8 ppg (5th) and 6.7 rpg (3rd), Travis Wagner – 8.0 ppg (7th)

Two years after going to the second round of the NAIA Division II tournament, Evergreen became one of ten teams in the NCAA and NAIA to win one game or less this season. The loss of the team’s leading scorer, Marice Tolliver, at the end of December coupled with the loss of Tyrell Stephens at the same time and Julian Holliday early that month and Mikey Hope in pre-season left the Geoducks drastically shorthanded. They played with only seven players for much of the conference season and dressed only six for a couple of games and those numbers were only because they added 5’3″, 115 pound freshman Les Jones in the middle of the season. Arvin Mosley Jr. has a tough task ahead of him this off-season with only Derosier, Dickens, Wagner and Jones returning.

 
Saint Martin’s University

Record: 10-17 overall, 6-12 Great Northwest Athletic Conference
Best win: 74-65 – Western Oregon – January 14th – WOU was 1st in conference at the time
Worst loss: 70-72 – Alaska-Fairbanks – February 18th – UAF won only two games in the GNAC

Players graduating (3): Jeremy Green – 18.3 ppg (1st on team) and 8.0 rpg (1st), Brok Pendleton – 15.1 ppg (2nd) and 7.0 rpg (2nd), Ryan Votaw – 7.2 ppg (4th)
Key returners: Roger O’Neill – 13.0 ppg (3rd) and 4.2 rpg (3rd), Brady Bomber – 4.7 apg (1st), Eric Taylor (injured)

An eight game losing streak in the second half of the conference season did the Saints in this season. While losses to the Seattle Pacifics and Alaska-Anchorages of the GNAC are understandable, it was the losses to Alaska-Fairbanks and Simon Fraser that made absolutely no sense and kept the Saints out of the GNAC playoffs that they hosted. The Saints started the same five players all season long including the three seniors – Green, Pendleton and Votaw. With those three graduating, the Saints will have to replace 40.6 of the 69.1 points per game that they scored this season. Senior leadership from O’Neill and Bomber will help, but they need Taylor to come back from injury and Alex Williams to finally get healthy and hope somebody steps up from the group of nondescript backups to take the reins.

 
South Puget Sound Community College

Record: 12-16 overall, 8-8 NWAACC West
Best win: 69-66 – Pierce College – February 13th – Start of a 4-1 finish to the regular season and gave them the tiebreaker over Pierce for place in the playoffs.
Worst loss: 78-110 – Tacoma CC – February 15th

Graduating players (3): Lucky Lagerberg – 9.25 ppg (5th on team) and 5.43 rpg (2nd), Tyler Vandenhoff – 3.54 ppg, Caleb Pace (injured)
Key returners: Anye Turner – 15.32 ppg (1st), 11.93 rpg (1st), 2.21 blocks per game (1st) and 2.07 steals per game (1st), Scotty Ewing – 13.71 ppg (2nd) and 2.32 apg (1st), Deshawn Hayes – 12.33 ppg (3rd), Jamey Smith – 9.57 ppg (4th)

Black Hills High School’s Anye Turner blew up this season leading SPSCC to the NWAACC playoffs after winning only four games last year, and he’s only a freshman. In fact, the Clippers top four scorers are all freshman and will be expected to build on a season that progressively got better culminating in a 4-1 end to the regular season that got them to Kennewick.