Bellingham, WA – The Trojans punched their ticked to the NWAC Championship Tournament Wednesday evening with a 106-100 road victory over Whatcom Community College. This marks the fourth time in the past five seasons (no playoffs in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID) that EvCC has qualified, but it is the first time under first year head coach Daniel Thompson. The North Region saw four new head coaches, and Thompson could very well be the only one of the four to make the playoffs in their first season. First year head coach at Peninsula will have to win a play in game at Shoreline on Saturday in order for the Pirates to qualify.
For Everett going into the final regular season game, there were many scenarios that could have played out to impact playoff contention, but the most simple was "win and you're in" and that's exactly with the Trojans did.
EvCC jumped out to a ten point lead on a Derek Smith three pointer six minutes into the game, and held a comfortable cushion until the high scoring Whatcom team fought back to within one at 34-33 with five minutes to play. The home Orcas reclaimed the lead 43-40 on a three of their own, for the first time since leading 2-0. Everett would outscore WCC 9-6 over the next two minutes of action, and it would be locked at 49-49 going into the break. Raefe McEnroe led EvCC with 13 first half points and also added 7 rebounds. Fellow sophomore starter Daniel Headdings added 10 points while Khalil Gilbert had 6 off the bench.
Whatcom took control in the early goings of the second half, building out to a five point lead early and eventually pushed it out to seven with 8 minutes to play. The tide began to turn when the Trojans went on a 15-9 run, and was punctuated by 10 straight points from Ethan Martin. With a two point lead, the Trojans forced a turnover with 34 seconds to go and converted on free-throws to close out the game. Jailin Johnson was 5-5, Derek Smith made 1 of 2 as did Daniel Headdings, and the Trojans ran out the clock.
Ethan Martin tied his season high of 26 points and had a team high 5 assists. The four other Trojan starters also scored in double figures, Derek Smith with 22, Daniel Headdings with a season high 18, and Jailin Johnson and Raefe McEnroe each added 17. It was another double double for McEnroe who had 16 rebounds, one short of tying his career high. Defensively the team did a better job of keeping the outside shooting Orcas in check. WCC was 15-36 from beyond the arc, for a respectable 41.7%, but this was well below the total of their last meeting where Whatcom sank 24 three's at a 45.3% clip.
Everett will play the #2 seeded team out of the South Region, Southwestern Oregon CC, in the first round of the NWAC Tournament. That game will be played on Thursday, March 7th in Pasco, WA on the campus of Columbia Basin College. The Lakers are 23-6 on the season and are ranked #7 in the NWAC overall, having won the last five straight games in the regular season, concluding south region play.