Trailblazers’ win streak ends with last-second loss to Panthers

Centralia College's men's basketball team is off to its best start in recent memory, and against Portland at home on Tuesday, it looked like the Trailblazers were going to have a shot in overtime to extend their seven-game winning streak.

In the game's final moments, Clay Morgan drilled a long three to tie the game, but a foul after the inbound pass sent Portland's Jackson Leach to the line with just 3.1 seconds left.

Leach drilled both of his free throws, and the Panthers held on to hand the Trailblazers an 87-85 loss, their first of the season.

"I think there are such things as good losses," Centralia College coach Joe Chirhart said. "I think this is something that we may have needed. We didn't get run out of the gym, but there are some things that we need to tighten up on."

Even with those mistakes throughout the game, Morgan's three capped a late 5-0 run that got the Trailblazers in position to force OT.

They trailed by five with less than 40 seconds left, but after an Andrew Collins bucket and two missed Portland free throws, they were able to draw up the play that got Morgan the ball.

"We didn't get it executed all the way," Chirhart said. "But it ended up in Clay's hand, he just squared up and knocked it down."

On the inbound with 5.3 seconds left, CC pressed, and Leach was able to draw contact to get to the line. After both of his free throws, Chirhart called a pair of timeouts. That decision ended up costing him, as he tried to challenge an out of bounds call off the ensuing CC inbound, but he couldn't because he was out of timeouts.

After the game, Chirhart said he felt the game didn't come down to that final foul call.

"Bang-bang play," Chirhart said. "He ended up on the ground, and we ended up with the whistle. It is what it is … We should have handled some business earlier in the game."

At times earlier in the game, it looked like the Trailblazers were primed to pull away.

They built a nine-point lead in the first half before Portland rallied back to tie it at 38 at the break, and in the second half, they built another nine-point lead with just under six minutes to play. One minute later, a pair of back-to-back Portland three-pointers got the Panthers within one.

Over the final five minutes, Centralia College was outscored 17-8.

"We should have taken care of business today," Chirhart said. "This was a good wake up call."

While CC ended up on the losing end, there were flashes of the squad that has gotten off to such a hot start this winter.

Five different Trailblazers scored 10 or more points, including Maximus Holliman with 19, Collins with 16, Morgan with 15, Julian Ibarra with 11, and Luke Brewer with 10.

"That's the difference between this year's group and probably a lot of groups in the past," Chirhart said. "At any given time, I've got eight, nine guys that are gonna give us 10 to 15 points. I've learned real quick that the teams that are most successful aren't the ones that have the 30-point scorer. They're the ones that have spread the ball a little bit and get everybody involved."

Holliman added eight rebounds and five assists, Morgan brought down five rebounds, and Brewer tallied seven rebounds, three assists, and three steals. As a team, CC shot 49.3% from the field. Over the course of the game, there were 13 ties and eight lead changes.

While those five guys in double figures shined on Tuesday, Chirhart said he'd be confident in any of his players on any given day moving forward.

"We go 13 deep, and all of them can come out and give us great minutes," Chirhart said. "Really excited about the group that I have."

Coaches around the NWAC agree. In the first coaches poll on Tuesday, the Trailblazers were ranked No. 2, trailing only top-ranked Skagit Valley.

CC (7-1) will face Skagit Valley in its first game of the NWAC Crossover Tournament in Moses Lake next Friday, Dec. 12. On Dec. 13 and 14, the Trailblazers will face Southwestern Oregon and host Big Bend.

"I think we're in it for the long haul," Chirhart said. "I think we have a team that could be playing in March. But our goal is to be playing great then, not now. So we might've needed this one."