CCS teams playing for fifth

KENNEWICK – The Community Colleges of Spokane men and women will play for fifth and eighth places in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community College basketball tournaments in the Toyota Center today after winning loser-out games Monday.

The Sasquatch men, 82-76 victors over Big Bend, will play Bellevue, an 82-69 winner over Chemeketa.

The CCS women, who won two games in roughly 12 hours, play Eastern Region rival, and tournament host Columbia Basin College, which escaped Mt. Hood 63-61. Spokane defeated Umpqua 81-73 on Monday after overcoming Highline 69-55 in Sunday night’s late game behind Meghan Eisenmann’s 22 points and 19 from Brooke Randall.

Both Sasquatch games today are at 10 a.m.

Men

Spokane (23-8) jumped out to a 22-point lead midway through the first half, but the Eastern Region co-champions Vikings regrouped to close the gap to four points at halftime, 41-37.

The Vikings took a four-point lead midway through the second half before the Sasquatch regained the lead and held on to end the season for Big Bend (18-10).

Zach Humphrey (26) and Chris Pynch (24) combined for 50 points to lead CCS, while Danny Marshall, Griffon Jones and Pynch combined for 21 rebounds.

Big Bend was led by Dominick Brumfield with 21 points.

Women

Umpqua kept it close against Spokane for the first five minutes before the Sasquatch built a nine-point lead, only to see the Riverhawks close the margin to 37-32 at halftime.

Spokane (18-10) came out firing in the second and stayed safely ahead in ending the season for Umpqua (21-8).

Eisenmann again led Spokane, this time with 31 points, 11 rebounds and a pair of steals. Korrie Bourn also collected 11 rebounds.

Kate Wilton, Priscilla Walker and Nnamaka Anyanwu had 17, 16 and 15 points, respectively, for the Riverhawks.