Sunny skies forecast for men’s basketball team

By James Storbeck.
On Wednesday night, the BCC Bulldogs went to North Seattle Community College (NSCC) to take on the NSCC Storm. In what might turn out to be a crucial game, the Bulldogs were able to take down the Storm 78 — 70. “Should be a good game,” said Head Coach Jeremy Eggers shortly before the event. “We have to defend better than we did Saturday night against Whatcom. The Storm are good offensively, so we need to rebound better. Defense and rebounding should be the keys to victory,” said Eggers. Eggers’ comments were prophetic, the game having a high tempo and being very good. However, the Bulldogs started out roughly. The Storm came hot out of the gates, holding BCC scoreless for the first three minutes, taking a quick 6 — 0 lead. The Bulldogs were passing the ball quickly and efficiently, finding the open shots, but were unable to sink them. As the Storm were finding shot after shot inside the key, the Bulldogs pressure tightened. NSCC then looked outside and hit a few three-pointers in a row to push their lead to nine with 8:28 remaining in the first half. The Bulldogs then showed true hustle on defense, shutting the Storm offense down over the next four minutes to tie the game. In the final minutes of the half, both teams went punch for punch, ending the half tied at 32. A large reason for the game being tied at the half was rebounding by the Bulldogs. As Coach Eggers predicted, this was key, the Bulldogs keeping the game close despite being unable to hit their open shots, producing 14 offensive rebounds and limiting NSCC to only 3. During halftime the BCC coaching staff’s frustration was evident. However, as the second half began, it stayed at the same tempo as the end of the first period, with both teams continuing to trade buckets for the first seven minutes of the half. Then, with 12:38 remaining, with the score tied, point guard Jordan Starr lobbed a perfect alley oop to forward Rukari Austin, who completed the dunk with authority, bringing the Bulldog bench and their fans to their feet. From there, the Bulldogs never looked back and never relinquished their lead. The dunk, combined with a technical foul by the Storm with 10:45 remaining, gave BCC a wave of momentum that they rode to an eight-point lead with a little over minutes left in the game. The Storm responded by going on a crowd-fueled comeback, bringing the game to within a single point, 65 — 64 with 4:13 left, before the Bulldogs went on a 9 — 0 run, which the Storm never recovered from. “This was a good win, we needed it…In the conference [NWACC] we were in the middle of the pack, and if we had lost we would have been in an umpteen-way tie, and with only four teams going to the tournament every year, it was big. We were down early, and through hustle we were able to come back. Fortunately we made our shots at the end when we needed to” said Austin. As of Thursday, the win gives the Bulldogs a record of 7 — 2 in the conference, and 18 — 4 overall. BCC go on to play Edmonds, away, on Wednesday.