Pasco, WA – The Trojans went east for the NWAC crossover weekend to a place with bittersweet memories. Nine months ago, the Trojans made a historic run through the NWAC Championship tournament hosted at Columbia Basin College, finishing 2nd and tying the highest finish in program history.
The return to Cheryl Holden Court was against the host CBC Hawks, a program that was pre-season ranked #1. Everett had a good defensive first half and held CBC to 38 points, but offensively did not have their best half of the season and went into the break trailing 37-38.
The Trojans took a four-point lead early in the second half, but Columbia Basin orchestrated an 11-0 run that set the tone for the rest of the game, and the Hawks got the win, 73-84. Derek Smith led the way for EvCC in scoring with 21, and Ethan Martin was the only other Trojan to score in double figures with 14. Daniel Headings scored 9 in his first game back from injury and Nate Harding came off the bench to hit three threes and finish with 9.
Everett bounced back the following night to defeat Clark College 82-71. The Trojans held the lead for the entire game after falling behind 1-0, and led by as many as 24 with 12 minutes to go in the game. Clark, fought back to within 8 but that was as close as they would get. Ethan Martin led all scorers with 26 points and went 8 for 11 from the field. Derek Smith contributed 21 points and Raefe McEnroe scored 11 on 5 of 9 shooting. Hayden Conaxis and Nate Harding contributed off the bench with 9 and 8 points respectively. As a team the Trojans only shot 11 free throws, but went 10 of 11, and shot 50.8% from the field.
In the weekend finale, the Trojans outlasted Highline 94-85. After the first half of action the score was tied at 39, despite Everett outshooting Highline by over 10% from the floor. The difference came from the free throw line in which the Thunderbirds converted on 11 of 13 while the Trojans were 0-4.
Everett found their way to the line in the second half, making the trip 15 times and continued to shoot the ball extremely well, 60% from the floor and 7 of 11 from downtown. Freshman Nate Harding again provided a big lift off the bench making four threes and finishing with 14 points. Four other Trojans scored in double figures Khalil Gilbert (10 off the bench), Raefe McEnroe (15), Jailin Johnson (16, and also had 8 assists), and Derek Smith who led the way with 22 and had 5 assists.
For the weekend, the team averaged 83 points per game and shot 49% from the field, 44% from downtown and 74% from the line. EvCC will get the week off for the holiday break and will return to action on December 29th with a trip back east of the mountains, taking on Wenatchee Valley and then traveling to Moses Lake the next day to face Big Bend CC.