Forward Mark McLaughlin would sprint through rain, sleet, snow and heavy-duty hail to get his work in on his outside shooting for Tacoma Community College.
With the inclement weather that hit the Puget Sound region last week, he pretty much had to.
“I tried walking … but me and Dom (Williams) drove the car in the snow over to LA Fitness to get in the work,” said McLaughlin, who shoots 300 to 400 times per session. “My team relies on me to score.”
The 6-foot-6 standout from Bothell was sharp and nearly unstoppable Monday night, leading the Titans to a 92-80 victory over South Puget Sound CC in a Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges West Division game in Tacoma.
He hit a pair of 3-pointers and converted a couple of three-point plays – half of his 24 points in the first 71/2 minutes – to lead TCC’s 24-9 run to open the game.
After Ahmad Burse’s basket for the Clippers (5-10 overall, 1-4 NWAACC West) trimmed it to 24-12, TCC (13-3, 5-0) went on an 8-0 spurt, capped by Demetrius Smith’s layup, to grab a 33-12 lead.
“I thought we did a good job of building the lead,” TCC coach Carl Howell said.
In fairness to SPSCC, which upended Pierce College on Jan. 14 for its first divisional win, campus not only had been closed down because of the weather, the basketball teams had not practiced since that game.
“That’s nine days of inactivity, that is what you saw. Compounding that was our youth,” SPSCC coach Curtis Norwood said. “At halftime, we said now that the rust was off, go be the team we know we are.”
Nate Walker led the Titans with 26 points. Scotty Ewing had 20 for the Clippers.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
At Tacoma CC 66, South Puget Sound CC 56: Titans coach Heidi Collier has to remind herself that standout guard Anngelina Wagar-Sanchez is in early-season form after coming back from an injury.
“This was game No. 5 for her,” Collier said. “Everyone else has played two months without her.”
When Wagar-Sanchez shares the ball and makes the extra pass – like she did during TCC’s 9-0 run to start the second half, the Titans can be pretty good. They won their fourth in a row Monday.
After Amanda Amundson buried a 3-pointer, the Titans grabbed a 51-35 lead with 12:35 to go. They eventually led by as many as 17 before SPSCC went on a 15-3 run to make a game of it.
A basket by Shante Watson for the Titans (7-7, 4-1 in NWAACC West) stopped SPSCC’s run, giving the Titans a 61-54 lead.
“We had built a … (big) lead, and then we had to grind it out,” Collier said.
Todd Milles: 253-597-8442 todd.milles@thenewstribune.com
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