Sports Story--February 2008

News Story

by Alaina Arp

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Lions Face Off With
Southwestern College

[Sports Photo]

MBC Lions Aaron Norris, Nick Kamlade, Bryce Hambelton and Mike Woodard play defense against Portland Bible College Jan. 23, 2008.
--Multnomah Athletic Department, photo

The Multnomah Lions men's varsity basketball team will defend its regional championship status in an upcoming game against the Southwestern College Eagles of Phoenix, Ariz. Multnomah Bible College will host the competition on Feb. 28.

The winning team will be champion of the National Christian College Athletic Association western division and will go on to the national tournament in Springfield, Mo.

Curt Bickley, the Lions' head coach for five years, said he thinks the face-off with Southwestern College "will be a tough game for sure."

MBC has already played against Southwestern twice this season, losing one game and winning the other. Now the teams will return to MBC to break the tie and vie for a crack at nationals.

"Every season that's the goal, to make it to the nationals," Coach Bickley said.

The MBC Lions made it to the NCCAA nationals last year but did not win the competition. Coach Bickley said he thinks the Lions could win the nationals this year.

"It's always possible," he said.

Although Coach Bickley is confident about his players' abilities, he does not think MBC will just walk away with the game.

"They [Southwestern Eagles] have a very deep team that has some very good scorers that we had difficulty stopping when we first played them," Coach Bickley said.

Colin Henderson, junior and power-forward on the Lions, said he thought MBC has a very good chance at beating the Eagles.

"It just depends on how hard we come up against them," he said.

Coach Bickley said the team has been preparing for this game all season. This season the Lions have nine wins and 11 losses.

According to Coach Bickley, the team's strength lies in its shooting, size and experience. The Lions have two seniors on the team, Matt Nelson and Jesse Cain. Both Nelson and Cain hold school records.

Henderson is also important to the team as "captain of the bench."

"He makes sure that the bench and the crowd are into the game," Coach Bickley said. "[Henderson is] definitely one of our leaders."

Coach Bickley did not want to talk about the team's weaknesses.

"The weaknesses we have we are trying to fix," he said.

Henderson said he is eager to play against Southwestern College again to make sure MBC's earlier win "wasn't a fluke."

Besides winning the game, keeping their title as regional champions and going to nationals, Coach Bickley said he has another desire: a large fan base at the game to support the team.

"They have worked extremely hard to represent the Multnomah student body and would like to see a huge crowd for the Feb. 28 game," Coach Bickley said.

Henderson echoed Coach Bickley's sentiments.

"A lot of people need to come and be rowdy," he said.

The Multnomah Lions and Southwestern Eagles will face off in Lytle Gymnasium at 6 p.m., Feb. 28.

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