Clark men top Bellevue to reach fifth-place final

After a heartbreaking loss on Sunday at the NWAACC Tournament in Kennewick, the top-ranked Clark College men’s basketball team rebounded for a solid 80-70 victory Monday in the fifth place semifinal over Bellevue College.

Sean Price had a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds and Kyle Thurston had 14 points and 10 assists to help give the Penguins a shot a trophy.

Clark (26-2) faces Edmonds (19-11) at noon Tuesday for fifth place.

Clark was in control the majority of the Monday’s game, leading by as much as 17 points in the first half.

The Penguins actually took the lead for good at 11-9 at the 13:41 mark of the first half, but Bellevue did close gap in the second half.

The closest the Bulldogs (18-12) got was four points at 72-68 with about 3 minutes to play.

Clark was able to ice the game from the free-throw line. Collin Spickerman, Thurston and Price made six free throws to get the lead back to 10 where it stayed.

Max Livingston had 14 points and seven rebounds for Clark, Spickerman had 13 points, four rebounds and three blocked shots, and Frank Norman had 10 points. (Click here for complete boxscore)