Mt. Hood has no trouble with Umpqua
The Mt. Hood mens basketball team climbed back into the South Region playoff chase with a 69-55 win over Umpqua on Saturday.
Blake Updike led the way with 18 points, including 4 of 6 (.667) shooting from 3-point range. He gave the Saints a double-digit lead with a long ball early in the second half only to see Umpqua cut the gap to five points with 8:20 to play.
Mt. Hood called timeout and focused on getting the ball to the rim where Thomas Simien came up with back-to-back baskets to stretch the lead back to a comfortable margin.
Needing points in a hurry, Umpqua relied almost exclusively on 3-point tries in the final minutes and came up empty. The Riverhawks went 1 for 16 (.063) from behind the arc.
The win puts Mt. Hood (5-5) back to .500 in league, tied with Portland CC for the fourth and final playoff spot with two weeks left in the regular season.
The Saints play at Clackamas CC (4-6) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Look for extended game coverage, along with the women's game, in our Tuesday, Feb. 12, print edition.
View a photo gallery from the game at ...
http://daveball.exposuremanager.com/g/feb9_mhcc-umpqua_mens_hoops